Comment on the Palen Solar Power Tower Proposal
August 22, 2015 - Riverside County CA - The California Energy Commission is considering Abengoa’s petition to extend the deadline for construction on the existing Palen Solar Power Plant permit. The commission is accepting comments until September 4, 2015 and will likely decide the issue at the September 9, 2015 meeting. The existing Palen Solar Power Project permit was issued in 2011 for a solar trough project that Abengoa doesn’t want to build. Abengoa only wants to extend the permit deadline so that they can amend it to ask for a new power tower project at that site.
If you want to let the commission know you oppose extending the deadline for construction under the existing permit, comments can be uploaded to the Commission website http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/palen/index.html (click on “submit e-comment” on the right hand side) or can be mailed to:
California Energy Commission
Dockets Unit, MS-4
Docket No. 09-AFC-7C
1516 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-5512
Some of the issues you may want to address in your comments:
· If the applicant doesn’t want to build the permitted project, they should not be allowed to extend the deadline for construction. If they want to permit a different project they should apply for a new permit.
· The site is inappropriate for a solar power tower because of impacts to rare and migratory birds, bats, rare plants and animals and cultural resources.
· New information is available regarding impacts to biological, cultural, and water resources of a project at the site. The permit should not be extended without additional environmental review.
· Power tower project will ruin views from Joshua Tree National Park’s east side.
· The a project on this site will irrevocably alter the amazing river of sand that originates in Joshua Tree National Park and flows through the project area to the outskirts of Blythe.
^Desert lily and sand verbena near the Palen Dry lake.
