WASHINGTON - December 18 - California Senator Dianne Feinstein and Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley introduced the Renewable Incentive Act (S 2899) Thursday to encourage renewable energy companies to build their solar and wind power plants on privately held lands – shifting the focus away from fragile areas on public lands in the Mojave desert.

Renewable energy companies have mostly sought permits to build large-scale power plants on public lands in order to tap federal stimulus dollars tied to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill would provide similar incentives to companies looking to build on lands that have already been used or developed for other purposes.

Kim Delfino, Defenders of Wildlife’s California program director, thinks that the bill is a good idea: “Some of the projects targeted for public lands may result in vast areas of environmentally sensitive wildlife habitat and pristine lands being scraped clean and fenced off. This kind of development causes complete and unnecessary devastation to an area.

“Senator Feinstein’s bill should help shift the focus of renewable energy development to better, smarter locations near our cities and big energy consumers, existing transmission lines, on former industrial sites and abandoned mines and other disturbed lands. That’s the kind of smart planning we need to make clean, renewable energy a success. We look forward to continuing to work with Senator Feinstein on this issue.”

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