(The Center Square) – What would have been Nevada’s largest solar farm to date, Esmeralda Seven, has quietly been canceled by the Bureau of Land Management.
The rollback on a Biden-era renewable energy project, which could have powered millions of homes, comes during a federal government shutdown – with some conservationists celebrating the move.
Roughly 120,000 acres were marked for the project, with over 60,000 for solar development – a footprint the size of Las Vegas. At its peak, the southwestern Nevada solar farm could have generated up to 6,200 megawatts of energy.
“Cancelled,” read Esmeralda Seven’s National Environmental Policy Act status. Without explanation, the megaproject had failed its environmental review last Friday, a week and a half into the national government shutdown.
“ I’d be thrilled if it were canceled and did not come back,” Shaaron Netherton, executive director of the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, told The Center Square. Friends of Nevada Wilderness is a nonprofit that started in 1974 to preserve Nevada nature.
The site for Esmeralda Seven sits along NV Energy’s Greenlink West, one of two major electrical transmission corridors set to run through the state starting in 2027. Opponents say the location planning was subpar.
“ There was a large push from the Biden administration to move things, and I think some of the analysis was sloppy,” said Netherton. “I don’t think that the BLM was doing a solid job looking at what the impacts were, and we were prepared to litigate if it came to that.”
Netherton worked for the Bureau of Land Management for 22 years before her leadership role at Friends of Nevada Wilderness for the past 25 years. She added that the conservation community in Nevada should have worked with solar proponents earlier in the process to find better sites.
“Places where the tribes didn’t have that concern, places where the sportsmen didn’t have that concern,” said Netherton. “Esmeralda County, it’s a beautiful big county with seven hundred people in it, and they feel like they’re being steamrolled. They don’t want this. They don’t want a big chunk of their county paved over in solar.”
As the least populous county in Nevada, Esmeralda could seem to be the ideal land for a sprawled out solar project. Netherton said that way of thinking was hurting the state and permanently taking away its natural beauty.
“Nevada is like the warehouse state. Everybody and their brother has a warehouse here — there’s data centers everywhere,” Netherton said. She added later, “My concern with the solar [in Nevada] from the beginning is conservation was never a part of the whole package. It was just, slam as much solar in as possible in.”
To conservationists like Netherton, the solution is a balance between wilderness preservation and increased renewable energy. Expansion to a nearby existing solar farm would be a better location for the site, she argued. “Put them all together there – there are so many better places to site solar than right there.”
Netherton said she expected the project to come back, with developers likely to renew their plans for Esmeralda Seven on the same site.
“I think that Americans deserve more for their public lands. I think conservation always has to be a part of this. If you’re going to develop a huge swath of our public lands, it needs to be done thoughtfully.”
