TheU.S. Bureau of Land Management is about to finalize a plan that solar energygroups say "scuttles" federal and state climate change goals and willclose off a large amount of public lands in the West to renewable energydevelopment.

Theconcerns, voiced in a position paper, add to criticismsfrom wind groups that the initiative will keep prime sites in SouthernCalifornia off limits to new wind, solar and geothermal capacity.

TheBLM administersabout 10.9 million acres within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan,or DRECP. The plan is a collaborative planning effort among state and federalagencies to facilitate renewable energy development while conserving naturaland cultural resources in the California Mojave and Colorado-Sonoran desertregion. The entire DRECP planning area totals 22.5 million acres, whichincludes the BLM's property and private land managed by seven Californiacounties.

InNovember 2015, the BLM announced that it will set aside another roughly 5.25million acres of its land in the DRECP for permanent conservation. Along withpreviously conserved land, the plan would reserve only 388,000 federal acresfor renewable energy development, the Solar Energy Industries Association andthe Large-Scale Solar Association said in a position paper.

Thesolar groups said that much of the BLM land set aside for renewable energydevelopment is not suitable for new capacity due to lack of transmissionaccess, unsuitable topography, archaeological and tribal considerations andother issues. Consequently, as little as 8,000 MW could be developed there,they said.

Inaddition, the BLM wants to adopt mandatory conservation and management actions,or CMAs, for solar development within the area that industry said will addsignificant cost and delays to projects that have already been screened forpossible conflicts. "Unless [the U.S. Departmentof the Interior] and BLM adopt sensible modifications to this plan, the federalgovernment will fall short of achieving its climate change goals," thesolar groups said.

Thosegoals include a recent commitment among the U.S., Canada and Mexico to generateat least half of North America's electricity from clean sources such as nuclearplants and renewable energy by 2025. The U.S. has also to cut its economywidegreenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2025 as part of theParis global climate agreement. And if the U.S. EPA's survives courtchallenges, the rule will require state-specific emissions rate cuts that theEPA has estimated would cut power sector carbon emissions by 32% from 2005levels by 2030.

Thesolar groups also said the BLM's policy would thwart Democratic presidentialnominee Hillary Clinton's energy goals, which increasing renewable energydevelopment on public lands and waters by tenfold within the next decade andraising renewable generation to 33% of U.S. electric output by 2027. Theindustry groups also fretted about the impact on California's state requirementto derive 50% of its electric power from renewable sources by 2030.

Privatelands within the DRECP could host additional renewable generation. A draftenvironmental assessment impact report released in 2014 estimated that 15,000MW of renewable energy capacity could be developed on privately owned landwithin the planning area, California Energy Commission spokesman Edward Ortizsaid. A final estimate, however, will not be available until all counties withjurisdiction in the DRECP complete their planning activities, Ortiz added.

Butrenewable energy advocates worry that development will be tougher on privatelands than federally controlled property. When work on the planning area beganin 2008, DRECP participants estimated that private and public lands togethercould support 20,000 MW of renewable capacity, but "now we expect a tinyfraction of that," said Tom Darin, senior director of Western state policyfor the American Wind Energy Association. "BothBLM and counties have partly justified wind prohibitions by saying that windcan go elsewhere, with the result being that there's not much left open forwind energy on either," Darin added.

CaliforniaBLM spokeswoman Martha Maciel said the bureau is looking at potentialadjustments to the plan to address the solar industry's concerns but expects toissue a final record of decision on the DRECP by the end of this summer. Afterthat, the only avenue for challenging or seeking changes to the plan will be incourt, Maciel said.