At 11 a.m. tomorrow, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will be in Palm Springs to announce the final version of a plan to open thousands of square miles of public land in the California desert to industrial scale renewable energy projects like wind farms and solar arrays.
The so-called Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) would set aside 2,000 square miles of land administered by the Bureau of Land Management for large-scale renewable energy projects. It would also set aside an additional 7,812 square miles to conserve desert habitat for the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep and other animals.
AirTalk will debate a number of perspectives on how the ambitious plan will impact energy resources, wildlife and the ecosystem, and the big picture balance of environmental costs and benefits.
Guests:
Chase Huntley, director of the Energy and Climate Program at The Wilderness Society
Nancy Rader, executive director of the California Wind Energy Association
Steve Gregory, KPCC’s environment and science editor