Bureau of Land Management

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Clean energy projects have tremendous potential to create jobs and grow the economy and help the nation meet its energy needs in a more sustainable way, but regulatory and legal barriers to energy projects have substantially reduced job creation and economic growth while impeding efforts to bring new energy generation facilities on line, according to a recent economic study commissioned by the US Chamber of Commerce as part of its Project No Project.  The report, entitled, “Progress Denied: A Study on the Potential Economic Impact of Permitting Challenges Facing Proposed Energy Projects,” (PDF) found that legal challenges, threats of legal challenge, and regulatory hurdles caused the delay or cancellation of 333 energy projects which, if constructed and operated for twenty years, would have potential economic and employment benefits of  a projected $3.4 trillion.  These estimated benefits would include $1.4 trillion in employment earnings and one million or more jobs per year.

Finding that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had likely failed to consult adequately with the Quechan Tribe over a large solar project’s potential impacts on historic resources, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of California issued an order on December 15th granting a preliminary injunction that halts development of the project. 

The 709-megawatt-project is planned on 6,500 acres of mostly federally owned land in Imperial County, California.  On October 29, 2010, the Quechan Tribe, a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in Imperial County and Arizona, sued the Department of Interior, BLM to overturn the approvals for the project, alleging that they violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). 

NHPA and its implementing regulations identify certain Indian tribes that the BLM must consult with before approving or spending money on a federally assisted project.  NHPA and its regulations generally require the consultation to “be conducted in a manner sensitive to the concerns and needs of the Indian tribe” and to “recognize the government-to-government relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.”  NHPA’s overall goal is straightforward, but the regulations outlining the required consultations are detailed and complex.  As the court noted: