Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 79-12(E), Section: B.

Adviser: Alexander Felson.

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Global climate change, caused largely by human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, threatens the function of our planet (IPCC, 2007) and our energy-hungry way of modern life. The production of electric energy is a major source of GHG emissions, and the United States is the leader in per-capita energy consumption (DOE, 2012). Thus, transitioning to renewable energy is a critical step and logical goal in mitigating climate change. Government, industry, and the American public must work together to achieve this goal. However, the development of renewable energy infrastructure is mired with conflict; disputes over how much, what kind, and where to put it hinder measurable advancements toward a cleaner energy future (Barringer, 2010; Brady, 2013; Daue, 2012, Helseth, 2014, Van der Horst, 2007).

Although no energy source is without environmental impact, solar energy offers numerous benefits when compared with fossil fuels, including a significant reduction in the release of GHG emissions and reduced impact on water resources (IPCC, 2007). Under the Obama administration, the United States made a huge push for the rapid development of utility-scale solar energy (USSE), supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, production and investment tax credits, finance incentives, and expedited permitting (BLM, 2012). While there have been several major efforts toward consolidated, regional scale land use planning for USSE, there remains a lack of consensus about the tradeoffs we are willing to make and the landscapes we are willing to sacrifice for this development.

This dissertation assesses the current regional-scale efforts by the federal government in locating USSE infrastructure on public lands, most notably the BLM's Western Solar Plan (WSP), within the host of federal environmental land use regulations and the challenges in adopting an ecosystem-based, landscape-scale plan for this development. Chapter 1 traces the history of the BLM and evaluates the appropriateness and precedent for USSE on public land through four distinct lenses, and based on these lenses, shows that under certain conditions, USSE is an appropriate use of public lands. Chapter 1 also analyzes the set of federal environmental regulations that govern the BLM's ability and responsibility in developing resource management plans to direct public land use and identifies the components of these regulations that can support, hinder, or convolute the development of USSE on public lands. Chapter 2 analyzes the WSP in detail, and in particular the components that address the shortcomings of public land use planning identified in Chapter 1, and contextualizes the WSP within other USSE planning efforts at the state and national level.

Chapter 3 maps and analyzes USSE market demand and reconciles that with resource-based plans toward a more unified planning approach. To conduct this analysis, I build an original geo-spatial data set from the full set of SF299 Applications for Solar Energy Development filed with the BLM since the passing of the Energy Policy Act in 2005 obtained via FOIA request and assembled through cooperation with the BLM's geoprocessing center. This analysis shows that industry has expressed development interest in only 10 of the 19 SEZs, and within those 10 SEZs, development interest in concentrated in a few key areas. Chapter 3 also analyzes project application success and failure and identifies the factors most influential in predicting success, providing fundamental conclusions that support recommended policy revisions.

Chapter 4 analyzes the economic and policy drivers that spurred the rush of USSE development on public lands, and quantifies and discusses the costs, benefits, and incentives that drive the selection of development sites. This analysis shows the financial incentives offered for development in a SEZ are insignificant when considering the full cost of public land acquisition and even less meaningful when considering the full capital cost of development and construction. Finally, Chapter 5 discuses the role of aesthetics in the social and political acceptance of USSE in the desert landscapes, proposes a revised set of precedents, and identifies the need for greater involvement from the design committee in the overall siting and development of USSE. This dissertation concludes that, under certain critical conditions, the WSP has thus far shown progress and achievement in some of its stated goals. It also shows that, when these conditions are not met, the WSP can have an overall negative impact in incentivizing development to low-conflict, pre-screened areas. I conclude by offering revisions that will help reconcile these differences and move the development of USSE further toward meeting the needs of the American people while minimizing the environmental impact to the fragile, unique desert ecosystems that define a special, iconic part of the American landscape.