Solar sprawl is tearing up the Mojave Desert. Is there a better way

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https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-06-27/solar-panels-could-save-california-but-they-hurt-the-desert

By Sammy Roth, LA Times. 

Excerpt: High above the Las Vegas Strip, solar panels blanketed the roof of Mandalay Bay Convention Center — 26,000 of them, rippling across an area larger than 20 football fields. ...“This is really an ideal location,” said Michael Gulich, vice president of sustainability at MGM Resorts International. ...There’s enormous opportunity to lower household utility bills and cut climate pollution — without damaging wildlife habitat or disrupting treasured landscapes. The same goes for the rest of Las Vegas and its sprawling suburbs. But that hasn’t stopped corporations from making plans to carpet the desert surrounding Las Vegas with dozens of giant solar fields — some of them designed to supply power to California. The Biden administration has fueled that growth, taking steps to encourage solar and wind energy development across vast stretches of public lands in Nevada and other Western states. Those energy generators could imperil rare plants and slow-footed tortoises already threatened by rising temperatures. ...The key questions are: How many big solar farms are needed, and where should they be built? Can they be engineered to coexist with animals and plants?....

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