Environmental groups are calling on the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management to cancel a proposed large-scale solar energy project in Nevada due to impacts to a tortoise species.
The groups claim the Rough Hat Clark County Solar Project proposed just south of Pahrump, NV, would have irreversible impacts for wildlife, flora, resources and people.
The project would take up 2,400 acres of land in the Mojave Desert and is one of six new or proposed projects in the Mojave Desert. The environmental impact statement for the project estimates there are 114 adult desert tortoises on the site, which will have to be moved.
As juvenile tortoises are difficult to find due to their size, there is no requirement to move them.
“This means that hundreds of juvenile and hatchling desert tortoises will likely be crushed or buried alive by large earth-moving equipment,” the groups said.
