Aratina Solar poised to kill 4,000 Joshua Tree

The 2,500 acre Aratina solar project, adjacent to the Kern County town of Boron, would destroy over 4000 Joshua trees and their habitat.  Efforts to halt this project have become the focus of determined Joshua tree advocates throughout the world!

MBCA provided substantive comments in opposition to this project. However, it was granted approval by Kern County in October 2021, having undergone the CEQA process. The project was promoted as ‘shovel-ready’ in 2020 during the negotiations over the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act even though it hadn’t been approved, and only now, after significant revisions, is it poised to begin construction. 

Widespread concern about the massive destruction of Joshua trees has generated a petition calling for a halt to the destruction of the Joshua trees at the Aratina project. A review of the EIR indicates that all legal conditions have been met for the project, so a halt is unlikely. However, public sentiment against such destruction could be influential towards future large scale renewable energy siting decisions.

Support SB-59: Battery electric vehicles: bidirectional capability

When MBCA provided substantive comments on the inappropriately sited Easley Solar Project in eastern Riverside County, we called for evaluation of an Alternative utilizing distributed rooftop (DG) solar within the built environment. The Draft EIR by the Riverside County Planning Department responded to the DG Alternative in this manner:

Distributed Solar Technology. 

A distributed solar alternative would use PV panels installed on residential, commercial, or industrial building rooftops or in other areas such as parking lots or disturbed areas adjacent to existing structures. Distributed generation projects cannot meet one of the fundamental objectives of a utility-scale solar project: to provide renewable energy to utility off-takers and their customers. Other challenges associated with the implementation of a distributed solar technology with comparable output to the proposed Project include widely varying codes, standards, and fees; environmental requirements and permitting concerns; interconnection of distributed generation; inefficiencies; and integration of distributed generation. As a result, this technology was eliminated from detailed analysis. 

The recently-revised bill, SB-59, would mandate bidirectional electric vehicle capability allowing electric vehicles to feed power back into the grid or to a battery. The bill has passed the Assembly Transportation Committee and is now headed to the Assembly Energy Committee. Should all future electric vehicles have bidirectional capability, the users of distributed solar would become the ‘off-takers’ and customers, counter to the critique above, so that every electric car becomes a virtual power plant.

We encourage contacting your elected representatives and asking for their support of this bill.

With the many recent setbacks to rooftop solar, this legislation would serve to encourage rooftop solar and micro-grid DG generation, while providing resilience to our increasingly stressed electrical grid. 

MBCA recognizes that utility scale renewables are vital in our transition to renewables, and we continue to call for their appropriate placement on disturbed lands or within the built environment proximate to the point of use of the energy. Species and their habitat are under extreme threat from the warming climate, and they must not be sacrificed when other alternatives remain available.