The Desert Dawg Blawg: Environment

Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts

California Water Crisis Ratchets Up

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 8:29 AM 0 comments

The Colorado River Water Dance: Too Many Straws in a Dwindling Glass

By Morgan Craft

The Colorado River provides water to millions of users in seven western states, and Mexico. With millions of people relying on the river for drinking water in the United States, and over 3.5 million acres of farmland in production in its drainage basin, the Colorado River is the single most important natural resource in the Southwest.

The Colorado Basin (click on image to view larger)

In 1922, the seven western states that represent the Colorado River Compact (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California) signed an agreement to divide water from the river. At that time, Las Vegas was a whistle stop, and Phoenix had a population of 50,000. Today, greater Phoenix is home to over 4 million people, with Las Vegas nearing 2 million, and the large sucking sound heard from the river before it trickles into Mexico is the thirsty 24 million souls that live in Southern California today. (click to read on...)

California Water Crisis, Environment, Salton Sea | |

California's Solar Land Rush Intensifies

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 12:54 PM 0 comments

The Race is on to Land Solar Projects across Eastern Riverside and San Bernardino Counties

by Morgan Craft

Interior Secretary Ken Salalzar’s recent visit to the Coachella Valley put national focus on the proposed mass development of solar energy in eastern Riverside and San Bernardino counties. “We have set aside 1,000 square miles of public lands in 24 Solar Energy Study Areas that the Department and BLM are evaluating for solar energy development across the West,” Salazar said. “If developed, these tracts could generate nearly 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity.”

(Click image to enlarge)

To highlight the point, the Interior Department has opened a California Renewable Energy Coordination Office (RECO), right in Palm Springs. “These offices in California, along with our renewable permitting teams in six other western states, will help to swiftly complete application reviews on the most ready-to-go and environmentally appropriate solar, wind, and geothermal projects on U.S. public lands,” says Salazar. The streamlined review and approval process would take one year, instead of the usual three to four years.

The Green Technology Institute calls the Southern California desert the “Saudi Arabia of green power,” and advocates all who believe in green energy to participate in “California’s green gold rush” taking place right here, right now. Riding the wave of the State Bill 107 mandate that requires 33% of our state’s electricity to be produced using renewable sources by 2020, utilities and solar power developers are wanting to know where they can build, and how soon. There’s a huge motivator: projects that are able to break ground by December 1, 2010, qualify for a portion of $15 billion in Recovery Act money that has been earmarked for alternative energy development. (Click to read full story)

Environment, solar energy | |

New Desert Monuments Proposed by California Sen. Feinstein

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 7:16 PM 0 comments

Senator Feinstein Introduces Legislation to Balance Conservation, Recreation and Renewable Energy Development in the Mojave Desert - Measure would designate new desert conservation lands; streamline and improve permitting process for large-scale wind and solar development on suitable desert lands; and enhance recreational opportunities.

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the author of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act, today introduced a comprehensive bill to designate new lands in the Mojave Desert for conservation, enhance recreational opportunities, and streamline and improve the federal permitting process to advance large-scale wind and solar development on suitable lands. The carefully crafted legislation, titled the California Desert Protection Act of 2010, is the product of discussions with key stakeholders in Southern California. (Click on image to enlarge)

(Click here to read full article)

Environment, Sen. Diane Feinstein | |

Do You Know Where Your Trash Goes, Coachella Valley?

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 11:49 AM 2 comments

Whither our trash, Desert Dwellers?

The average US citizen produces around 4.4 pounds of trash each day. From April through June of this year, the cities of the Coachella Valley sent 112,734,000 pounds of waste into landfills. And that’s not counting recycling. Very few people know where all that waste actually ends up. (Click to read on...)

Coachella Valley, Environment, Trash | |

Cadiz Valley desert water-storage plan renewed | PE.com

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 12:36 PM 0 comments

Cadiz Valley desert water-storage plan renewed | San Bernardino County | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California

Desert Water, Environment | |

Endangered Bighorn Sheep Operation in San Jacinto Mountains

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 5:02 PM 0 comments

by Morgan Craft
For five years, I’ve been scouring the San Jacinto Mountains behind my Palm Springs home with high-powered binoculars hoping to catch a glimpse of our famous cliff-dwelling neighbors, the endangered Peninsular Bighorn Sheep. This week, the Department of Fish and Game, which monitors the dwindling herd, brought them to me.

The chop-chop of a helicopter here usually means the search is on for a lost hiker on the notorious Skyline trail. This one, however, was clearly ferrying a four-legged passenger. A short hike into Tacheva Canyon revealed a well-coordinated capture operation of sheep brought down from the towering cliffs above by the chopper, which are loaded into a pickup and brought to the examination site.

Six adult bighorn sheep were captured from the helicopter, using a net-gun, and then fitted with radio-collars. They were then examined by a veterinarian, health tested, collared and released at the site, or flown back to their place of capture. The capture was part of an on-going, long-term research project and was conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and nonprofit Bighorn Institute, whose biologists have been monitoring the bighorn sheep in the San Jacinto Mountains since 1992. (Click to read on...)

Desert Bighorn Sheep, Environment | |

Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From, Coachella Valley?

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 3:08 PM 0 comments

by Morgan Craft
In a 2007 survey by the California Department of Water Resources, eighty percent of respondents in Southern California believed that their water comes from area wells, despite the fact that the region imports more water than any other place in the world.

The Coachella Valley averages only three inches of rainfall each year, yet we boast more golf courses per square mile that anyplace else in the country. Retail centers, home developments and hotels boast lakes and rivers, and green grass grows wherever you cast an eye. Water supports a $500 million agriculture industry in the valley, with over 60,000 acres under cultivation. Despite the economic downturn, the valley is projected to increase to six hundred thousand residents by 2020, or 75,000 additional households, and water access and usage is going to be an increasingly difficult issue. (Click to read on...)

Coachella Valley Water, Environment | |

New Process to Extract Valuable Lithium from Salton Sea Geothermal Plants

Posted by Morgan Miles Craft On 3:03 PM 0 comments

Inhabitat reports that as the world moves to cleaner energy, demand for Lithium has been steadily increasing. The element has widespread application in batteries and is widely used in consumer products and electric cars. Since the demand for Lithium is likely to only go up in the future, as the number of electric cars and gadgets steadily increases, there is a scare about insufficient sources, which may not even last very long into the future. Moreover, the conventional process of sourcing lithium is very water intensive, and that of course isn’t a good thing. The situation though, may be quite different with the new process developed by Simbol Mining.

Simbol intends to source lithium from water extracted for geothermal energy. The water is mostly discarded, but a lot of sources may have lithium rich water, and Simbol intends to use the same to produce the element. The company has planned a pilot project for California’s lithium-rich underground Salton Sea. It is already used for geothermal energy, and nearly a ton of lithium could be extracted from the water every month.
Heat from the water greatly helps the process, making it less water intensive. If all goes well, Simbol has big plans that include supplying nearly a quarter of the world’s demand of Lithium Carbonate within the decade.

Clean Energy, Environment, Salton Sea | |