2 massive wind projects on BLM land are seeking approval in so. Idaho. One, the Lava Ridge project, will have 400 windmills on 73k acres. The newest one, called the Salmon Falls Wind Project, is just south of me. I can't find any details on it yet, like number of windmills, acres, or even a map, but it will also be on BLM land. The left is pushing these monstrosities and unfortunately, we have huge sections of BLM land to put them on. Besides trashing our public lands, most of the power they generate won't even be used here in Idaho. It's slated to be taken to other states so that will require many miles of transmission lines over both public and private lands.
OK, I’ll play devil's advocate. First, is the BLM land being sold, or leased? Second, how is this different t than oil & gas leases on BLM land?
If it is proposed to be on BLM managed surface, the project would be on a Right of Way, and wouldn’t be sold no matter what the uninformed folks on this board think.
It’ll be tied up and basically not available for public purposes, but it wouldn’t be sold. I don’t like these projects for many, many reasons but this is a misnomer that for whatever reason is widely believed by folks on this board.
What is the land being used for now, grazing?
BLM is Federal public land, managed, at least theoretically, for the benefit of all citizens, not just for those who live close to that land. Lots of Americas want to feel good about renewable energy and wind farms do that for them. Electricity needs to be sent where it is needed as it is produced. If the land is currently leased or permitted for grazing most of it will still be available for that, so BLM could collect both AUM grazing money and windmill money from most of the same acres. Besides, BLM manages around 12M acres in Idaho, so 73K acres is about 6/10 of 1% of that total.
