Newsweek has an interesting take today about Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s proposed legislation that would create a Mojave Trails National Monument. The title of the magazine’s piece is “Not in Anyone’s Backyard.”
In short, Feinstein proposes to set aside hundreds of thousands of acres in the state’s Mojave Desert along the Route 66 corridor and protect it from those who want to build solar-power plants there. I ultimately had mixed reactions to the measure — praise for it recognizing the national treasure that is the Mojave, criticism that it would prevent the U.S. from harvesting solar energy it would likely need. A more expansive take is here; a copy of the bill is here.
A few things of note in the report by Newsweek:
- It reports that the bill has “considerable” support, particularly after Feinstein redrew the boundaries of the park to accommodate more of the solar developers, plus giving them incentives to move out of the park.
- Criticism by the solar sector has also been muted because the proposed bill would prevent only about a dozen of the 130 proposed solar-energy plants being considered by California.
- Feinstein wouldn’t comment on the bill for Newsweek. However, aides pointed to her earlier comments, including that “there are also places that future generations will thank us for setting aside.”
- Some irked solar-energy developers have coined a new acronym of BANANA — build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone.
As I said earlier, I ultimately saw good and bad points with Feinstein’s bill — so it goes with the great sausage-grinder that is American political compromise.