San Bernardino County Ends Moratorium on Commercial Solar Development

BY JANET ZIMMERMAN December 02, 2013. San Bernardino County supervisors on Tuesday, Dec. 3, will consider new regulations for commercial solar energy projects — including where they should be built — and end a temporary moratorium on such development. The ban has been in effect since June, when county staff was ordered to develop location criteria, design standards and rules for processing applications. Bright Source Energy's Ivanpah solar development covers 3,500 acres of federal land in San Bernardino County. Supervisors on Tuesday, Dec. 3, will discuss new regulations for commercial solar development that would effect future projects on private property and other land in the county's jurisdiction. The Board of Supervisors also is expected to vote on a per-acre fee schedule for renewable energy projects. Officials said the move was prompted by a rush of applications from developers and complaints from desert residents and environmental groups about the projects’ impacts on sensitive species, and increased dust, blight and reflected light. The California Desert Coalition, a grassroots organization that advocates building renewable energy projects on previously disturbed land and rooftops instead of pristine desert, has urged its members to speak at the meeting. See rest of original article