Military Blocks Massive Solar Power Project in Nevada

A vacant piece of land in the Nevada desert gets year-round sunlight and has existing transmission lines left over from a mining operation – plus, there are no issues with wildlife. It seems like the perfect place to build a solar power operation.

But a solar project by Los Angeles company Solar Reserve that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot ‘power tower’ has hit a major roadblock: opposition from the United States military.

Why would the military want to block the $700 million project, especially with an administration that is so keen to advance renewable energy? It turns out that piece of vacant land is too close for comfort to Nellis Air Force Base, and officials say it would compromise classified aspects of the Air Force’s training range.

From The Washington Post:

The Nevada plant was supposed to be a showcase for SolarReserve: one of the largest solar plants in the world, using heat-transfer technology developed for space rockets by United Technologies. A field of mirrors would focus sunlight on a receiver on a tall tower, where it would heat the molten salt to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit, much hotter than other solar plants using similar technology. The molten salt would then flow to a storage tank, where its heat would generate steam and power conventional steam turbines similar to those in coal plants.

“We’re trying to build a facility that runs 24 hours a day,” said Kevin B. Smith, SolarReserve’s chief executive.

But Belote said the solar plant would compromise classified aspects of the Air Force’s training range and would interfere with radar. He said the Air Force would tell the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which owns most of the land in the state, to reject the proposal. (The bureau controls more than 20 million acres of land with wind energy potential and more than 30 million acres with solar potential.)

SolarReserve officials “did a lot of [research] with publicly available tools,” Belote said. “But when they came back for an official look the answer was, ‘Man, that’s still too close.’ And because of the sensitivity [of information], I can’t tell them why. . . . Unfortunately for them and us, there’s stuff on the Nevada testing range we don’t tell anyone about.” Belote suggested they try another site, either 100 miles to the southeast or about 80 miles to the northeast, near the town of Mesquite.

SolarReserve is understandably upset, considering that they were pointed to this site by the air Force after an initial site was rejected as too close to the training base. They’ve spent 18 months in negotiations.

Of course, this just makes people intensely curious about what goes on at that Air Force training base, doesn’t it? The gears are turning in the minds of UFO believers.

Link [The Washington Post]

Military Spy Vehicles Powered by Alternative Energy

Even military spy vehicles are going green. Unmanned aerial vehicles, used by the military to scan the terrain for “possible threats and intelligence”, have long relied on fossil fuels to fly – but now, hydrogen-powered fuel cells are gaining popularity as an alternative. What it comes down to for the Office of Naval Research, which is sponsoring the ‘Ion Tiger’ program, is making them more efficient- and quieter.

From Science Daily:

In particular, the Ion Tiger UAV tests a hydrogen-powered fuel cell design, which can travel farther and carry heavier payloads than earlier battery-powered designs. Ion Tiger employs stealthy characteristics due to its small size, reduced noise, low heat signature and zero emissions.

“Pursuing energy efficiency and energy independence are core to ONR’s Power and Energy Focus Area,” said Rear Admiral Nevin Carr, Chief of Naval Research. “ONR’s investments in alternative energy sources, like fuel cell research, have application to the Navy and Marine Corps mission in future UAVs and vehicles. These investments also contribute directly to solving some of the same technology challenges faced at the national level.”

“In this size range, we are hopefully able to conduct very productive surveillance missions at low cost with a relatively small vehicle, and a high-quality electric payload,” says NRL Principal Investigator Dr. Karen Swider-Lyons.

It’s nice to know that the government is cutting back on emissions while training its all-seeing eye upon the land, eh? Now they can say it’s for our own security and that it’s green. It’s for our own good. It’s making us safe. One nation under CCTV… Big Brother is watching. Look busy!

Link [Science Daily]

U.S. Army Bases Going Green to Save Money

While American military bases may be implementing green strategies into their operations – like calculating their carbon footprints – they’re not necessarily going to be on the front-line in the fight against global warming. They’re only interested in environmental measures that will save them money and stay in line with their main strategic war-fighting goals. But, their efforts will be a big help anyway, as they cut back on emissions and turn to renewable energy sources.

Plenty Mag has the scoop on what the military is doing to go green:

Many military bases now use renewable energy: California’s China Lake naval facility is powered by a geothermal plant, while Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base gets juice from a massive solar array.

At North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, troops train in mock villages built from recycled shipping containers. The container construction cuts waste and energy use, while reducing the price tag from $400,000 per village to just $25,000.

At forward operating bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, 85 percent of energy goes to power AC units that keep troops and equipment cool. Spraying foam insulation directly onto tents has cut energy losses by 45 percent, reducing the amount of diesel trucked to the front line and decreasing convoys’ exposure to attacks.

Of course, Plenty Mag points out that the military is also committing plenty of eco-sins and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. Among the offenses are heavy reliance on coal, whale-harming sonar from Navy ships, use of depleted uranium munitions, hogging funds that could be used for environmental projects and, perhaps worst of all, aiming to sidestep rules governing Superfund sites and air pollution, skipping costly clean-ups on 129 heavily-polluted sites and redefining “hazardous materials” to exclude unexploded munitions.

Naturally, we’d love to see the military find ways of operating that don’t put the environment and human health at risk. Hopefully more changes will occur over the next 8 years of Barack Obama’s leadership – we can dream!

Link [Plenty Mag]
Photo credit: Nellis Air Force Base

McCain Doesn’t Want to Give Veterans Increased Education Benefits

Apparently, John McCain wants you to support the troops – but not too much. Wear your flag pins and display those yellow ribbons on your vehicles with pride. But don’t actually give the troops the education benefits they were promised before joining the armed forces. That would be wrong, apparently. See, a bill was recently introduced in the Senate that would expand education benefits for veterans. It’s the least we owe them for their service, right? Well, McCain quotes a study that was done on the bill that claims retention rates would decrease by 16% if soldiers were offered more money for college. The funny thing is, he failed to read the quote in the same study that showed that recruitment rates would simultaneously increase – by 16%. Now, we all know that Senator McCain is no mathematician, and I’m not either, but last time I checked, 16 minus 16 equals…. Zero.

From Yahoo News:

McCain, the all-but-nominated Republican presidential candidate, opposes a Democratic-backed bill that would significantly expand the breadth of education benefits for veterans, first adopted for those returning from World War II. Democrats want the proposal included in a war spending bill the Senate is scheduled to vote on this week.

The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, also veterans of Vietnam, would guarantee full tuition payments to veterans at any public school in their home state. Its expected cost is $52 billion over 10 years.

McCain says the legislation is too expensive and has proposed his own version, which would increase the monthly benefit available to most veterans to $1,500 from $1,100. It would not offer the equivalent of a full scholarship.

As Jon Stewart noted on the Daily Show last night, “Where did potential soldiers get the idea that the military was some kind of ‘fast-track to college’ in the first place?” Oh, right, it could be all those ads the military runs where grateful soldiers talk about the military being the only reason they were able to attend college. Nice blunder, McCain – especially when your military record was probably the biggest benefit you had on your side.

Check out a clip from last night’s Daily Show here.

Link [Yahoo News] + [Comedy Central]

Bush 0 Whales 1, Federal Court Rules Against Use of Navy Sonar

President George Bush got smacked down by Johnny Law this week when a federal court over-ruled a White House exemption allowing the U.S. Navy to use whale-damaging sonar. According to the court decision, Navy ships can’t use sonar within 12 nautical miles of California, must turn it off when whales are spotted and avoid places where they live.

I’m not sure they have quite thought this thru. Whales are sea mammals. Therefore they live in the sea. Therefore the ENTIRE sea is out of bounds for Navy vessels?

We think this is a remarkable development and we will be looking forward to seeing a case in court on behalf of the Leopard Gecko (Iraq desert) and the Steppe Eagle (Afghanistan).

In fact, we hope in future armed conflicts will have to consider the full Environmental Impacts from the start.

“Sorry George,” says Condy “there is a rare newt in Tehran. We’ll just have to relocate the war someplace else”.

Link [Terra Daily]