Soda Mountain Solar Project 2.0 Will Harm Desert Bighorns and Wildflowers
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San Bernardino County, California - We have been opposing and following this utility-scale solar power project for years, and as often happens with these poorly-sited projects on public lands, we think we have stopped them—and then they later suddenly bounce back. We call these Zombie Projects.
And for the umpteenth time, we are not against solar energy—it just needs to go on rooftops, over parking lots, and fill in already-disturbed lands. This is not disturbed land, but a thriving Mojave Desert ecosystem full of wildflowers, lizards, desert tortoises, kit foxes, burrowing owls, and more. See our March 2014 wildflower field report at https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/Soda-Mt-Spring.html. Why destroy this?
The power plant project site lies right on the boundary of the Mojave National Preserve next to a scientific research station at the desert outpost of Zzyzx, California.
(Pronounced “ZYE-ZIX,” we desert rats like to think some joker wanted to make sure they were the absolute last entry in the old phone book.)
Zzyzx was originally called Soda Springs because of the rare desert springs there, which attract desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) to drink. The property is now part of the Mojave National Preserve, and California State University operates a Desert Studies Center there.
The imperiled Mohave tui chub (Siphateles bicolor mohavensis), a desert fish that once inhabited the nearby Mojave River, was placed in a spring-fed refugium lake at the Zzyzx research center in order to conserve it from potential extinction.
This is all to emphasize the importance of water in the area: groundwater, spring water, the Mojave River, and associated biodiversity. Photovoltaic solar power plants often pump and extract a lot of groundwater with new wells, water trucks to try to control dust during construction, and often alter surface hydrology with thousands of acres of new industrial development.
The new 2,700-acre Soda Mountain Solar Project (300 megawatts) would be built on Bureau of Land Management land adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve. The State of California has released a 1,300 page Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The project will hurt local bighorn sheep populations. The project was rejected by San Bernardino County in 2016, but the California governor was not happy and turned jurisdiction over to the California Energy Commission—an elaborate rubber stamp agency.
Here is what the agencies say about bighorn sheep in the EIR:
“The proposed project would result in significant and unavoidable impacts to desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) individuals and their movement within and surrounding the project area. This species is designated as Fully Protected by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), pursuant to California Fish and Game Code Section 4700. Additionally, significant and unavoidable impacts would occur as a result of inconsistencies with applicable California Fish and Game Code sections that prohibit take of fully-protected species. Desert bighorn sheep in the Soda and Cady Mountains form a critical part of the Mojave Desert metapopulation and rely on intermountain movement corridors for gene flow, recolonization, and access to seasonal resources. While desert bighorn sheep are known to move within and around the project area, staff is concerned that these areas would be avoided during construction and operation due to increased human presence and limited site availability through the solar arrays. Additionally, the proposed project could compromise the use of the planned wildlife crossing being installed as part of the Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project, which is located within 1.25 miles of the project area and is designed to restore connectivity between desert bighorn sheep populations fragmented by I-15. Impacts that displace sheep, remove important foraging habitat, or result in mortality or decreased fitness would be considered significant and unavoidable.”
So an expensive wildlife crossing overpass structure is to be built over highway 15 near Zzyzx as part of mitigation for a high-speed rail project, but this giant solar project would compromise the wildlife crossing? We say No!
The Soda Mountain docket page on the California Energy Commission website is here: https://efiling.energy.ca.gov/Lists/DocketLog.aspx?docketnumber=24-OPT-03&fbclid=IwY2xjawPBdwdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE3dXRaUVJRMjNvT0ZLbURmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHit021y70tnNF2WU250LRCysaU9MHl6jPMH1uKRdKECHyjhYzNdGgQtQiwK2_aem_qm-feUz-lVw0BzwWOdLEjQ
You have until 2/27/26 to submit comments.
We will provide our comments and talking points before the deadline. Stay tuned! (Make sure to download and keep any documents from this state website, as they tend to disappear after a few years.)
Wildlife connectivity would be harmed by this zombie project that new companies try to revive, as we reported in 2015 at https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/SodaMountain.html:
Bighorn Sheep Experts Say Project Would Harm Connectivity
January 13, 2015 - Two noted wildlife biologists have written a column describing how important the Soda Mountain valley is for bighorn sheep connectivity. John Wehausen, Ph.D., an applied population ecologist who has studied bighorn sheep populations in California since 1974, and Clinton Epps, Ph.D., an associate professor at Oregon State University who specializes in mammal conservation.
They write, “The proposed Soda Mountain Solar Project would straddle Interstate 15 and cover areas between the north and south Soda Mountains on the northwestern edge of the Mojave National Preserve, pinching off the best location to re-establish important bighorn sheep movements that have been severed by I-15. The proposed development, which would include solar arrays, infrastructure and roads, would likely prevent bighorn from moving through the project area.”
The broad connection between bighorn populations in Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley National Park could be impacted by cutting off the already tenuous movement corridors between these areas, say the biologists:
“Our research finds that the Soda Mountains connection is a particularly important restorable corridor in the southeastern desert region of California, where a wildlife overpass would re-establish migration affecting numerous bighorn sheep populations on either side of I-15.”
They emphasize, “While we recognize the importance of investing in a renewable energy future that buffers us from the worst impacts of climate change and enhances our nation’s energy independence, we strongly believe that this can be done in a manner that does not jeopardize the ecological integrity of our national parks, wilderness areas and wildlife.”
See more at The Daily Bulletin.
