A new land rush of large-scale solar project proposals have been filed for nearly 60,000 acres of public lands so far adjacent to Death Valley National Park in Nevada.

The public lands around the Ghost Town of Rhyolite, the Town of Beatty, Oasis Valley, Sarcobatus Flat, and the headwaters of the Amargosa River are currently under threat of large-scale energy development--a surprising turn of events for this remote Nevada desert region at the eastern Gateway of Death Valley National Park.

Although solar panels could easily be built on the huge number of rooftops in urban areas, and on thousands of acres of parking lots using solar canopies, the cheap leases energy developers can obtain by building on public lands has resulted in a land-rush for flat Mojave Desert and Great Basin valleys surrounding the viewscape of Rhyolite Ghost Town, and in Amargosa Valley and Sarcobatus Flat with many applications to develop thousands of acres of utility-scale solar projects.

This is one of the largest threats Rhyolite has faced since its beginning.

Large-scale solar projects would not only threaten the integral desert landscapes around Rhyolite, Beatty, Oasis Valley, and Sarcobatus Flat, but these proposed energy developments would harm wildlife, the desert tortoise, bird migration corridors, and would impair or block popular recreational routes in the area. Proposed utility-scale solar projects of thousands of acres would destroy the vision of the desert framing Albert Szukalski's sculptures.

We support solar energy, but not here!