Geothermal plant wins appeal but pauses Nevada construction

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By SCOTT SONNER

RENO, Nev.— (AP) — The developer of a geothermal power plant facing legal challenges in Nevada agreed Monday to suspend construction just hours after a U.S. appeals court had refused to halt the project that opponents say would harm an endangered toad and destroy sacred hot springs.

In a ruling Monday morning, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid by environmentalists and a Nevada tribe to reinstate an injunction that temporarily blocked work earlier this year on Ormat Nevada’s plant 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Reno.

But hours later, lawyers for Ormat, the government, environmentalists and the tribe filed a joint stipulation in federal court in Reno detailing a voluntary agreement to suspend construction for at least 30 days — and perhaps until the end of the year.

The unusual turn of events comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the rare step of declaring the Dixie Valley toad endangered on a temporary emergency basis in April — something the agency has done only one other time in 20 years.



FILE - In this 2017 photo provided by the Center for Biological Diversity is a Dixie Valley toad, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has temporarily listed as an endangered species on an emergency basis near the site of a power plant site in Nevada. On Monday, Aug. 1, 2022, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid by environmentalists and a Nevada tribe to halt construction of a geothermal power plant that opponents say would harm the endangered toad and destroy sacred hot springs. (Patrick Donnelly/Center for Biological Diversity via AP, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nevada-reno-climate-and-environment-government-politics-434caa68c14f0043e6f0910f8b1916a0

[Old Crank]

1. Sort of torn on this.

We can save the toads for how long? Until the climate heats up enough to kill them off?
I hope there is a way to extract the geothermally heated water and leave enough for the toads to survive.
I guess the worry is that the water temperature will change through the heat extraction or there will be too much water pumped out to leave anything for the frogs.
This is the kind of project that we need to cut down on pollution in the air.

[PatSeg]

2. My reaction as well

[hunter]

3. The geothermal plants there now supply 67 megawatts to the California grid.

That's compared to the 40,000 megawatt electric demand in California on a typical summer day. In other words, about a teaspoon of water in a one gallon bucket, and no reason to damage a unique ecosystem.

This project is an expansion of that system that ought to be opposed by anyone who considers themselves an environmentalist. We're not going to "save the world" by trashing even more of it.

I'd support buying this project out so we could shut it all down and restore the land to its natural state. That would include removing the roads and power lines as well.

As environmentalists we should oppose any development of previously undeveloped land and support the restoration of lands and waterways that have been severely degraded by human development, starting with the very worst of them -- the strip mines, the dangerous old dams, etc..

We don't need this electricity.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

4. +1