Interior secretary goes off-roading in Glamis - SignOnSanDiego.com
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar went off-roading in Glamis on Sunday as part of nationwide tour promoting outdoor recreation and a variety of other uses on federal land.
But his first turn behind the wheel of a sand rail — a modern version of a dune buggie — ended with him spinning his wheels and sinking to his axle.
It took a team of federal and local rangers and paramedics along on the ride to lift the vehicle out the sand.
Nevertheless, Salazar termed the tour of the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area an exciting adventure that reminded him of riding a motorcycle around his family’s farm in Colorado as he was growing up.
“It was fantastic,†he said.
Salazar came with Bob Abbey, director of the Bureau of Land Management, and both also talked about the use of federal land for big energy projects.
The visit comes almost a year after his department came under intense criticism from off-roaders after proposing the “America’s Great Outdoors†initiative, which was seen as closing large swathes of federal land to motor vehicles.
Sunday, Salazar was talking up off-roading on federal land.
“It’s important that we allow the different kinds of uses,†he said.
Salazar said the off-highway vehicle area is an example of the many ways federal lands are used to create jobs. The dunes draw 1.3 million visitors, he said, calling that “a huge contribution to the local economy.â€
President Barack Obama in 2009 appointed the former Colorado senator to head a department that controls 500 million acres, or one-fifth of the land in the United States.
In addition to national parks, monuments and recreation areas, the land is also used for mining, grazing, and soon, solar and wind farms.
“We have done more for solar energy in the last two years than has been done in the history of the country,†Salazar said. “We think we can do it by siting renewable energy projects in the right places. ... We’re locating renewable energy projects in places where they don’t have ecological or recreational uses.â€
But that hasn’t pleased everyone, including San Diego County conservationists and American Indians who say environmental and cultural concerns have not been properly considered.
They have sued to stop big solar farms, including a 10-square mile project called Imperial Valley Solar that is designed to supply San Diego Gas & Electric, plus the utility’s Sunrise Powerlink.
“There’s some litigation going on,†Salazar conceded. “But very interestingly, as much as I have been involved in overseeing many major conflicts on oil and gas development, renewable energy development, other kinds of development, we have seen relatively little litigation on the renewable energy projects.â€
Abbey said he’s worked to get support for the projects.
“One thing you see from litigation is that people are very passionate about their public lands,†he said. “They really care about those lands, and they want to be involved in those decisions. So it’s our job to make sure they have the ability to participate, not only in the decision process, but the early planning process as well.â€
Some environmental groups that opposed the big desert projects have come to support them, saying that their involvement led to changes that minimized damage to sensitive species and cultural sites.
But not all groups agree. The Quechan Indian tribe got a San Diego judge to issue a preliminary injunction stopping Imperial Valley Solar. That project was then sold, and it’s unclear how the new owners will proceed.
Abbey said he believes his agency consulted with the Quechan properly and will defend the lawsuit.
It's impossible, however, to embrace a future with more green energy without using some of the most sun-drenched land in the world to produce it, he said.
"There are some trade-offs," he said.