BLM rejects solar farm in southern California

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has rejected a proposal to build a solar power plant on its land in southern California.

It was the first time the agency, a part of the Interior Department, has rejected an application for a solar project outside of areas designated for solar power.

{mosads}BLM concluded that the project, proposed by Iberdrola SA, would negatively impact wildlife and recreation in a way that “could not be mitigated,” it said in a Friday statement.

Iberdrola told Bloomberg News that it is disappointed in BLM’s decision and is considering appealing it.

“We have a viable project that we thought addressed some of the biological and visual concerns it might have,” Paul Copleman, a company spokesman, told Bloomberg.

The Wilderness Society applauded the decision, saying southern California’s Silurian Valley is not the place for such a project.

BLM designated various areas in 2012 for renewable energy development, where it has approved 18 proposals in California. But the Iberdrola project was outside those areas.