The meeting will be held on February 15th from 5-7 p.m.

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding a public meeting in Yuma to provide information on its efforts to support appropriate renewable energy development on public lands through the updated Western Solar Plan. announced that it would be held. .

Meetings will be held in Rooms A, B, and C of the Yuma Book Library, 2951 S. 21st Drive.

The BLM said the meeting will preview amendments to the environmental impact statement from the agency's utility-scale solar energy program, known as the Western Solar Plan.

The plan would streamline BLM's framework for building solar energy projects and expand its solar energy program to cover five more states in the West, BLM said.

“BLM is committed to ensuring public lands play a role in achieving our nation's clean energy goals,” said BLM Director Tracy Stonemanning. “We can and must do so responsibly, and we look forward to hearing from the public on how to achieve that balance.”

BLM said it can authorize clean energy more efficiently while maintaining public and tribal engagement.

This can be accomplished by directing development to areas with fewer sensitive resources, fewer conflicts with other uses of public land, and closer to power lines.

According to the BLM, six alternatives are being evaluated in the updated Western Solar Plan, each requiring different amounts of public land to allow for solar development uses under different criteria. We are proposing to make it available.

Such criteria include proximity to electrical transmission infrastructure, designated critical habitat, or other important ecological and cultural resources.

BLM is seeking public input to inform the final program environmental impact statement and record of decision.

For more information on the latest Western Solar Plan, please visit: BLM's Solar Program Website.

BLM said a draft statement on the environmental impacts of the solar program will be published in the Federal Register on January 1, 2024, and a public comment period will begin until April 18, 2024.

In addition, BLM will also host two virtual meetings and five other in-person public meetings.

It begins with the first virtual meeting on February 5th and ends with the last virtual meeting on March 6th.

To view the draft solar energy program environmental impact statement and learn how to provide comments, please visit: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2022371/510.