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DoD, Interior inch closer to cooperation on renewable energy projects
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130710/FACILITIES04/307100008/DoD-Interior-inch-closer-cooperation-renewable-energy-projects[font face=Serif][font size=5]DoD, Interior inch closer to cooperation on renewable energy projects[/font]
Jul. 10, 2013 - 11:27AM | By ANDY MEDICI
[font size=3]On May 9, the Army issued a request for proposals to build a 15-megawatt solar array on 380 acres of land near the front gate of Fort Irwin, Calif., one of three Defense Department pilot projects that could open the door to the development of millions of acresof land for renewable energy projects on military installations nationwide.
But there is a major obstacle to getting these projects off the ground: The Defense Department does not own most of the land on which it hopes to build. Although DoD controls about 28 million acres of land in the U.S., 16 million of thoseacres — about 57 percent — are owned by the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Interior Department, and loaned to DoD long term for “military purposes,” such as training and testing.
As DoD pushes to generate 3 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025 and fulfill mandates to generate more renewable energy, it has clashed with BLM over what it can do with the land, and efforts to lobby Congress for expanded authority have met resistance. But the two agencies are now slowly building a partnership that could enable new renewable energy development.
A memorandum of understanding the agencies signed last August to encourage cooperation on energy projects has been fleshed out in subsequent monthly meetings and has begun to yield promising results, according to officials from the two agencies.
…[/font][/font]
Jul. 10, 2013 - 11:27AM | By ANDY MEDICI
[font size=3]On May 9, the Army issued a request for proposals to build a 15-megawatt solar array on 380 acres of land near the front gate of Fort Irwin, Calif., one of three Defense Department pilot projects that could open the door to the development of millions of acresof land for renewable energy projects on military installations nationwide.
But there is a major obstacle to getting these projects off the ground: The Defense Department does not own most of the land on which it hopes to build. Although DoD controls about 28 million acres of land in the U.S., 16 million of thoseacres — about 57 percent — are owned by the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Interior Department, and loaned to DoD long term for “military purposes,” such as training and testing.
As DoD pushes to generate 3 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025 and fulfill mandates to generate more renewable energy, it has clashed with BLM over what it can do with the land, and efforts to lobby Congress for expanded authority have met resistance. But the two agencies are now slowly building a partnership that could enable new renewable energy development.
A memorandum of understanding the agencies signed last August to encourage cooperation on energy projects has been fleshed out in subsequent monthly meetings and has begun to yield promising results, according to officials from the two agencies.
…[/font][/font]
