Federal Agency Releases Plan to Open 31 Million Acres of Public Land to Solar Development

The Biden administration has proposed opening 31 million acres of federal public lands across 11 states to solar energy development, dramatically expanding the growing industry’s footprint while streamlining permitting and regulatory requirements.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will formally publish its proposed Western Solar Plan regulatory “road map” in the Federal Register on Aug. 30. It could be enacted before year’s end.
The proposed final plan is one of six the agency reviewed. Its draft was opened for public comment in January 2024. After being posted in the Federal Register, it can be implemented after a 30-day protest period and a 60-day “consistency review” by the 11 affected states’ governors’ offices.

The proposed Western Solar Plan updates BLM’s 2012 solar regulatory guidelines and adds five states to the six where BLM had opened nearly 20 million acres to potential solar development. Less than 900,000 acres are now being used by solar energy developers.

The BLM regulates land use on more than 245 million surface acres of federal public lands and 700 million acres of “subsurface mineral estate” primarily across 12 western states. The agency manages more than 10 percent of the nation’s entire land mass.

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