Sacramento scales back plan to produce solar power on landfill amid wildlife worries

Sacramento scales back plan to produce solar power on landfill amid wildlife worries Sacramento officials are scaling back plans to generate solar energy on a former landfill after running into unexpected opposition from wildlife advocates. Jerry Brown signed legislation that requires utilities to generate one-third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Officials with the city and solar developer Conergy reduced the project's size significantly after the opponents mobilized. "The developers and the local governments want to go full-speed ahead and not pay attention to the ways to protect the environment they're in," said Jude Lamare, president of Friends of the Swainson's hawk. Debates over the environmental impacts of solar-power projects are taking place across California, as demand for renewable energy run into the desire to protect wildlife habitat. Sacramento's clean-energy project has run into opposition from conservationists who say a massive solar farm in the 172-acre park would disrupt a key feeding ground for the threatened Swainson's hawk. "You have a landfill, but it's one of the most beloved landfills in all of the world," said David Vincent, a Conergy project development manager. City officials hope to break ground next year on the smaller-scale project, which has been bolstered by a $1. Everyone realized this really wasn't the right spot. Sacramento scales back plan to produce solar power on landfill amid wildlife worries Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 09/06/2012