This NV Energy line may support a solar farm the size of Las Vegas. Environmentalists sued to stop it
Two Nevada environmental groups are suing the federal government over its approval of Greenlink West, a 472-mile NV Energy transmission line that would run from the Las Vegas Valley to the Reno area.
The multibillion-dollar line is a necessary piece of infrastructure for companies to build mass solar farms planned throughout the Silver State and to transfer energy to urban centers. The project complements the Greenlink North, a 235-mile line that would connect Yerington to Ely.
Friends of Nevada Wilderness and Basin and Range Watch, two organizations focused on conservation, allege that the Bureau of Land Management failed to consider one particular proposed project —Esmeralda 7, a solar facility in Esmeralda County that would be placed on a 185-square-mile swath of land, about the size of Las Vegas. It could become the largest solar farm in North America.
“The fact that the final EIS completely ignored the future impacts of a proposed industrial solar field complex the size of Las Vegas is simply a dereliction of duty,” Shaaron Netherton, of the Friends of Nevada Wilderness, said in a statement. “The transmission line and the new complex are inextricably linked, and the impacts of both should have been thoroughly analyzed. They were not.”
EIS stands for environmental impact statement.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada, alleges that the project could affect fossils that are protected under the National Park Service Organic Act of 2016 and calls for NV Energy to stop construction until federal law is followed.
Both the Bureau of Land Management and its parent Interior Department declined to comment, citing a policy that prevents agencies from speaking about pending litigation. NV Energy did not comment, either, with a spokesperson pointing out that the utility is not a defendant in the lawsuit.
A solar future
The lawsuit was filed a day before the Supreme Court ruled against environmentalists and a Colorado county in a case about a Utah railway expansion, allowing it to move forward despite concern over whether the feds thoroughly evaluated environmental impacts.
That case may have implications for lawsuits over the National Environmental Policy Act — the 1970 bedrock law that requires federal agencies to solicit public opinions and look at environmental impact prior to approving construction on federal land.
The Nevada compaint alleges that federal agencies failed to holistically consider impacts to plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act, such as bighorn sheep and the Mojave desert tortoise.
Greenlink West, which is expected to be in service by May 2027, raised some eyebrows because of how it will cut through the Tule Springs Fossil Bed National Monument in the northern Las Vegas Valley.
When the federal government approved the line under the Biden administration, then-White House climate change adviser Ali Zaidi said at an event that it was one example of how Nevada is at the forefront of the “clean energy revolution.”
Of any state in the West, Nevada had the most federal land identified for solar siting in the federal government’s Western Solar Plan — 12 million acres. Updating it after 12 years, that new document was released in 2024 under the Biden administration.
Netherton said her organization submitted comments to the BLM throughout the federal environmental review process, rife with concerns she felt ultimately went unheard.
“The agencies ignored our comments and those submitted by many others throughout the process, and refused to address the impacts of the massive industrial solar facilities through Esmeralda County,” Netherton said. “This refusal is unacceptable, particularly when other, less impactful alternatives exist.”
This story has been updated to include the correct size of the solar development planned for Esmeralda County.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.