Rec'd. It's an interesting question, to be sure.

To answer your question, I think their are some environmental concerns with respect to solar power, as there are with all sources of power. However, land use is not one I've heard brought up yet. I'm somewhat startled by the million acres statement, and the water usage concern also seems ill-founded as the vast majority of the water will be easily recycled.

I definitely share your distrust of the Bush administration in all things environmental.

Since the government has always allowed our federal land to be so degraded by a few special interests, it is highly unlikely that this is about protecting the environment.

This new government concern for the environment shows up at the same time gas prices are high and there is an all-out campaign for more drilling and more coal. Sounds to me like some established industries don't want new renewable folks to rain on their perfect and profitable enregy-crisis- storm. Are there hard-earned tax giveaways involved? (I couldn't reach the link for details)

There are definitely legitimate concerns with massive solar plants that make smaller, local solar use seem much more sensible. Massive solar plants will cover over thousands of acres of land. So there is no doubt that massive plants will have a serious effect on biodiversity, wildlife and the environment. I haven't heard a good argument for massive plants in the middle of nowhere. Smaller, local solar carries no environmental threats.

There are other surprising ways of using sun energy that we don't hear enough about. For example, even if you live in the northern part of the United States, you can use the sun to heat an average size home by properly attaching a greenhouse with the right heat-absorbent floor and panels. So you pay for a greenhouse, but your heat bills are gone. And if oil goes through the roof, it will be well worth the trouble. For more information on this, you can google and find many individual stories and there is some information at this site:

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/solar-gh.html#basic

For the amount of money each family will be forced to spend on Iraq, we could have put these greenhouses on every home and still had plenty of money left over for education and healthcare.

this is poor reporting by the NYT, with only vague descriptions of possible environmental impacts, at best.

water recycling is an easy enough problem to understand and mitigate.

compared to the water resources required for coal mining, oil drilling/transport/refining, and biofuels/biomass, i'm sure this isn't a bad alternative.

Hot off the presses:

http://tinyurl.com/6ydk9b

The task of the Western Wildlife Habitat Council will be to identify key wildlife corridors and habitats for animals such as pronghorn antelope, sage grouse and bear.

It is also considering the potential impact of energy development — both in the form of oil and gas drilling and new construction of solar and wind generation plants — as well as the matter of infrastructure for the rising population in the region and the effects of climate change.