Sage and Sand: The Heartbreak On Their Faces

The Heartbreak On Their Faces
A lawsuit over an erstwhile clean energy project with negative impacts to the environment and human communities made news in recent weeks… and the sun also rises. This time, the action is at the edge of the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the tiny desert town of Gerlach. A group of plaintiffs beloved of the Black Rock Desert sued BLM over their approval of a geothermal exploration project by, you guessed it, Ormat. Now, as we’ve seen with the little central Nevada toad we’re so fond of, lawsuits against erstwhile clean energy projects make news. But this one really raised eyebrows because of the plaintiff group, headed up by Burning Man Project. Burning Man is a cultural touchstone and also a lightning rod – seems like everyone has an opinion. So their participation in the suit has brought a tremendous amount of scrutiny, and some amount of heckling, from all quarters. Their co-plaintiffs are Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Friends of the Black Rock, a local Gerlach resident, and the owner of Great Boiling Spring, a nearby hot spring.

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