Letters to the Editor: Another Solyndra in the Mojave, but with dead Joshua trees?

To the editor: Your article describing habitat and wildlife destruction to construct a solar power plant in the Mojave Desert brings to mind the shameful government-subsidized Solyndra episode of years back. In that instance, the Obama administration guaranteed hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to the solar manufacturer in 2009, only for the company to file for bankruptcy a few years later.

The contractor for the Mojave Desert project claimed his outfit was “shovel ready,” when it actually was not so.

If we cannot trust the promises made by those building these projects, we risk destroying hundreds of Joshua trees only to end up with technical or financial ultimate failure, as with Solyndra. This time, we’d have nothing to show for it except the destruction of habitat and wildlife.

J. Philip Barnes, San Pedro

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To the editor: Is there anyone in charge of this ridiculously destructive project who has vision and common sense?

To destroy a vast and fragile ecosystem for a solar farm that will power buildings far away, when so many of those very same buildings have rooftops perfect for solar panels, is the very definition of insanity.

We myopically continue to destroy the very natural capital that sustains us. How long before Earth gives up on our species?

Sara R. Nichols, Los Angeles