Millions of acres of federal public land in five Western states, including Idaho, could be opened up to solar energy production.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday that more land in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming is needed to support rising demand for clean energy and to meet President Joe Biden’s target of a 100% clean electricity grid by 2035.
More than 5 million acres of land in the five states would be added to an Obama-era plan that expanded permitting for solar projects on federal land in six other states.