You’ll recall the recent hubbub over the Bureau of Land Management’s decision, now reversed, to stop accepting applications for new solar energy projects on public lands until an environmental impact study can be completed. 

As part of that environmental impact study, the BLM and the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will accept public comments until July 15, 2008. If you’d like to contribute to this process, you can submit your thoughts on the Web, or by mail to:

Solar Energy PEIS Scoping

Argonne National Laboratory

9700 S. Cass Ave. – EVS/900

Argonne, IL 60439

For those of us who haven’t done this sort of thing before, here are some tips from the agencies on how to comment effectively.

This just in:

“In response to public interest in solar energy development, the Bureau of Land Management is announcing that it plans to continue accepting applications for future potential solar development on the public lands. The BLM will process these applications, while continuing to identify issues during public scoping currently underway for the programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS).”

Here’s the pdf of the press release from the Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS site.

Today, Reuters reports on the solar industry’s reaction to the Bureau of Land Management’s announcement that solar development on BLM lands will be halted until a region-wide environmental impact study can be completed.

Last Friday, Earth2Tech reported some less-taken-aback reactions from companies Nanosolar and BrightSource.

Yesterday, Red Green and Blue opined that the BLM is responsibly considering solar development on public lands in light of the National Environmental Policy Act. (I don’t think any rational solar enthusiast is against environmental impact studies, but rather against the seemingly sudden 22-month halt on new development.)

For information straight from the source, check the Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS site, which includes dates for public meetings, a FAQ, comment form, and a sign-up page for email updates. (Hat tip to Clean Edge for pointing out this resource.)