The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment on a proposed solar-and-storage project in southern California, as the Biden administration backs a federal-state plan that goes back to former President Barack Obama to balance conservation and energy development in the California desert, Kallanish reports.

The 500-megawatt Oberon project by IP Land Holdings would be located on 1,902 hectares of public lands in Riverside County within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan that was approved in 2016 and covers 8.9 million hectares of federal and state lands including 4.4m hectares of federal lands. It could be one of the first projects to be approved under the federal-state rules in the California desert.

The administration of President Joe Biden is supporting that plan that had been approved by Obama, who had approved about 60 renewable projects producing 15.5 gigawatts in the area. The Trump administration had largely ignored the designated desert area until the final days in office when it tried to significantly weaken the plan.

Earlier this month, the Interior Department killed a proposal by President Donald Trump’s team that would have removed designations inside the DRECP protecting 1.6m hectares for wildlife habitat. Last January, the Trump BLM had argued that too much land was being set aside for wildlife and not enough was being provided for development.

The BLM is starting an environmental review of the project and seeking public scoping comments through April 19. A virtual pubic scoping meeting will be held from 5 to 7 pm April 13.

The Oberon project would produce enough electricity to power 200,000 homes, says IP Holdings, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Intersect Power.