Joshua trees growing for over 100 years will be cleared for solar farm in California

Century-old Joshua trees in the California desert will be cleared to make way for clean energy. 

The 2,300-acre solar project is going up near near Boron, in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The area of Kern County from which the project is slated has a poverty rate twice that of the state’s average. The solar farm will generate intermittent power for 180,000 homes in wealthier coastal neighborhoods. 

Besides the destruction of old trees, the residents living near the project say county and state officials who approved the project have ignored their other concerns about construction dust and impacts to endangered desert tortoises.

According to the Times, the controversy highlights “tradeoffs” between reducing carbon dioxide emission in electricity generation and the land-intensive environmental impacts of the wind and solar industry.