Southern California’s Joshua trees are considered treasures of the region. However, Legal Insurrection has highlighted some interesting developments surrounding a new solar energy farm that is planned in rural Kern County and will begin construction next month. LI reveals that some of the Joshua trees may have to go in order to make room for the solar-oriented edifice, despite assurances to the contrary by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Legal Insurrection says the controversy over the solar farm began two years ago when Kern County’s Board of Supervisors approved the project despite concerns on the part of residents. However, LI says that the company that will construct and operate the project, Avantus, says on their website that some of the trees may have to be cut down saying that doing so would prevent them from being impacted by (you guessed it) climate change (emphasis mine).

Avantus is working to preserve native Mojave plants like Joshua Trees while also preserving California’s ability to achieve its clean energy goals – and the economic and climate benefits that come with them. While trees will be impacted during project construction, vastly more Joshua Trees are being threatened by climate change caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions, which the Aratina solar project directly addresses.

Unsurprisingly, as LI Points out, one environmentalist took to a local newspaper to express his concerns about the solar energy facility since it will impact Joshua Trees. Yet it is environmentalists like him who back renewable energy schemes (like wind and solar) to begin with and the project will undoubtedly be scrapped down the line due to litigation started by an environmentalist group, like the NRDC or Friends of the Earth.

This is another example of the bait-and-switch environmentalists engage in. They push for wind and solar energy as two of the alternatives to fossil fuel-fired power plants. But when the actual work is about to begin, environmentalists oppose the edifices’ construction citing environmental concerns.

There are many examples of environmentalist’s playing the bait-and-switch game and it goes to show that their so-called alternatives to fossil fuels and other energy sources, like nuclear, is nothing more than wind dressing. Environmentalists are not serious about their alternatives, only in destroying civilization by robbing people of cheap, abundant sources of energy.