By John Gutekunst for Parker Pioneer
The three members of the U.S. Congress that represent La Paz County have introduced legislation that could add considerably to the land the county had conveyed to them by the Bureau of Land Management.
Sponsored by Arizona U.S. Senators Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema and U.S. District 4 Rep. Paul Gosar, the La Paz County Solar Energy and Job Creation Act will add 4,800 acres of BLM land to the 5,900 acres the county received from the La Paz County Land Conveyance Act.
The land will be used for renewable energy development. It will allow the county to build on its current solar energy project facilitated by the land conveyance bill that was passed in 2019.
McSally said the new bill would give county officials greater control over land management decisions in their community while creating new, high-paying jobs for county residents.
The Chairperson of the La Paz County Board of Supervisors, District 3 Supervisor Holly Irwin, thanked the three members of Congress for introducing the new bill. She noted the location of the land is close to the proposed Ten West Link transmission line, which means electricity produced by a solar plant there could be sent directly to Phoenix and Southern California.
Irwin said the new bill would build on the original land conveyance legislation. She said it was this legislation which allowed the county to announce the development of one of the largest solar projects in the United States.
In March, La Paz County signed an agreement with 174 Power Global, a South Korean company, to build a solar energy facility on 4,000 acres. At 850 megawatts, it will be the largest solar project in the nation. It’s estimated 800 to 1,000 construction jobs will be created, with the facility producing enough power for 300,000 homes.
Read more at Parker Pioneer.
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