Aaron and Kate are joined by Grace Wu, an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara, to talk about her research on balancing renewable energy development and conservation in the West. The study examined the potential habitat loss and land use impacts of developing the complete set of onshore wind, offshore wind, large-scale solar, distributed solar, transmission, and bioenergy resources needed to reach economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 for the 11 western US states.

• Minimizing habitat conflicts in meeting net-zero energy targets in the western United States – PNAS
  
  
• Breaking down the”breakthrough” Colorado River deal – Land Desk
  
  
• Public lands rule information – Bureau of Land Management
  
  
• USGS rejects push to make copper a ‘critical’ mineral – E&E News
  

Hosts: Kate Groetzinger & Aaron Weiss 

Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org

Music: Purple Planet

Featured image: Bureau of Land Management/Flickr 

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