[This story has been updated. See below the jump.] Development
in the desert can cause serious dust pollution, and utility-
scale solar is no exception to that rule. Any disturbance to the
desert's delicate soils can loose tons of dust into the air. (If
you've driven past Ford Dry Lake on I-10 on a windy day
recently, you've seen an example of this, as heavy dust off the
Genesis Solar Energy Project routinely slows transcontinental
traffic between Blythe and Indio.) That dust can do more than
decrease visibility, and breathability for that matter. It can
also seriously affect desert plant life, including some desert
plants that are being farmed as a renewable energy source
themselves. And according to jojoba farmer Donna Charpied, dust
blowing off the Desert Sunlight construction site adjacent to
her farm in the Chuckwalla Valley has seriously damaged this
year's crop of potential fuel oil. Charpied, who KCET viewers
may remember from an popular episode of California's Gold with
Huell Howser, has been farming