Under the Bush Administration, an all-out effort was made to open up public lands for oil and gas leasing. The Obama Administration, including Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar it seems, is looking at alternatives.

Mr. Salazar, appearing in Las Vegas with Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, said that 670,000 acres of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (an agency within the Department of the Interior) would be studied to determine whether they could support large solar power arrays.

Twenty-four tracts of land in six states — Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah — are under review. Maps of the land will be published shortly in the Federal Register.

Given the current need to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, re-build our energy infrastructure, and Obama’s desire to create green jobs to stimulate the economy, it seems pretty inevitable that some public lands will continue to be opened up to energy production. And if the choice is between ripping up the landscape in an increasingly desperate quest for more oil and covering a few thousand acres with solar panels, bring on the solar panels.