Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

Manzanar community concerned about DWP solar siting

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

At a recent public meeting regarding the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power’s plan to build a large photovoltaic “solar ranch” in the Owens Valley, the Manzanar Committee raised serious concerns about the impacts on the nearby Manzanar National Historic Site.

Manzanar National Historic Site. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

They are joined in their concern by our Mono Lake Committee friends at the Los Angles-based community group AADAP, Inc and many in the Manzanar community.

Manzanar Committee Co-chair Bruce Embrey said at the meeting: “The natural environment surrounding Manzanar is an indispensable element in understanding what those incarcerated in America’s concentration camps experienced. The fact that our government chose to incarcerate 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry—2/3rds of whom were American citizens—and to place them in remote, desolate, largely uninhabitable locations is key to understanding what our families and our community were subjected to. In fact, one of the key reasons Manzanar has been such a successful National Park is that the site was not marred by development and has remained largely untouched since World War II.”

Public comments are being taken on the project through December 20.

Read more: Manzanar Committee Co-Chair Bruce Embrey Calls On LADWP To Find Another Location For Solar Farm