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Re:US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year by sapote on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @11:00PM (#15290446)
There are studies that have found that the net carbon impact of such desert solar arrays can actually be detrimental -- that is, installing the solar arrays in the desert causes an imbalance in desert soil ecology causing a release of soil carbon that exceeds the carbon benefit of the solar array. Here's one article on it, but I'm sure you can find others:

http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-solar-proje...

Re:US solar plant costs fall another 30 per cent in one year by r00fus on Tuesday September 19, 2017 @11:20PM (#15290535)
That article has all the standard petroleum industry claims: bird deaths (cats kill more birds by a factor of 100x), Native American tribal opposition, and whole lot of data meant to fit a narrative.

The US can't quit coal/oil - because the alternatives along with advanced batteries would sideline petroleum. And we certainly can't have that.