(University of Oregon School of Law, 2011) Nagle, John Copeland
This Article examines how the law is being asked to adjudicate
disputed sights in the context of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave is
the best-known and most explored desert in the United States. For
many people, though, the Mojave is missing from any list of
America’s scenic wonders. The evolution in thinking about the
Mojave’s aesthetics takes places in two acts. In the first act, covering
the period from the nineteenth century to 1994, what began as a
curious voice praising the desert’s scenery developed into a powerful
movement that prompted Congress to enact the California Desert
Protection Act (CDPA) of 1994. The second
act begins around 2005, when the nation’s energy policy again turned
to the potential of renewable energy. The Mojave is an obvious
location for large-scale solar energy development, but supposedly
green technology threatens many of the scenic values that Congress
decided to protect in the CDPA.
