Okay, okay, so our one piece yesterday probably wasn’t the decisive factor. In truth, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada most likely played a more significant role, when he vowed to get BLM to reverse its decision. 

"Nevada is the Saudi Arabia of solar energy,” Reid asserted, “and is poised to lead a global clean energy revolution, and we need to do all we can to encourage public and private investment in projects to develop this amazing potential."

(An aside: Back in February, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano stated that the Grand Canyon State should become the “Persian Gulf of solar energy.” Since the Persian Gulf encompasses Saudi Arabia, doesn’t her prior claim wipe out Nevada’s Arabian dream?)

Attempting to save face while wiping some of the egg of it, BLM Director James Caswell (surely to be out of a job come January, no matter who wins) said, "By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections.”

"The real problem here,said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director, “is that the Bush Administration is starving key government agencies of the resources they need to effectively do their jobs.”

We can all rest assured nothing much is going to happen in the way of solar energy until either Obama or McCain takes over, as both at least pay lip service to alternative energy. Still, it’s best that the pathetically slow development of solar and other energy sources is not stopped dead in its tracks. Congress and the Administration are already going a good enough job at that: Currently, for instance, a $6 billion package of alternative energy tax credits, with some $1.3 billion slated for solar, is stalled in Congress.

Still, we won one, which will be more notable if it’s just a start, and not the whole ballgame.