Concentrating solar thermal power plants, which focus the heat of the sun to boil liquids and spin generators, can consume large quantities of water and use vast areas of previously untouched wild areas, participants told the Bureau of Land Management at a hearing Wednesday night at the Clarion hotel in Las Vegas.

Some solar thermal plants, which use wet cooling, consume the same quantity of water as wet-cooled coal-fired plants, although water consumption can be cut by 90 percent with dry-cooling technology.

Government experts also said solar thermal plants typically need five acres for every megawatt of electricity produced.

John Hiatt, a representative of the Audubon Society, said he supported solar energy but worries developers will clear a large area only to abandon the project, permanently damaging the environment.

Other forms of renewable energy also have drawn criticism. Some complain that wind turbines kill birds although critics argue that domesticated cats kill far more birds than turbines. Geothermal power, which is derived from hot underground water, can cause hydrogen sulfide pollution, according to the California Air Resources Board. Many environmentalists believe it's more important to reduce carbon dioxide gas from coal-fired power plants and thus slow global warming than to preserve every tract of public land, said Charles Benjamin, director of the Nevada office of Western Resource Advocates.

Others want public lands kept pristine and undeveloped.

"In the area of renewable energy and energy generally, there is no free lunch, just like in life," Benjamin said Thursday.

The BLM is expected to deal with issues like those in rules it is preparing to govern how and where it leases federal land in six states, including Nevada, to solar power developers.

Solar power developers complained that the BLM has stopped taking applications for solar power plant leases while it writes those rules over the next 22 months. Officials said they already have received and will continue to process 130 applications for leasing land for solar power plants.

"Freezing the industry will effectively stunt the industry and effectively destroy the industry before it gets off the ground," said Sean Kiernan of Ausra, the California company that is building a solar power component assembly plant in Las Vegas.

Terry Page, a representative of Acciona Energy, which operates the Nevada Solar One thermal plant at Boulder City, and Rachel Gold of Solar Millennium, a California solar developer, also opposed the freeze.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he objected to the freeze and will look for ways to accelerate the processing of solar plant lease applications.

Joni Eastley, chairwoman of the Nye County Board of Commissioners, said the county is excited about solar development but urged BLM to plan solar development carefully with "responsible stewardship of renewable resources."

Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, expressed no reservations: "I'm 100 percent for this renewable energy, particularly when it comes to solar. If we can't make it work in Nevada, there's truly something wrong with America."

Goedhart said the country should set and exceed goals for renewable energy, showing the kind of determination that led to man's landing on the moon.

"Show people around the world that we can still make something happen," he said.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.