By Laura Godfrey, Joshua Marnitz and Janice Schneider
On July 27, 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as joint lead agencies announced the availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (Final Solar PEIS). 77 Fed. Reg. 44267 (July 27, 2012). Release of the Final Solar PEIS represents the near-culmination of a process begun by BLM and DOE (the Agencies) in May 2008