Congress designated the Old Spanish Trail in 2002. The U.S. Department of Interior was then supposed to submit a plan for the trail’s use and management – but never did.
That’s why the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is leading a lawsuit against the federal agency.
Laura Dumais, the group’s staff counsel who filed suit on Dec. 9, said in the last decade alone, the trail has been damaged by dozens of projects.
“Things like oil and gas drilling or a solar panel installation,” Dumais explained. “You can imagine the purpose of this trail is to be able to walk along it and see what the landscape looked like back when it was used. And you’re looking at a solar installation – kind of defeats the purpose of the trail, right?
“The point is not that there should be no solar installations,” she continued. “That they should be placed properly, and they shouldn’t be impacting this national, historic treasure.”
