Is a coal mine better for the land than a silica mine? Are a few mines worse for "land" than tens of thousands of square miles of it sinking into the ocean due to sea level rise, taking millions of homes with it? I think people generally value the coastlines more than piles of rock in an unpopulated area of West Virginia or what have you.
Before these recent solar projects, the generating capacity of this area was mostly coal and hydro. The hydro capacity is already exhausted, so the only room for growth is in fossil fuels.
