This piece from TWW’s Andy Tobin originally ran in the Arizona Republic/ AZCentral on August 12, 2025, and can be accessed here.
La Paz County is writing a playbook that many other communities across the American West can and should emulate.
Andy Tobin
A battle is being fought to loosen red tape and blunt political activist groups that fight productive use of federal land.
Conservative leaders aim to streamline permitting and empower local land management.
La Paz County's Atlas Solar Project exemplifies successful collaboration for renewable energy development.
One of the biggest challenges of living in the American West is the federal government’s control over massive expanses of land.
The problem isn’t public ownership. Instead, it’s the overly bureaucratic decision-making process from federal agencies, and the constant threat of lawsuits from outside interest groups that oppose any form of development of productive use of this land.
Thankfully, however, conservative leaders in Washington, D.C., are fighting to loosen the red tape and blunt political activist groups in Western states.
The battle is being fought on two fronts. The first is broad-based permitting reform, which is being spearheaded by the Trump White House.
Trump officials are imposing deadlines and page limits for documents generated under the National Environmental Policy Act, a decades-old law that established the review process for energy projects and other forms of development on federal land.
The Trump administration is also modernizing the systems for implementing NEPA reviews, because most federal agencies “were still using outdated NEPA regulations from the 1980s,” according to a recent White House update.
The second front in the battle involves finding areas of federal land and worthy projects that would be better managed by state and local governments — and in this area, La Paz County is setting an example that other communities across the West can follow.
For the past 10 years, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona has worked with officials in La Paz County to harness the region’s massive solar energy resources.
Rep. Gosar has pushed legislation to convey thousands of acres of federal land to the county, so that local officials could work with solar energy developers to make their projects happen.
In 2020, Rep. Gosar’s efforts resulted in the federal government handing roughly 5,900 acres of land to La Paz County for the development of the Atlas Solar Project.
Initially, the Atlas project called for 700 megawatts of solar generation and 1,000 megawatt-hours of battery storage to allow electricity generated during the day to be used at all hours of the day and night as needed.
This would generate enough power for 105,000 homes, create 900 construction jobs and support 15 permanent jobs once the project becomes operational, according to testimony presented during a House subcommittee meeting.
This would make Atlas one of the largest projects of its kind in North America, but as the developers of the project started work, a further expansion was proposed.
The next phase of the Atlas project would add another 500 megawatts of solar power and 900 megawatt-hours of energy storage, generating 700 additional construction jobs and another 10 permanent positions at the facility.
But to proceed, the Atlas project needs access to more land — and Rep. Gosar just took a giant step closer to making it happen.
In July, legislation to convey another 3,400 acres of federal land to La Paz County passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Support for the legislation was so broadly bipartisan that it even passed by voice vote.
On the House floor, Rep. Gosar explained the importance of the Atlas project and other energy investments to growing the local economy of La Paz County and supporting the wider Arizona economy.
“Conveying the land to the county for solar maximizes the potential for renewable energy generation and unlocks employment opportunities for county residents,” Gosar said. “It is simple: energy and jobs.”
“As Arizona expands its technology and semiconductor industries, it is critical to meet the needs of our electric grid,” Gosar explained. “I believe we must take an all-of-the-above energy approach to ensure the grid’s reliability.”
The 3,400-acre conveyance still must clear the Senate and be signed into law by President Trump. But given the broad base of support that Rep. Gosar has already built in Washington, there’s good reason to believe it will happen.
La Paz County is writing a playbook that many other communities across the American West can and should emulate.
Because at a time when manufacturing investment and jobs are coming back to America, we need to maximize energy production from every feasible source to meet existing and future demand.
Simply put, we can’t afford to let our federal lands sit idle when they have so much to contribute to this next great chapter of American history.
Andy Tobin is former speaker of the Arizona House and a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission. He is president and owner of Tobin Business Solutions LLC and director of The Western Way’s Arizona Rural Energy Network. Reach him on X at @Andy_Tobin.