Working Group 2: Siting
Overview
As large-scale solar projects continue to expand nationwide, where and how these projects are sited is more important than ever. The Siting Working Group is developing a risk-assessment and decision-making framework and related best practices, that integrate social, environmental, and economic considerations in siting large-scale solar projects. This Working Group aims to minimize impacts to sensitive natural, cultural, community, and agricultural lands, reduce costly siting conflicts, and accelerate large-scale solar deployment.
Key Deliverables
Dam Safety and Removal Concept Paper (December 2024)
Dam Safety Action Plan (December 2025)
The Dam Safety Concept Paper documents eight areas where Working Group 2 members identified opportunities to improve dam safety in the United States: dam jurisdiction, emergency action planning, hazard potential classification systems, risk-informed decision-making, state advocacy coalitions, public education and awareness, staffing and workforce, and federal support for non-federal dam safety programs. For each area, the paper describes the issue, related work already underway by organizations such as ASDSO, FEMA, and USACE, relevant stakeholders, potential pathways to address the issue, and known risks and challenges. Rather than identifying gaps that have gone unnoticed, the paper focuses on where the Uncommon Dialogue's partnerships could complement work already in progress.
The Dam Safety Action Plan builds on that foundation by prioritizing five of those issues as the most pressing and achievable in the short-term, and by laying out potential solutions for each. These include support for state dam management, state and local messaging and information sharing, emergency action planning, low-head dam safety, and hazard potential classifications and risk-informed approaches. For every priority issue, the plan describes core challenges, existing related work, and specific tasks that Uncommon Dialogue partners and others could consider to advance solutions. The plan also documents several longer-term issues for future consideration and catalogs dam safety resources in the appendix.
Project Timeline
All products will be completed by the end of 2026 and made available to the public in early 2027.
Resources
Working Group Co-Chairs
Maren Taylor – Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)
Echo Cartwright – The Nature Conservancy (TNC)