When Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to preserve 1.7 million acres of California desert lands on Monday, most of the media led with the observation that her bill would "block several planned solar power projects in the process." Variations on this theme were found in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Gizmodo and, I have to admit, my own blog.

A Wall Street Journal headline accurately summed up the story as presented by the paper: "Green Battle Rages in Desert." But does this High Noon rhetoric match reality in the Mojave Desert (where most of the protected lands are)?

Not so much, as it turns out.

Build it Right and They Will Come

"We need to develop our renewable resources if we are to address the challenge of climate change," says Johanna Wald, NRDC's expert on balancing clean energy and conservation on Western lands. "But that development must be carried out in an environmentally responsible way. If it is done right, informed environmentalists will, I believe, stand up in support."

So far, Wald appears to have called it.

In addition to having the support of several environmental groups, Feinstein's bill includes some unlikely backers: major players in the solar power industry. These include Cogentrix Energy, which already owns a solar thermal project in the Mojave, and the parent company of Southern California Edison, one of the largest utilities in the nation.

When she introduced the California Desert Protection Act of 2010, Feinstein noted: "Over the course of the past year, we have worked painstakingly to ensure that this legislation balances the needs of all stakeholders." The result is a far more nuanced bill than the "solar killer" plan portrayed in much of the media. (Read a much more positive description of the bill from a wind industry trade journal.)

The renewable energy sector's input is reflected in several sections of Feinstein's bill, including:

• Making the permitting process faster and easier.
• Allowing electrical transmission lines to pass through certain areas of the Mojave.
• Facilitating the relocation of solar projects already planned for the newly restricted zones into the Solar Energy Study Areas now being planned by the Bureau of Land Management.
• Allowing the Department of the Interior to make exceptions for building solar and wind projects in protected areas in cases that are "in the national interest."
• Grants and loan guarantees for research into less intrusive transmission technologies.

Perhaps recognizing that the solar-friendly elements may have been buried in his long New York Times piece, writer Todd Woody highlighted those sections in his Green Wombat blog, under the headline: "Feinstein solar ban offers some innovative incentives."

Real battles do exist over siting utility-scale renewable energy plants. But Feinstein's bill isn't an example of them.

Rather, her proposed legislation may demonstrate how a maturing environmental movement can act quickly, but not hastily, to preserve wilderness while developing a low-carbon economy.