Native American tribes have concerns about solar power plants.

Barbara Durham, of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe in Death Valley, Calif., expressed the tribes' concerns about the proposed Solar Millennium project in Amargosa Valley at Tuesday's Bureau of Land Management public scoping meeting.

"It seems like yesterday we were having to protect our rights and our land, and here we are again," Durham said, referring to the tribes' activism on the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository.

"I will say our tribe is in favor of alternative energy, but I think we're going to have to support the people of Amargosa Valley on how this is going to affect them and us down the road," Durham said. "We have concerns about our cultural sites here in this area.

"We have a government- to-government relationship with the BLM and we haven't even begun talking to the BLM about this project. You should at least talk to us.

"Also tearing up the grounds is a concern," Durham said. "A lot of residents have talked about the eyesore this is going to cause and the heat that's going to radiate from it. I'm not sure how that's going to go, but I'm sure it's going to be a problem in the future."