San Bernardino County, Calif., has banned construction of solar and wind projects on more than 1 million acres of private land. Although California’s largest county, located northeast of Los Angeles, has been home to large-scale renewable energy facilities since the 1980s, residents of several rural desert communities have now sought to block any new projects due to fears of overindustrialization and disruption to high-desert ecosystems. Eight solar projects currently in the permitting process will be allowed to proceed, along with six others that have received conditional approval.