John Upton/The Bay Citizen

Activists brought a captive desert tortoise to a May protest in Oakland against the Ivanapah solar power plant

Gov. Jerry Brown firmly picked a side in a battle that has pitched renewable energy against a threatened species.

Some environmentalists are fighting against plans by BrightSource, an international solar power company with offices in Oakland, to build a sprawling solar power plant in the Mojave Desert because it woud kill desert tortoises and destroy their habitat.

The environmental groups argue that solar panels should instead be installed on rooftops and in other urban areas, close to where the power is needed.

On Thursday, Brown's office filed a legal brief in federal court asking a judge to dismiss a request for an injunction sought by those environmentalists, arguing that delaying construction of the 370 megawatt Ivanapah power plant would not be in the public interest.

“California has a strong and demonstrated interest in increasing its renewable energy and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions," Brown said in a statement issued Friday.

According to the Associated Press, the federal government halted the project after a scentific assessment determined that up to 700 baby desert would be killed during the construction of the plant and 3,520 acres of their habitat would disappear.

But in June, construction resumed after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the project would not pose a threat to the tortoises, the A.P. reported.

Much of the power produced by the new power plant will be sold by Pacific Gas & Electric to its customers, helping the utility reach renewable energy goals mandated by California lawmakers.