By Martin Bricketto

Law360, New York (June 28, 2011, 2:34 PM ET) -- Environmental group Western Watersheds Project on Monday asked a California federal court to block the construction of a massive solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert because of its impact on desert tortoises and other wildlife.

Western Watersheds said its request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order halting construction of BrightSource Energy Inc.'s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Project is partly based on new information showing that the project's consequences for threatened desert tortoises were “vastly underestimated” during the U.S. Bureau of Land...