Delta County rejects solar proposal that would generate millions in tax revenue
On March 2, the Republican-controlled Delta County Board of Commissioners rejected a proposed 80-megawatt solar project on private land that would have supplied the Delta-Montrose Electric Association with renewable energy. The 472-acre solar farm, creating enough local energy to power 18,000 homes annually, also would have generated an estimated $13 million in tax revenue over 15 years. This baffling decision was unsupported by law or fact, and flies in the face of energy independence, local control, private property rights, and other of their touted principles.
What does this have to do with Gunnison County? For years, Gunnison County has tried to be a good neighbor to Delta County. As a result, Delta County Commissioners have exerted outsized influence on fossil fuel development on public lands in Gunnison County. They champion the expansion of the West Elk coal mine onto roadless lands of the Gunnison National Forest, despite its staggering climate impacts. They champion natural gas development on public lands in the very headwaters of the Upper North Fork of the Gunnison River, despite impacts to wildlife, water quality, and climate. Their embrace of fossil fuels has become so extreme that they have no qualms promoting coal and gas extraction on PUBLIC lands in Gunnison County, while rejecting – without any grounding in applicable law or regulation – renewable energy production on PRIVATE lands within their jurisdiction.
The negative impacts of this decision are deep and broad: it undermines Colorado’s renewable energy goals, stifles future renewable investment in Delta County, and shortchanges taxpayers. Meanwhile, Gunnison County is left holding the bag, a bag consisting of increased wildfire risk, less snowpack, hotter temperatures, drought, dying trees, and diminished wildlife habitat.
