{"id":39923,"date":"2022-06-20T16:21:52","date_gmt":"2022-06-20T22:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-our-new-cash-crop-a-land-rush-for-renewable-energy-is-transforming-the-eastern-plains\/"},"modified":"2022-06-20T22:21:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T22:21:52","slug":"its-our-new-cash-crop-a-land-rush-for-renewable-energy-is-transforming-the-eastern-plains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/its-our-new-cash-crop-a-land-rush-for-renewable-energy-is-transforming-the-eastern-plains\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s our new cash crop\u2019: A land rush for renewable energy is transforming the Eastern Plains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A wind farm in Washington County, as seen from Colorado 71 in June. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado\u2019s Eastern Plains \u2013 from Yuma County cornfields to Prowers County feedlots and the wheat and sorghum fields in Kiowa County \u2013 are set to undergo their biggest transformation in more than a century as clean electricity is added to the crops they produce.<\/p>\n

There is already a flurry of activity as wind and solar developers \u2013 more than a dozen have turned up in Yuma and Kiowa counties \u2013 are locking up acreage for prospective projects in leases with ranchers and farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had windmills around here for a long time. These are just bigger,\u201d said Jan Kochis, 73, whose family runs a farm and cattle operation in Elbert County, and already has wind turbines on her land, generating royalties.<\/p>\n

\"Wind
Wind turbines are the backdrop for corrals near Matheson in Elbert County. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s our new cash crop. We don\u2019t have to worry about the rain or hail, as long as the wind blows,\u201d Kochis said.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is sanguine about what is coming. \u201cOnce these big companies come in, we are going to lose control,\u201d said William Harman, 54, who runs a family cattle business and farm in Washington County. \u201cOnce you sign a lease you lose control.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spur for all this activity is Xcel Energy\u2019s recently approved $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission project \u2013 which will belt eastern Colorado with 560 miles of high-tension transmission lines \u2013 an electric highway to Front Range cities and suburbs for new wind and solar installations.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s climate goals leads to creation of the Power Pathway<\/div>\n

Power Pathway is, in turn, the product of Colorado\u2019s push, embedded in state law, to reduce its emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gasses. The goal for the state is a 50% reduction over 2005 levels by 2030 and a steeper 80% reduction for the utility industry.<\/p>\n

The pair of 350-kilovolt transmission lines \u2013 looping from Fort Saint Vrain in the north down to rural Kiowa County and then over to Pueblo and up to Aurora \u2013 is the backbone of Xcel Energy\u2019s plan to develop clean electricity generation and meet state mandates.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next 10 years the electric grid in Colorado is going to be transitioning from thermal fossil fuel plants to largely wind and solar,\u201d Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner John Gavan said at a recent session on climate change. \u201cWe are going to be slathering the Eastern Plains with wind and solar.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the communities on the plains, Power Pathway will spark one of the biggest changes since 1909 when the Enlarged Homestead Act doubled the permitted homestead to 320 acres in an effort to promote nonirrigated or dryland farming.<\/p>\n

\"Monte
Monte Willeke, 69, farms wheat and hay in Washington County. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe live out here, we own this land and all of sudden these companies are coming in saying we are going to do this and we are going to do that, without us having much say, particularly on transmission,\u201d said Monte Willeke, 69, who farms wheat, hay and millet for livestock in Washington County. \u201cThe money is all right. It is the longevity that bothers me and having to look at those transmission lines and wind mills forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Tom Jackson, who raises corn outside the town of Joes, in Yuma County, said, \u201cmaybe 60% of the people are OK with it, either way everybody realizes it\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Xcel Energy, the state\u2019s largest electricity provider, the project is all about chickens and eggs and fields of dreams.<\/p>\n

Since 2007, Xcel Energy has retired 900 megawatts of coal-fired power plants \u2013 the main source of its greenhouse gases \u2013 with another 1,410 MW slated to be closed by the end of 2030.<\/p>\n

To help fill the gap and provide for growth, Xcel Energy wants to add 2,300 MW of solar generation, 1,600 MW of new wind farms and 400 MW of storage \u2013 much of it through independent wind and solar developers selling electricity to the utility.<\/p>\n

There is a catch. Usually, generation projects are built first and then transmission is added to link the plant to the grid, but Xcel Energy is seeking to develop so many new projects and at such a quick tempo, in an effort to capture expiring federal tax credits, that without assured transmission it won\u2019t get done.<\/p>\n

At stake is as much as $850 million in tax credits, provided projects are up and running by the end of 2025. Whatever part of the cost isn\u2019t covered by the credits may have to be paid by Xcel Energy customers.<\/p>\n

Building the Power Pathway even before there are any solar fields or wind farms is, Xcel Energy executives said in PUC testimony, a way to avoid the \u201cchicken-and-egg dilemma.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor clean energy resources and emission reductions in Colorado, the Pathway Project through the Eastern Plains is the \u2018Field of Dreams,\u2019\u201d Alice Jackson, then-CEO of Xcel\u2019s Colorado subsidiary, said in testimony last year.<\/p>\n

Build it and they will come \u2013 and coming they are. Engie North America, a subsidiary of a French multinational corporation, is looking to build a wind farm in Yuma County and Enel Green Power, an Italian energy company, is working on a wind project in Elbert County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big land rush. Everyone is jockeying to get into position,\u201d said R.J. Jolly, a Cheyenne County commissioner and farmer, who has signed a wind lease agreement with Enel. \u201cThere is a lot of money on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the best natural wind resources in the country<\/div>\n

To be sure, the plains are no stranger to renewable generation. They are already home to 237 MW of solar installations and more than 2,200 wind turbines in 38 wind farms, across 11 counties, with 4,800 MW of generating capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.<\/p>\n

The Eastern Plains have some of the best natural wind resources in the county, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and in 2020, wind turbines produced 23% of Colorado\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n

But while those facilities were built over the last 18 years, Power Pathway and Xcel\u2019s $8 billion Clean Energy Plan envisions adding almost as much capacity in the next five or six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Power Pathway Project is virtually unprecedented in scope and cost in Colorado history,\u201d the PUC said in its decision approving the project.<\/p>\n

When the Rush Creek Wind Project, the state\u2019s largest wind farm, was built in 2018 \u2013 across 95,000 acres in Lincoln, Kit Carson, Cheyenne and Elbert counties \u2013 a legion of construction workers, trucks and heavy machinery flooded the region.<\/p>\n

\"Wind
Wind turbines near Matheson are part of Xcel Energy\u2019s 600 megawatt Rush Creek Wind Project. (John Leyba\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe are a small rural county, all of a sudden you have a thousand workers show-up,\u201d Jolly said. \u201cThere is no place to stay, the hotels are full, the RV parks are full, some guys are commuting 70 miles from Colorado Springs. It really takes a toll on your emergency services, the police and fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Limon, a rented bedroom went for $1,700 a month and local residents in Burlington, for a fee, were taking in workers\u2019 wash because the laundromat was closed on Sunday, a NREL impact study reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be chaotic and feel messy, but when you are done you have a new level of economic activity you wouldn\u2019t have had without the boom,\u201d said Greg Brophy, a former state senator, Yuma County farmer and state director for The Western Way, which bills itself as \u201cconservative stewards of the Western environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

From 2000 to 2024, even without Power Pathway, renewable energy industries will have spent an estimated $9.4 billion in construction and investment activity on the Eastern Plains and in 2024 \u2013 based on existing and approved facilities \u2013 wind farms will provide $15.2 million in lease payments to landowners, and pay $23.1 million in property taxes, according to a Western Way analysis.<\/p>\n

\"Xcel
Xcel Energy\u2019s Pawnee power plant in Morgan County. (Photos by Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Xcel
Xcel Energy\u2019s Pawnee power plant in Morgan County. (Photos by Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
What\u2019s this mean for the 13 counties along the route?<\/div>\n

Now, to a lesser or greater degree, the Rush Creek story may be repeated across the 13 counties Power Pathway will affect and county governments, ranchers and farmers are bracing for change.<\/p>\n

To understand the potential impacts \u2013 for plains residents and Xcel Energy customers as well \u2013 a journey along the Power Pathway\u2019s route is revealing.<\/p>\n

The project will be built in five segments. The precise route still isn\u2019t set as Xcel Energy tries to trace the Power Pathway of least resistance among landowners and local governments.<\/p>\n

Xcel Energy estimates it will have to negotiate with as many as 700 landowners and pay $123 million for land rights and related activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working with landowners, talking with counties \u2026 trying to find the route that is least impactful to the community,\u201d Hollie Velasquez Horvath, Xcel\u2019s regional vice president for state affairs and community relations.<\/p>\n

The company does have \u201cbackstop authority\u201d to take a right-of-way by eminent domain, a power it has never used.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing a backstop isn\u2019t creating a good partnership and creating a relationship for the future,\u201d Velasquez Horvath said. \u201cWe are going to be there for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first leg of the line \u2013 Segment 1 \u2013 will run 75 miles from the Fort St. Vrain substation, an existing link to the electric grid, to the Pawnee substation in Morgan County. The county is already seeing solar power development as Denver-based Pivot Energy is building five solar arrays.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway Segment 1<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Morgan County has a moratorium, set to expire in July, on any new wind or solar projects while it updates ordinances. \u201cWe saw that our regulations were behind the times,\u201d said Jon Becker, a Morgan County commissioner. \u201cWe didn\u2019t deal with battery storage and we felt that was going to come with any renewable energy project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some small-scale solar, but we are expecting larger projects,\u201d he said, \u201c800 to 3,000 acres wouldn\u2019t be a surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pivot Energy agrees. \u201cEastern Plains counties have ideal topography to support large-scale solar development,\u201d Jon Fitzpatrick, Pivot senior vice president for project development, said in an email. \u201cThe use of this land for solar is also economically favorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A solar array in Brush, run by Pivot and Xcel Energy, became operational in early 2020. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Solar is fine, but Becker questions whether it will fill the bill. \u201cIt is a nice addition to the county, but at the same time we have environmentalists running out the largest taxpayer in the county,\u201d he said. Xcel Energy\u2019s plans call for closing part of the coal-fired Pawnee Generation Station and converting part to natural gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoal has been a great partner in this county,\u201d Becker said. \u201cSolar and wind are nice, but by no means do they pay the taxes or create the employment of a coal-fired power plant. Xcel says that operations may be similar, but until we see it, we are cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the Pawnee substation Power Pathway swings east and south for 160 miles \u2013 in Segment 2 \u2013 through Washington, Yuma, Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties. Segment 2 is a key section for developing wind and solar projects and is slated to go into service in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway Segment 2<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In Washington County the line may run by the Harman Cattle Co. Harmans have lived on this land since 1904 and today five Harman families have farming and livestock operations on their 12,000 acres.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are good farmers. We live off the land,\u201d Harman said. \u201cPeople ought to pay attention to the land, not royalties.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concern is that a forest of wind turbines \u2013 with their blinking red lights all night, a warning for aircraft \u2013 will irrevocably alter a landscape of dappled prairie dotted with black cattle that sweeps to the horizon in every direction, capped by a sky working the cool end of the color pallet in shades of baby blue to slate.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur open spaces do need to be preserved,\u201d Harman said. \u201cThe night sky is beautiful. That is something I\u2019d miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harman\u2019s wife, Kim, 53, tells the story of a night sky \u2013 thick with stars, the Milky Way clear and vivid \u2013 that brought tears to the eyes of a Japanese 4-H exchange student.<\/p>\n

In addition to the blinking lights and broken landscape, there are concerns about noise from the turbine blades and \u201cshadow flicker\u201d that the turning blades can cast on nearby homes at certain times of the day.<\/p>\n

\"Red
Red flashing lights located atop each wind turbine are installed to alert pilots in the dark, but can be seen as a nuisance contributing to light pollution. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Washington County imposed a moratorium on wind projects in 2020, while it worked on an ordinance, which was adopted last fall. \u201cWe\u2019ve the regulations in place to handle applications,\u201d Commissioner Kent Vance said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen any projects yet. \u2026 We\u2019ve heard of leasing of land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up the road from the Harmans, Willeke is part of a group trying to organize farmers and other landowners to negotiate the Power Pathway right-of-way with Xcel Energy. This effort is based on a similar group negotiation three years ago when an oil pipeline project came through.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is they keep changing the route,\u201d Willeke said. He suspects the utility seeks the most compliant landowners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not against landowners putting a tower on their property or a transmission line, I am more concerned about making sure the property owner is compensated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Race for credits<\/div>\n

The haste to get everything done \u2013 the transmission lines, the wind farms and solar arrays \u2013 is being fueled by the race to get the federal tax credits, Willeke said. \u201cThe federal government created this.\u201d<\/p>\n

To get the credits \u2013 which are calculated based on the amount of electricity a wind farm or solar array generates \u2013 an installation has to be in operation by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

For 1,000 MW of new wind resources the tax credit is worth $300 million and for 1,000 MW of solar it comes to about $100 million, according to an Xcel Energy PUC filing.<\/p>\n

\"A
A horse grazes on in Morgan County on May 23. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Xcel Energy is proposing 3,900 MW of new wind and solar in its electric resource and clean energy plans now pending before the PUC. That adds up to a potential $850 million in federal credits.<\/p>\n

And while the PUC has approved the Power Pathway project, it still hasn\u2019t ruled on Xcel Energy\u2019s plans for new generation or its clean energy plan, which aims to cut carbon emissions by 87% by 2030.<\/p>\n

In its approval of Power Pathway, the commission established a sliding scale of penalties and bonuses for cost overruns or coming in under budget, as well as completing or not completing sections on time.<\/p>\n

If Xcel Energy doesn\u2019t complete Segments 2 and 3 \u2013 both key to a wind and solar built-out \u2013 by the end of 2025, it could face a $10 million penalty. The commission, however, rejected a proposal from the state Utility Consumer Advocate for a budget cap on the entire project.<\/p>\n

\"A
A 2-day-old calf sits motionless in a corn field near Yuma on Feb. 13, 2019. (Austin Humphreys\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Oil and gas landmen now are scouting wind, solar<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Power Pathway moves forward and the land rush is on for projects.<\/p>\n

Yuma County, cheek and jowl with Nebraska, has been Colorado\u2019s top corn producer, but it also has been far off the wind and solar development radar. Not anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are close to a half dozen companies obtaining leases that we are aware of,\u201d Andrea Calhoon, the county administrator, said in an email. \u201cWe are anticipating a fair amount of conversation over the next couple of years in response to the Power Pathway project.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Greg Hill, 49, the lease offer by Engie first came in a packet in the mail. Then there was a follow-up with a company representative, Dan Timmer, who used to be a landman, acquiring mineral rights for oil and gas operators.<\/p>\n

The Hill family came to the region in the late 1800s and they own 15 eastern Yuma County quarter sections, in conservation easements, pasture, dryland farming and irrigated farming. (The invention of center-pivot irrigation in Strasburg in 1948 was the last big innovation on the plains, though it impacts only a fraction of land in Colorado.)<\/p>\n

\"(The
(The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hill leased every acre he could for wind turbines. \u201cIf global warming is real, and it is, we need to address it,\u201d he said. \u201cI am a little nervous about having a giant company come in and do this, but I will be excited to see those turbines go up.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is more than altruism at work. Engie estimated that each turbine would generate up to $14,700 in annual royalties during the first 20 years of operation, according to Hill\u2019s leasing documents.<\/p>\n

Engie confirmed that it is developing a project in Yuma County, but declined further comment.<\/p>\n

In Phillips County, Yuma\u2019s neighbor to the north, National Renewable Solutions has put up meteorological towers as a prelude to a wind project that will also straddle Logan and Sedgewick counties, according to Laura Schroetlin, the Phillips County administrator-planner.<\/p>\n

Minnetonka, Minn.-based National Renewable Solutions, part of the multinational investment corporation BlackRock Inc., did not reply to repeated telephone requests by the Sun for comment.<\/p>\n

Both Phillips County and neighboring Logan County have moratoriums on wind and solar development while they work on new ordinances, but Schroetlin said that the coming of renewable energy still seems far off. \u201cWe get more stirred up by confined feedlots,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

From Yuma County, Power Pathway plunges south \u2013 through rolling prairie, furrowed with arroyos and fringed with clusters of cottonwood trees gathered at dry gullies waiting for a drink \u2013 to Kit Carson County, already home to five wind farms.<\/p>\n

Segment 2 will end at a new Goose Creek substation in Cheyenne County, where the next leg \u2013 Segment 3 \u2013 will run 65 miles south through Cheyenne and Kiowa counties.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway Segment 3<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Unlike the counties up north, Kit Carson and Cheyenne have had years of experience with wind farms. Cheyenne is home to Xcel Energy\u2019s 500-MW Cheyenne Ridge Wind Project and parts of Rush Creek. The county has had land use ordinances regulating wind farms for more than a decade and they have periodically been updated, Jolly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are interested in having them (turbines), some aren\u2019t,\u201d Jolly said. \u201cWe have a wind lease on our place and I have mixed emotions about it. It has a much bigger impact on the land than oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is what it is, you can\u2019t lock the gate,\u201d Jolly said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to learn to live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"(The
(The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some Cheyenne and Kiowa county farmers have banded together and hired a lawyer to negotiate wind leases for them.<\/p>\n

A group of about a dozen Cheyenne County farmers, representing some 36,000 acres, got a uniform wind lease. \u201cThe feeling was if we got a big enough block together, we could get these companies to pay a fairer rate,\u201d said Matt Campbell, 42, who grew on his family farm in the county.<\/p>\n

And as in Yuma County, the group found itself dealing with former oil and gas landmen. \u201cWe call them lease hounds,\u201d Campbell said. A similar group of landowners has banded together negotiate leases in Kiowa County.<\/p>\n

Kiowa County, like Yuma, has not yet seen any wind or solar development, but at least half a dozen prospective developers have already stopped by the county building, according to Tina Adamson, the county administrator.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest dispute yet for Power Pathways came along Segment 3 in Kiowa County as the Sand Creek Memorial Foundation, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, objected to one potential route they said would compromise the view at the memorial commemorating the 1864 massacre of 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho by Colorado volunteer soldiers.<\/p>\n

They said the high-tension line would violate the spirit of legislation that called for preserving the original landscape.<\/p>\n

Xcel Energy agreed to move the line 10 miles from the memorial, but the idea of preserving a 10-mile viewshed buffer raised the dander of local farmers and landowners, who felt they hadn\u2019t gotten a say and were concerned that such a large buffer around the memorial would stifle development and take some landowners out of the wind farm game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the way they went about it. Xcel wasn\u2019t very transparent,\u201d said Burl Scherler, 71, who raises winter wheat and sorghum, and in good years corn and sunflowers on 20,000 acres in Kiowa County \u2013 though due to the challenges of dryland farming rarely is all the acreage in cultivation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor wants renewable energy, it has value to the country, but the state has to realize we are out here and to treat us fairly,\u201d said Scherler, who has farmed his land for 50 years. \u201cWe want to have a fair shake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scherler said that it now looks that the Power Pathway will cut across 2 miles of his land. He has signed an agreement with Xcel Energy allowing it to do surveys and geological, archaeological and biological studies. \u201cWe\u2019ve got people sitting on the side of the road counting birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

One bird in particular \u2013 the lesser prairie-chicken \u2013 could end up being an even bigger challenge for Xcel Energy than the Sand Creek Memorial, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering listing the bird as an endangered species.<\/p>\n

That designation would impact Segments 3 and 4. \u201cHabitat conservation costs could be as high as $3.5 million per line mile, and could increase total costs for these segments by up to $180 million,\u201d according to a PUC filing.<\/p>\n

Sheridan Lake \u2013 home to 89 people, a gas station and the Hawk\u2019s Nest Convenience Store \u2013 is the lone town in the area and its Plainview Elementary School has 30 pupils. \u201cOut here the key is to maintain critical mass,\u201d Scherler said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, the next thing you know your kids have to go 50 miles to school or to Kansas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coming of Power Pathway and all it promises could help maintain critical mass. \u201cThirty new jobs may not sound like much, but to us it is huge,\u201d Scherler said.<\/p>\n

Just west of Sheridan Lake, Xcel Energy will build its new May Valley substation. The PUC also gave the utility conditional approval for an additional $250 million, 90-mile spur running from May Valley to the Twin Butte\u2019s area in Baca County, home to some of the best wind and solar resources in the state \u2013 and the lesser prairie-chicken.<\/p>\n

From May Valley the Power Pathway will head due west 140 miles in Segment 4 through Kiowa, Lincoln, Crowley and Pueblo counties.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway Segment 4<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Math on lease agreements pencils out. The map is a different matter.<\/div>\n

No county has felt the impact of wind development more than Lincoln County. The first wind farm, Cedar Point, went up in 2011, followed by three more plus a section of the Rush Creek project.<\/p>\n

The county is now home to 525 wind turbines and in 2021 the five wind farms paid $2.4 million in taxes to the county and area school districts, according to county assessor records.<\/p>\n

\u201cAg and cattle account for more than $25 million in sales, so agriculture remains king,\u201d said Troy McCue, executive director of the Lincoln County Economic Development Corp. \u201cStill, this has been a good way to diversify our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has not been difficult to integrate wind economically,\u201d McCue said. \u201cThe wind blows so hard on the Eastern Plains it is good now that someone is getting some use out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Segment 4 ends at the Xcel Energy\u2019s Tundra substation, just northeast of Pueblo. Power Pathway turns north here for the last leg of its journey \u2014 Segment 5 \u2013 120 miles through Pueblo, El Paso, Elbert and Arapahoe counties ending at the Harvest Mile substation outside of Aurora.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway Segment 5<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lansing
Lansing \u201cLanny\u201d and Penny Book own Book Land & Cattle Inc. in El Paso County near Rush. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

One route that was in play ran right next to the Book family\u2019s calving barn \u2013 the heart of the cow and calf operation the family runs. The Books were not happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been a tremendous disturbance and the line was only going to be a quarter of a mile from the house,\u201d Penny Book, 73, said.<\/p>\n

Jesse Book, a grandfather of her husband, Lansing, purchased the land, near the El Paso County crossroads community of Rush, for taxes in the early 1930s. The operation now covers 5,000 acres.<\/p>\n

The homestead house \u2013 renovated \u2013 is now home to the Books\u2019 son Robert, 46, and his wife and two children, the fifth generation on the land.<\/p>\n

Book Land & Cattle is now owned by Robert, who splits his time between a job as a financial adviser in Colorado Springs and running, with his parents\u2019 help, the family cow-calf operation.<\/p>\n

In its ongoing jockeying to find the right route, Xcel Energy has moved the proposed line about 3 miles from the Book ranch. Still, Penny Book worries about \u201cwhat comes next \u2013 the wind farms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think there is a lot of nothing out here, but that\u2019s what I love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some 28 miles north of the Books, Andrew Kochis, a Czech immigrant, had taken advantage of the 1909 Enlarge Homestead Act and in 1916 moved to a 320-acre plot near Matheson.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Kochis\u2019 original homestead in Elbert County near Matheson. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Today, Kochis Farms covers 10,000 acres and is home to corn and wheat fields, 200 head of beef cattle and 30 Rush Creek wind turbines, as well as an Xcel Energy substation, and Jan Kochis is fine with it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no problem farming around the turbines,\u201d Kochis said. \u201cThe cows like to go right up the base for the shade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some of our fields we have some pretty nice roads now,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they built the roads, they compensated us for taking land out of production, same for land taken out of production during construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are the royalties from their lawyer-negotiated lease agreement. The Kochis family gets an annual payment on their fraction of the overall Rush Creek Project that comes to $6,000 to $8,000 for each turbine.<\/p>\n

\"Jan
Jan Kochis, 73, and her family run a farm and cattle operation in Elbert County near Matheson. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019ve got no expenses and the money is really nice when you\u2019ve had a dry year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What about the blinking red lights at night? \u201cI don\u2019t look,\u201d Kochis said. And the noise of the blades? \u201cYou walk out on a quiet morning and hear this calming swish, swish, swish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving north, the Power Pathway begins to meet exurban development pushing east from Colorado Springs, Castle Rock and Parker. \u201cDue to its proximity to growing municipal areas in the state \u2026 Segment 5 presents routing challenges not common in other segments,\u201d the utility said in a PUC filing.<\/p>\n

One of those challenges is the Elbert County Environmental Alliance, a recently formed homeowners\u2019 group, seeking to simultaneously protect the environment and property values \u2013 especially in the Bijoux Basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lines would run right through the basin, which is pristine and rich in wildfire life,\u201d said Robert Poletiek, an alliance board member and 26-year resident of the area.<\/p>\n

\"Elbert
Elbert County residents look at maps of Xcel Energy\u2019s proposed transmission line routes for Segment 5 of Colorado\u2019s Power Pathway on May 5 during an expo in Simla. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The depression in the plains offered shelter not only to nesting eagles but to Comanche tribes, Poletiek said. \u201cKeep your eyes down and you still find imprints of tipi circles and arrowheads.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is where the Eastern Plains sprawling ranches begin to break-up. First into 60-acre parcels, like the one upon which Poletiek lives, and then moving closer to Interstate 25 into suburban subdivisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t only the line, it\u2019s the knock-on effect of all the development, the wind and solar,\u201d Poletiek said. Enel Green Power is already developing the Bijou Hills Wind Project on 20,000 acres east of the basin.<\/p>\n

Alliance members have shown-up at Xcel Energy\u2019s open houses, placards in hand, and spoken at every Elbert County Commission meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten a good reception at the commission and from Xcel,\u201d Poletiek said. Xcel representatives, he said, have indicated that they may consider a path to the east of the basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cSegment 5 was always going to be the hardest,\u201d Poletiek said, but without it, the complete circuit \u2013 which enables electricity to be sent in either direction and helps ensure reliability \u2013 cannot be closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize Segment 5 has to be built somewhere,\u201d Poletiek said.<\/p>\n

\"(The
(The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado isn\u2019t alone in pressing for building more transmission and renewable generation. Among the projects under development in the West are SunZia Southwest Transmission covering 520 miles between Arizona and New Mexico, Greenlink West running 423 miles through Nevada and the Cross-Tie Transmission project, a 214-mile line between Nevada and Utah.<\/p>\n

Building transmission is often controversial. A proposed 145-mile line to bring hydropower to Massachusetts from Quebec was blocked by voters in Maine, and the Missouri Legislature, in response to the Grain Belt Express \u2013 a 800-mile line designed to bring Kansas wind power to Illinois and Indiana \u2013 passed a bill giving counties and landowners a stronger hand dealing with the developer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding transmission is extremely difficult,\u201d Gavan, the PUC commissioner, said. \u201cYou only have to look across the country at other failed projects that have inhibited other jurisdictions from hitting their targets to see how risky it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

One key advantage Colorado has is \u201cbeing able to go it alone,\u201d said Charles Teplin, a manager in the electricity practice at consultant RMI.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have wonderful resources of wind and solar,\u201d Teplin said. \u201cThe folks on the Eastern Plains can benefit from the economics of exporting what they have and the urban core benefits with clean energy. We don\u2019t have to go through another state, we don\u2019t have to deal with another jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Farmland
Farmland is seen in Washington County from Colorado 71 in June. (Olivia Sun\/The Colorado Sun via Report for America)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A race to meet Colorado climate goals has led to a flurry of wind and solar activity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[489,233,490,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alternative-energy","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-electricity-production-and-distribution","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39923"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}