Your recent advertisements on behalf of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA), an industry that stands to reap billions from the accelerated extraction of dirty and life threatening fossil energy, is in direct conflict with your sworn duty to prevent adverse environmental and human health impacts to the People of Colorado, and a shocking breach of public trust.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s own database confirms over 1,000 oil and gas spills have impacted groundwater since 2009. These releases and other chemical emissions, legalized through multiple industry exemptions, have long impacted the health, safety and welfare of our communities. It’s time these impacts be acknowledged and mitigated with the level of diligence the citizens of Colorado deserve.

County land use regulations, ordinances and charter amendments empowered by the Colorado Constitution and upheld by the courts, are the only means left for people to protect their communities from the abuses of an overly powerful industry. Two weeks ago, thousands of citizens and the legislature spoke firmly against total state preemption as embodied in HB 12-088 and in favor of local regulatory authority over oil and gas activities.

Your executive order on fracking goes against the will of the people and undermines our democratic process. We, the people of Colorado who will be directly affected by its decisions, are in no way represented by the Task Force; therefore, we call on you to rescind the executive order.

Respectfully,
· Jennifer Palazzolo, for Coalition for a Clean Colorado
· Ceal Smith, for Renewable Communities Alliance
· Keli Kringel, President for Citizens for Huerfano County, La Veta, CO
· Sonia Skakich-Scrima, Founder, for What the Frack?! Arapahoe, CO
· Joe Bassman, for LongmontROAR, Longmont, CO
· April Beach, for Erie Rising, Erie, CO
· Rick Blotter, for Elbert County Oil & Gas Interest Group (ECOGIG), Agate, CO
· Ken Regelson, for RenewablesYES!, Boulder, CO
· Doris LeDue, for The South Park Coalition, Inc., Como, CO
· Phil Doe, for Be The Change, Denver, CO
· Robert James IV, for Be The Change, USA, Lakewood, CO
· Kyle Elston, for Routt County Frack, Steamboat Springs, CO
· Alison Gannett, Founder for North Fork Fracking, Paonia, CO
· Lisa Bracken, for Journey of the Forsaken, Silt, CO
· Greg Eells, PE for Coloradoans for Fair Rates and Clean Energy (CO-FORCE)
· Kathleen Dudley, for Drilling Mora County, Mora, NM
· B. Arrindell, Director for Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, Milanille, PA

Lower silicon prices in 2012 will likely lead to even lower c-Si module prices.

Without any other improvements, a $30-per-kilogram drop in silicon price would save module manufacturers approximately $0.20 per watt, which could bring module prices below $0.70 per watt.

- Read more -

We live in the land of the sun, pay attention. Thanks MB  -Cit Team

image: Wikimedia Commons

Here is a list of birds seen over the weekend by watchful locals Andrew and Gene:

On the north side of the railroad tracks across from the ball field, in the calm, backwater of the Arkansas River there was two Gadwall pairs, one Wood Duck pair, one American Coot, and a male Hooded Merganser. On CR 163 I found 2 Northern Shrikes, 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, and Northern Pintail, Mallard, Gadwall, and Green-winged Teal in the pond. There was also a dead Great Blue Heron at the pond that was caught in a strand of wire as part of the fence that runs across the pond. On the opposite side of the River from Mt. Ouary State Wildlife Area was a Bald Eagle.

Rough-legged Hawk circling above Kobe just south of Leadville, and a juvenile Golden Eagle soaring near the Toes of the Indian in BV. Good birding!

courtesy of Bat Conservation Int'l

On Wednesday, February 8, the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) will host a program on bats following their annual association meeting. This year’s program will be led by GARNA Board Member Dr. Paul Robertson. The fact that 2011-12 has been declared the European and International Year of the Bat by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, an affiliate of the United Nations, may come as a surprise to many people. The fact is that the more than 1,000 species of bats are immensely important both ecologically and economically to most of the world’s peoples via the control of crop pests and the pollination and seed dispersal of economically and ecologically important plant species. Bats also play a critical role in the natural restoration of ecosystems particularly in tropical forests and savannas. Dr. Robertson will introduce the audience to the world of bats both locally and in exotic locales, their value to humans and the world’s ecosystems, conservation challenges faced by their champions, and the story of how Bram Stoker, the original Dracula author, came up with a story that has fascinated many for over a hundred years. The program will be set against a back-drop of some of the best bat photography ever taken. Dr. Robertson is currently The Nature Conservancy’s San Luis Valley Project Director. He received his undergraduate degree in zoology at Louisiana State University, his master’s degree in evolution and his Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Kansas, and for several years was the Executive Director for Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas.

The event will be held at the Salida SteamPlant annex. The public is welcome to attend beginning at 7:00 p.m. for dessert and refreshments. The Bat program will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last about an hour. The event is free and people of all ages are encouraged to attend. For more information please call GARNA at 539-5106.

Our school is working to pass an ordinance that would place a 5-10 cent fee on plastic bags in Salida stores. Consumers would have the choice to bring their own reusable bags (for free of course!) or pay a fee for each plastic or paper bag used. Similar fees have been passed in Ireland, Washington D.C, and Basalt, CO; these towns have reduced plastic shopping bag use by 50-90 percent!

Come learn more about the “Bag-it Salida” campaign and why plastic bags are so bad for us at a FREE showing of Bag-it  the movie, at 6:30 on February 2nd at the Community Center on 3rd and F st.  We hope to see you there!

The Valley’s Unique Sense of Place was recognized nationally when Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, a native son to “El Valle”, unveiled a grand new conservation and tourism initiative last week.

The assessment of the regions historical, cultural and natural resources, could clear the path for a new National Park in the region.

While the Valley and State have been abuzz about the new plan, some locals and Coloradans are worried.

A  little known proposal to build two 656-foot tall solar thermal tower powers could intrude on the Valley’s unfettered views, wide-open spaces, decimate migrant eagle, Sandhill Crane, Brazilian Free-tail bat populations, and pose unknown hazards (such as retinal damage from glare) to surrounding communities.

The project was proposed by Saguache Solar Energy, LLC, a Project-specific entity owned by SolarReserve, LLC, based in Delaware.  The company wants to build the massive twin towers on a 6,500-acre swath of land just north of the town of Center, located, not surprisingly, near the middle of the Valley.

Just 58-feet short of the tallest building in Denver — the 56-story Republic Plaza — the massive twin towers will dominate the mostly uniform plain of the 120 x 75-mile valley floor, for miles around.

The towers will rival the 650-foot “High Dune”, the tallest dune in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve – a mere 30-miles east of the towers.

Both photos above are of the actual 600-foot solar thermal power tower just completed by SolarReserve in Nevada, from 1 mile away (first photo) and between 5 and 6 miles from the tower (second photo).

As you can see, the facility is sited in the middle of a broad basin, similar to the San Luis Valley, near Tonopah, Nevada (visit Basin and Range Watchto see more pictures and learn more about the very similar “Crescent Dunes” project).

According to the SolarReserve application, each of the two 100 MW units will contain up to 17,500 individual 24 x 28-foot tracking mirrors (called “heliostats”) on 12-foot pedestals.  The mirrors will be placed in concentric rings extending 1.6 miles in diameter around each tower in an approximately 6,500-acre field.

The Nevada heliostat field has not been built yet.  If the above visual “simulation” is reflective of the “truth in advertising” that can be expected from SolarReserve, what can the citizens of Center, Saguache County and surrounding communities make of the rest of their analysis?

As the Saguache County Commissioners near a decision, many unresolved questions and concerns about the project remain, including:

1) What are the costs to the County? New short-and long-term costs will have to be absorbed for school, housing, emergency, road maintanence and other county services.  How will the project impact housing costs and other infrastructure?  (See “Big Solar’s Promise” for an analysis of a similar project proposed by Tessera Solar last year).

2) What are the impacts on wildlife and agricultural resources? How will the power tower, mirrors and salt-saturated evaporation ponds effect migrant birds,  including federally protected Golden and Bald Eagles, and the roughly 20,000 Sandhill Cranes and 200,000 Brazilian Free-Tailed bats that migrate to the valley (and provide free pest management services to farmers) each year?

According to local experts, the power tower is located on “some of the most productive agricultural land in the San Luis Valley”.  While the need for agricultural withdrawals is a daunting reality in the Valley, as farmers work to make aquifers “whole” again, is conversion of 6,500 acres of prime agricultural land the best choice when degraded or unused land is readily available?

3) What are the opportunity costs? It’s no secret that local community power creates significantly more jobs and local revenue than absentee owned energy generation (See Al Weinrub’s Community Power Report, for more on this).

What path dependencies would the San Luis Valley and Colorado be obligated to that could stymie the ability of our rural communities, farmers, ranchers and businesses to develop local, distributed solar generation in the future?

How will the project impact the ability of other Colorado communities to develop local renewable energy resources given the current limited utility market for renewable energy?

4) How will the project impact ratepayers? SolarReserve is promoting the power tower as a “proven technology”, yet it plans to seek an exemption from the 2% rate cap required by the Renewable Energy Standard, allowed for “experimental” technologies.  If such an exemption is granted, will there be no limit to what Xcel Energy can bill ratepayers should it negotiate a Power Purchase Agreement with Solar Reserve?

These, and other concerns deserve a full examination before Saguache County Commissioners approve a project that could severely impact the San Luis Valley’s most precious natural resources and future prospects for locally-owned and controlled renewable energy development.

Please feel free to share this flyer with anyone who might be interested!

Led by GARNA volunteer and former Alaskan National Parks Service Ranger Karen Fortier, the tour is a multi-agency effort to educate skiers and snowboarders about the land they are recreating on. GARNA executive director Alison Ramsey said, “a lot of skiers don’t even realize they’re on public land.” The tour features instruction about forest ecology, wildlife in the winter, the history of recreation on Monarch Pass, the ski area-USFS partnership, Monarch Mountain’s green mission and more.

This free tour will be offered every Sunday except for Christmas Day. “Next time you’re enjoying skiing or boarding at Monarch Mountain, enhance your experience by attending a ski with a naturalist tour,” Ramsey said.

For more information about GARNA or the Ski with a Naturalist Program, please visit www.garna.org or call 539-5106.

Need to prune your old fruit trees?  Join Angie Jenson from Fire Ready on Friday, November 18 from 10 am to 12 pm in Poncha Springs to learn to prune your old fruit trees.  This will help make them more productive and attractive again.

Jenson will present basic techniques and tips to allow you to do the work yourself.  She is Chaffee County’s only ISA Certified Arborist.

The workshop is co-hosted by the Morgan Center for Earth Literacy, a sustainability-focused business owned by Dave and Suzanne Ward.  The workshop will be held on their property, located at 145 Chipeta Avenue in Poncha Springs.

The workshop is free, but donations are welcome.  For more information, please contact Dave Ward at 719-539-8523.

…FULL DENVER POST article