Don Coram, Republican Colorado State Senator for 2017-2022 and of Montrose, attended the public solar meeting in the West End, held Oct. 2 at Nucla Community Center, along with about 40 other citizens from the community.
Coram has been consulting on the proposed solar installation in Naturita, and he told the Forum there’s been misinformation on the project. He said he’s an advocate of agrovoltaics, the practice of using land for both agriculture and solar power. He’s president of a nonprofit working in the industry.
According to Coram, 40% of farms and ranches will lose money this year, and he wonders how people can stay working on a family farm or ranch in light of that. He’s worked with people in Kansas that run cattle, and they’ve put in wind turbines, so all of the heirs can remain on the ranch there and working. He said while wind power won’t work in the West End, the economics of solar can.
“Successful farms aren’t for sale,” he said, “unless there’s nobody to take it over.”
Coram said installing agrovoltaic means connecting to a transmission line, and it does cost about $1 million per mile for a transmission line. He said for a farm located near one, they can lease land out for 25 to 30 years at $900 to $1,500 an acre, and allow for an inflation clause. He’s currently talking with owners of a 3,000-acre ranch in Las Animas County. He said they’re considering leasing a 600-acre portion of their ranch, but “hate to do that.”
Coram advised them at the $1,546 per acre they’re being offered, to take the $27 million profit and buy another ranch next door that doesn’t have solar.
“To keep the family together, that’s a pretty good tool,” he said. “In the midwest, solar and wind are the new cash crop for ag.”
He said while he knows we can’t take ag out of production, he said there’s more production right now than we have a market for — “so why not?”
“It’s a matter of personal property,” he said.
Coram has heard people ask what they’ll get out of the Naturita solar array, and how it will benefit them. Coram said a grocery store doesn’t pay people when they set up shop in town. Neither does the co-op.
He added other people comment they don’t want to look at a solar array, but it’s no different than someone building a hog farm across the road with nearly 1,000 pigs.
“I’d rather look at a solar farm than smell a pig farm,” Coram said, “but I like bacon.”
“It’s a personal choice,” he said.
The Forum asked Coram about where he stood on the bond issue for Norwood school, the bond issue that has failed two times and was decided Tuesday, Nov. 4.
“I’d trade 8 million for 50 million any day of the week,” he said.
Coram said it could be hard to get that level of help ever again. He said at 77 years old, he’s grateful for those that educated his child back then.
“What better investment in your community than a school,” he said.
The Forum asked his ideas on cell towers and the tension they’re creating in West End communities. He said similar to the solar array issue, people say they don’t want them in their backyards, though the irony is everyone wants a cell phone.
He said everyone should know there’s a cell tower on Dallas Divide that is disguised as a tree. He said there are some on I-25 on the Front Range made to look like silos.
Like solar arrays, they can generate very good money for landowners, he said.
“Mail box money,” is what he called it.
