I read the story (Herald, March 18) bemoaning the fact that the Bureau of Land Management had included the gateway area to Mesa Verde as lands for possible gas and oil leases. I’m in agreement with those who oppose including these lands in the BLM Master Lease Plan.
By the same token, where are the Great Old Broads for Wilderness or the San Juan Citizens Alliance when it comes to solar and wind projects that spoil the landscape as far as the eye can see? For instance, the Obama-backed Ivanpah project in California’s Mojave desert has a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee. Yet, the project managers have sought a $539 million federal grant to make payments on the project that has killed 28,000 birds. Since the project went on line, it has only produced 68 percent of the expected power at a cost of more than $200 per megawatt hour! The entire project may be shut down due to poor performance, leaving taxpayers holding the bag.
Over the past 30-plus years, I’ve made the trip from Southern California to Southwest Colorado hundreds of times. Where I once saw grand desert vistas, I now see hundreds of idle windmills. Thousands of acres have been taken out of food and fiber production to create solar farms and the necessary distribution systems of towers and lines.
I understand the need to shift from a carbon-based energy system to a sustainable one. But, I’m damn sick and tired of GOBW and SJCA advocates and their minions constantly implying that it’s their way or the highway when it comes to the visuals of energy production, sustainable or not.
Dennis Pierce
Durango
