Shielding my eyes from burning late-September sun last week at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield, I admired the design of 8-foot-high solar panels shading row crops and asked Denver officials to remind me where the construction money came from.
Turns out that building the 1.2MW solar farm, and a vegetable operation underneath capable of growing 30,000 pounds of food, was made possible by a public vote. Denver residents said yes in 2020 to an extra 0.25% sales tax dedicated to climate change and renewable energy projects. The newly opened $4.7 million Chatfield solar farm is the 12th such project paid for all or in part by Denver’s $40 million-a-year climate tax fund.
So what’s on the ballot this year for Colorado residents debating climate change and environment impacts and solutions?
Nothing quite so direct or dramatic. Many advocates for slowing climate change and fighting local air pollution say increased public transit is one key to a solution. For them, this year’s main ballot issue will be RTD asking to keep all of its current sales tax revenue without having to rebate some each year under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR. Metro-area residents within the RTD multi-county boundary will vote on Question 7A, and we’ll have more on that pivotal RTD vote next week.
Some will argue the proposed ban on trophy hunting of Colorado’s mountain lions is an environmental issue as well, though it is playing out as more of a battle over traditional hunting vs. humane treatment of animals.
Beyond those, the onus goes back to your candidates. Whether for Congressional races or the state legislature, the winners will steer the debate over pollution vs. regulation, cost vs. benefit, business freedom vs. local protections. Stick with the excellent coverage from our Colorado Sun politics and issues teams to help you make up your mind.
Thanks for hanging with us, and on to this week’s news.
Reporter
TEMP CHECK
CLIMATE
Boulder County had strong words for Cemex, but now must wait
When last we heard from Boulder County officials about the future of the economically vital but highly polluting Cemex cement plant in Lyons, the orders were to shut it all down.
Boulder County’s planning director Dale Case sent the multinational-owned Cemex plant an April order to terminate operations, because the county believes Cemex is no longer following the conditions of its nonconforming use permit.
Six months later, Cemex is still pumping out cement for buildings and roads, and neighbors point out the company is still pumping carbon dioxide into the skies at the rate of 300,000 tons a year and dust storms into surrounding communities on a regular basis.
Resolution will not come until 2025 at the earliest, they add. The county is not expected to issue a decision on Cemex’s closure appeal until December. Cemex is likely to appeal any negative action in December, kicking it to the full county commission for an early 2025 hearing and vote.
“Cemex is maximizing their cash flow by delaying as long as possible, while substantial fugitive dust events occur regularly,” said Sarah Lorang, one of the leaders of a community coalition that has won surprising victories in fighting the company’s operations. “Many community members are frustrated by the seemingly unnecessary delays initiated by Cemex, and their disregard for public health and safety.” Neighbors have documented 70-plus fugitive dust events since May, Lorang added.
Cemex gained time for its appeal by filing an extensive open records request with Boulder County, which the county finished responding to in late September, said spokesman Richard Hackett. The deadline for Cemex’s full appeal is Nov. 8, Hackett said, and the planning office will then begin a review.
Asked to comment, Cemex external communications manager Maryssa Silva said, “We continue to work with Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting and do not have an update to share at this time. We remain committed to serving the community and providing high-quality materials essential to infrastructure and urban development throughout the state.”
Despite their frustrations, community members are still much farther along in the Cemex battle than they’d envisioned a couple of years ago. Their campaign began by fighting a proposed deal between county open space and Cemex to trade park land for county extension of Cemex’s materials mining privileges across the highway from the cement kiln.
The county commissioners eventually nixed the deal, and the Cemex mine closed. When the company had to truck in materials from long distances, neighbors launched an effective campaign saying the new traffic, noise and dust violated Cemex’s other county permits.
Neighbors’ frustrations rise above the county level. Read more at ColoradoSun.com in coming days about long delays in reviewing and tightening Cemex’s state air pollution permit.
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
CLIMATE
Yes to solar power — just not there
Yes, progressive policy advocates want renewable energy in as many places as possible on millions of acres of sunny, windswept Western lands.
But does it have to be “there”?
In the latest development of NIMBLM — Not In My Bureau of Land Management — a Western coalition is protesting the BLM’s new Solar Plan, saying renewable projects could impinge upon the Old Spanish National Historic Trail. Which we didn’t even remember was a thing, but are happy to learn about now.
The trail, which in many spots is more a memory than a defined path, covers 2,700 miles in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, California and Utah. Traders and settlers used portions of the route from Santa Fe to Los Angeles, in the early 1800s.
The BLM has won praise from many quarters for its recent Solar Plan meant to open 31 million acres of land the agency controls, in 11 states, to the large-scale solar development needed to wean the U.S. from fossil fuels.
The problem, the coalition said Monday, is that the plan does not protect infringement on Old Spanish Trail rights of way. The agency failed to incorporate its trail management policies when developing the big plan, according to the group that includes Western Watersheds Project, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Basin & Range Watch and others.
All the nonprofits “fully support the country’s transition to solar, but we all agree that we have to do it right,” said Chandra Rosenthal, a Colorado attorney for PEER, in an email interview. “This protest is on a very narrow issue — the Old Spanish Trail is a national park unit that deserves full protection. BLM and the National Park Service have had 19 years to agree and prepare the Management Plan but haven’t been able to work out their disagreements.”
Other major trails have gone through the strict process of adhering to the National Environmental Protection Act and Congressional review, Rosenthal said. “Most trails are managed solely by NPS and maybe this one should be too,” she said.
We asked Rosenthal if carving out more protections for the Old Spanish Trail takes away some of the optimal spots for solar power.
“The trail is a 2,700 mile long national park unit,” she responded. “Even if it would be more efficient to place a solar field in a national park, the country shouldn’t do it — these are some of the few public places that must remain protected from industry.”
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
MORE CLIMATE NEWS
HEALTH
Food security calls for language help in southwestern Colorado
How can a community best help newcomers, particularly non-English speakers, who struggle to put food on the table for their families? Open more food pantries? Make sure those food pantries have longer hours and include more options? Make sure those newcomers have access to state and federal subsidies to help them buy food?
In southwestern Colorado, the nonprofit La Plata Food Equity Coalition asked low-income families what hurdles they face in keeping their families fed. One clear answer came back: They need help accessing housing, work and all the other critical needs that can improve the quality of their life overall and, as a result, be able to afford more and better food for their families.
And the key to support they need is around breaking through language barriers.
Mark Stevens and Collective Colorado will soon report on the efforts of the coalition to organize their work around language support.
Agents of the organization help clients identify and apply for better housing, they help them navigate to local job placement services in Durango, where workers are in high demand. The initiative demonstrates that helping families with food insecurity issues begins with improving the overall quality of life.
The story will follow bilingual “outreach navigator” Lisa Rogers as she helps one client from Colombia negotiate a lease in an apartment complex and as she assists two others, one from Honduras and another from Colombia, find work in Durango’s thriving restaurant industry.
Yaneth Reyes, who moved to the United States five months ago from Honduras to look for work, shares a mobile home with one other person in downtown Durango. She pays $400 a month in rent.
So far, Reyes has only found part-time work in house cleaning at a local hotel. On her way to a nonprofit organization called In The Weeds, where staff keeps a colorful Post-it note job board of restaurants currently seeking help, Reyes said she feels optimistic about her future in the United States thanks to Rogers’ help. She said she hopes to soon earn enough money so that she can avoid fast food and prepare better meals for herself.
“I feel secure because I know I’m going to find something,” said Reyes through an interpreter, “and because this person (Rogers) knows what she’s doing.”
Keep an eye on ColoradoSun.com, where we amplify the journalism of Collective Colorado and other trusted partners.
MORE HEALTH NEWS
CHART OF THE WEEK
Your gasoline prices seem stubbornly high, but you’ve just heard from Xcel that we’re all getting a break on our natural gas bills this winter. How is this possible? Doesn’t all this fossil fuel come from the same holes in the ground?
Sort of. But they’re not the same fuel. U.S. producers have been very good in the past 20 years at finding enormous stores of natural gas relatively accessible to major American cities. The liquid oil whose price makes up more than half the cost of refined gasoline, meanwhile, is still far more open to world influences such as OPEC’s pumping volume, wartime threats to Middle East ports and tankers, and more.
One interesting wonky note, U.S. natural gas might be fetching a higher price if liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals were finished on time. The U.S. has become a major exporter of LNG, and the exporters want to get even bigger, but their trade group notes some of the supply is stranded here and pulling down prices while contractors race to finish construction.
All this translates to a little consumer relief. “Colorado customer natural gas bills for the fourth quarter of 2024 are expected to be lower heading into the winter, compared to last year,” Xcel said in a recent release. “If weather conditions remain normal, an average residential customer’s natural gas bill is expected to be about 10% lower than in the last three months of 2023.”
That’s a big “if” in a state like Colorado. But we’ll go with the optimism, for now.
Section by Michael Booth | Reporter
If you’re done with the heavy thinking for the day, join us in clearing our heads with pumpkin chunkin’ videos. America remains a leader in spending mind-boggling money and time figuring out how to fling vegetables outrageous distances, and we celebrate that. Launch squashes, not missiles, that’s what we say.
— Michael & John
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