Solar fears and green

About half of Norwood showed up on May 16 for a presentation by Seattle's OneEnergy Renewables trying to explain how great it would be to build a 1,000-acre solar plant on Wright's Mesa just outside of town. From conservative ranch families to left-of-center newcomers, no one seemed to like the idea. Except for the guy running the slide show, there wasn't a peep of support, nary a climate activist in sight, no tree huggers chaining themselves to the doors.

Despite what appeared to be unanimous agreement against the project, the pent-up, decidedly green-leaning frustration finally bubbled over a couple of weeks later when guest director Bill McKibben took the stage at Telluride's Mountainfilm festival. That morning, the famous environmentalist awoke to a shocking Telluride Daily Planet headline, "Pumping the brakes on solar power, county drafts moratorium," that seriously harshed his mellow: all three San Miguel County Commissioners had started the process for a six-month moratorium on permitting the monster project.

To McKibben, their chicken-hearted choice to delay while the earth simmered to boil was sheer madness. The celebrity activist from Vermont issued a stern warning: we simply cannot afford to wait six months. We must take emergency action right now! He doubled down with the suggestion to cover the Telluride Airport runway with solar panels (which, if done too quickly, might have interfered with his plane ride home — but he willingly took the chance).

The crowd applauded; McKibben's urgency was palpable. After all, Al Gore wrote the foreword to his 2008 environmental anthology, "American Earth," and who can forget the former vice president's contention that we’d all be dead by now? Millions saw his 2006 "Inconvenient Truth" documentary and remain fear-stricken to this day, despite scarce evidence of the apocalyptic hellscape Gore promised.

McKibben wields power and influence. His scolding inspired one more soldier to join the fight for the big solar boondoggle, a contrite county commissioner who in this space just last week expressed how McKibben cast shame upon him, causing much regret for his moratorium vote. "It never feels good to have one of your heroes call you out," said Lance Waring. Ouch!

Embarrassed but emboldened, Waring now sees only a bit of annoying paperwork in the way. Unfortunately, his next vote to save the planet will matter far more than what his West End constituents think, as will McKibben's out-of-state voice in his ear. For the big OneEnergy win, all it might take is for one more commissioner to join Waring's pledge to "enlist in Mr. McKibben's global climate army, and continue to fight in the trenches here in San Miguel County."

Scary stuff from Waring. But despite his fervent commitment, hyperscale solar remains one of the least-efficient forms of renewable energy when compared to other bridge fuel integrations (which San Miguel County does well as Waring, to his credit, outlined in his column). So, if you’re against blighting Wright's Mesa, this is what we’re up against: a mere two elected officials willing to pass the ammunition, leap from the trench and carry the climate cross over the top — community concerns and due diligence be damned.

Resistance is not futile and it does have a roadmap. Making the not-in-my-backyard case makes a lot of sense with the solar plant's impact on scenery, land, livestock, water, wildlife, etc. Uncontrollable multi-megawatt battery fire, anyone? As for the economic debate, sensible alternatives actually do exist, and betting on subsidized, utility-grade solar with net-zero deadlines can result in destructive energy policies — just ask the 250 people who died in Texas during 2021's winter storm Uri when over-reliance on solar and wind failed to fill the gaps across a failing power grid. But wait, you can't ask them. They’re dead.

We can all agree that we want to protect the environment, and can disagree on how to get there. By all means, think for yourself. Look at the maps, follow the money, and take a drive out there and picture the same eye-scar on Telluride's valley floor. Ugly, yes, but there are plenty of solutions to the problem that I’m happy to address in a future column.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen how government-by-emergency and the survival-at-all-costs mentality can cause more harm than good. Crisis-driven rhetoric and Waring's war footing won't solve the problem, but a giant photovoltaic factory will change the entire nature of Wright's Mesa, with rather dubious benefit to West End voters and taxpayers.

That's why the moratorium should be permanent, and perhaps why solar projects on this scale and in such inappropriate places shouldn't be done at all.

John Metzger writes about smart growth, public safety and the rural renaissance from Norwood, Colo.

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