We want to thank the many Western Colorado Alliance members who showed up at the Mesa County Commissioners’ solar moratorium vote on January 9. Thanks to the commitment of those members, we were able to show that there is real power behind our drive for a clean energy future for Mesa County!

Now that Mesa County has adopted a solar moratorium, we thought it was important to review where we are and what our next actions will be.

Solar moratoriums have been adopted in many parts of Colorado. Counties that have passed moratoriums include San Miguel, Delta, Montrose, and now Mesa. There are many reasons these counties have adopted these moratoriums, and some of the reasons are much more reasonable than others. We want to stress that our Alliance sees Mesa County’s moratorium as an example of a moratorium passed for the right reasons and in the right way.

Recent developments had highlighted the need to revise the codes to reflect the concerns of the community while remaining true to the county’s commitment to the energy transition stated in their Master Plan adopted last year. The Board of Commissioners has been entirely open and transparent in the scope and scale of the moratorium they have enacted, hosting two meetings in just the last month seeking community input, with a third scheduled to have taken place on January 30.

The commissioners have stated in no uncertain terms that this moratorium should take no longer than six months to complete the code revision process, and pushed back on a community member who asked that they deny all new solar projects for two years. The commissioners have also actively sought to work with the community and our Alliance to ensure these codes are reasonable. These codes address the concerns brought forward but also do not restrict solar development in a way that would be unreasonable. We commend the Mesa County Board of Commissioners for their smart and well-founded approach to new solar codes and look forward to seeing a reasonable set of codes adopted for solar infrastructure so we can continue our energy transition in the fairest and most respectful way possible.

If you require additional information regarding the solar moratorium or have any other questions, please contact me, Tyler McDermott, at tyler@westerncoloradoalliance.org.