Sustainable Orchestration
The current economic crisis affords opportunity and even invitation to come up with creative solutions that are the positive equivalent of cluster bombs and falling dominoes. Here is an example.
The San Luis Valley in Colorado is poised to become a significant source of renewable energy in the form of solar power. Sun Edison has already established itself here. Several more companies are also exploring the possibility of building solar facilities whose power would be sold to Excel Energy and transported through an upgraded infrastructure to communities beyond the valley.
Rather than simply allowing “market forces” (investor bets) to once again determine the number and scope of these facilities to be developed, as has been the case with oil and gas across the country, why not actually take a look at what would be ideal utilization of the land for sustainable energy in relation to the proximity of the quietest National Park in the country, the presence of a unique spiritual community, a productive agricultural resource, numerous large wildlife refuges, and a precious aquifer.
In turn, rather than allowing any oil and gas development in the region, which could seriously compromise all of the existing resources mentioned above and continue down the unsustainable path of “bubble and bust,” give the survivors of the banking crisis a tax incentive to retire mineral rights in the valley as part of investing in solar energy. The companies developing solar energy could also be given tax incentives to retire mineral rights as well, so that old, unsustainable energy sources would not compete with new sustainable ones for the same territory. Since the West has been an attractive resource for oil and gas development in the past thanks to vast tracts of sparsely settled land available for exploitation and the unstoppable and antiquated split-estate mineral rights law, more than enough land has already been compromised and more oil and gas development would only inhibit good land use policy aimed at sustainable solar or wind development.
As rural communities across the country wake up to the benefits of alternative energy, they are going to put up with only so much energy development of any kind in any one location. Why not encourage, as part of our economic recovery, the development of sustainable energy and the retirement of unsustainable energy and thereby eliminate one of the potential future bubbles that have plagued us in the past, namely another oil and gas boom and bust. This move will give the recovering economy a boost of confidence for investors who will be investing in something that won’t “go bad” at some time in the future, and that change will help augment much needed faith in our revised economic system.
Oil and gas companies are flooding the media with renewable energy coated advertisements asking for our support for their continued oil and gas exploration. Chevron and Exxon-Mobil even try to create an image on PBS of how education-minded or broad-minded they are in their “new” approaches to energy development and human service. Hogwash! They are dinosaurs on the brink of extinction, just like the flora and fauna that produced their primary exploit. Let’s bury our dead (retire the mineral rights) and build appropriate solar energy plants in ways that minimize impact and maximize a sustainable future. We could even give oil and gas tax incentives to retire targeted mineral rights leases in strategic locations where alternative energy development makes sense.
We need to orchestrate a coordinated solution to our energy needs, global warming, environmental degradation, and promotion of quality of life. That will take cooperation among a host of government agencies, private non-profits, investors, sustainable industries, oil and gas industry, and universal banks. Going at it piecemeal is the old way: it says to each stakeholder, you’re on your own. It invites unwarranted and destructive competition and conflict. We can all avoid being losers, (even gas and oil’s investment in mineral rights), under an orchestrated plan. This is the vision. Who will hold the baton and direct this orchestra remains to be seen.
