While the Huerfano County Commission rejected the placement of a wind farm northwest of La Veta, at the base of Silver Mountain (north of 160), they have been approached to support a wind farm north of Walsenburg and east of I-25. This area is rated very high in terms of sustained winds, but one sticky point is the airport that is in the immediate vicinity. The developers are willing to repay the federal government for funding and it actually has been proposed to close the airport as the windfarm would provide substantial tax revenues to the County and be an economic engine. It seems that the logical thing to do would be to “move” the airport to the one in La Veta. Federal and state support is not provided in rural area to more than one airport in a county. All those who would like to see the La Veta airport become the airport of choice and have future support, should contact the county administator and county commissioners.

Speaking of wind, this cannot go unmentioned. East of Cuchara and La Veta, about 140 miles on the eastern plains, sits Lamar, Colorado. In the March 2010 issue of Sunset magazine they had an article entitled “20 Best Towns of the Future.” They were reviewing “forward-thinking places where to live now” and named towns for their positive and future oriented things going on. Places like San Luis Obispo, Portland, Boise and Palo Alto were names. So was Lamar, Colorado as a “hot spot for renewable energy.” They cited the Colorado Green wind project in that area. Congrats to Lamar.

Now if we can just saddle the wind in Huerfano.