March 3, 2015
Colorado

Becker’s ‘clean-up’ bill on wind energy passed unanimously

By Marianne Goodland, Journal-Advocate legislative reporter | 03/02/2015 | www.journal-advocate.com

Rep. Jon Becker, R-Fort Morgan, has a bill headed to Gov. John Hickenlooper for signing after the Senate last week voted to approve it. House Bill 15-1121 cleans up a statute passed in 2012 related to agreements between land owners and wind energy developers. The bill passed the House unanimously on Feb. 3; the Senate also gave it unanimous approval on Feb. 26.

The bill says that an agreement to develop wind energy is not binding on anyone but the parties to the agreement until it is recorded in the office of the county clerk and recorder. HB 1121 places a 15-year limit on the developer’s rights under a recorded agreement, retroactive to July 1, 2012, unless otherwise agreed to in the contract or if wind-energy generation has taken place.

Becker told this reporter that if the wind-energy developer doesn’t set up the project after 15 years, the land owner can develop those rights with another company. Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, sponsored HB 1121 in the Senate.

Sonnenberg’s first measure to get to Hickenlooper became the first bill signed in the 2015 session. House Joint Resolution 15-1006, sponsored with his ag committee chair counterpart in the House, Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Alamosa, was signed into law on Feb. 25.

The bill confirms project additions approved by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) and to be funded by the state’s drinking water or water pollution grant funds. The city of Fort Morgan was added to the list for changes to a water meter project. The bill also identifies projects to be removed from the list. That includes projects for the town of Holyoke, Logan and Phillips counties and the Yuma Conservation District that are noted as completed or no longer needed, and a modification to a water pollution project for Julesburg.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/03/03/beckers-clean-up-bill-on-wind-energy-passed-unanimously/