Wind foes sell out

Posted: Sunday, April 3, 2011 12:00 am
Casper Star Tribune

Editor:
 
My neighbor, local hobby rancher Ken Lay, of the Northern Laramie Range Alliance, has been leading the charge against wind power in Converse County. Besides funding a Washington, D.C.-style political campaign against local progress and jobs, what has he been leading or funding on behalf of the community with his reported half-billion, Fortune 1000 income?
 
Admittedly Ken Lay can teach us all about tax policy, or avoidance. In return for "living" in Converse County on White Creek Ranch for maybe 10 weeks per year, which he purchased in 1992 for $437,000, Lay put a morsel in our tax plate in 2010 of $2,002.06. That's a $1.28 cup of coffee per acre based on the 2010 market value, according to Wyoming tax records. Our economy needs a dinner date, not a token handout.
 
How? Why of course the mysterious ghost cattle that runs on his ranch and keeps his property in "ag" use, so he can spend more money wining and dining fellow millionaires and old World Bank friends. I wonder if he believes their bank's mission to make a dent in global warming around the world, because he sure doesn't care to here at his hobby home.
 
Anti-wind opponents talk about subsidies to the wind energy industry. Just exactly who are we in Wyoming and Converse County subsidizing? Based on their ISC application, it appears the wind energy people would pay 30 times more per acre in tax benefits and economic impact to us than Ken Lay does on his hobby ranch. That's roughly $40-64 per acre in annual taxes and payments, for a grand total of $10.7-17.2 million over the first 10 years.
 
The future of Converse County and greater Wyoming community depends on local partners that invest the American way -- real money for a return to all involved. Wyoming's natural resources have always been a gift never to be taken for granted. Ken Lay wants his milk for free by stealing our lunch money.

Kevin Christopherson, Casper