SLVEC joins Community Panel for Transmission Forum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09 September 2026
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) advocates for improved electrical transmission that supports the transition to renewables.
Alamosa, Co. - More than 50 regional stakeholders convened in Alamosa on Thursday, August 13th, at the San Luis Valley Transmission Forum to re-engage the conversation on transmission development in the San Luis Valley.
The Colorado Electric Transmission Authority (CETA), along with Senator Cleave Simpson and Commissioner Lori Laske, hosted this series of panels to highlight the importance of reliable and responsible transmission development on private and public lands, while noting the Valley’s regional constraints and opportunities. Transmission is the movement of electrical energy from main sources, such as solar facilities, to substations.
To support the renewable energy transition, the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) has been part of this conversation for nearly two decades. SLVEC participated in the Land Acknowledgment and Community Panel for the Forum.
The forum was opened with a Land Acknowledgment presented by SLVEC’s Project Manager, Anna Lee Vargas, who was also a panelist for the Community Perspectives. This conversation focused on how infrastructure decisions should support the Valley’s land, water, economy, and quality of life.
SLVEC Board members Holland Sherpard and Mike Gibson were also in attendance.
“With such solar potential, the San Luis Valley can help address a changing climate with its own electrical power generation,” Gibson said. “[To do so], it is important to understand our transmission capacity to not only meet our own power needs, but also our export abilities to other communities.”
Other community panelists included Richard Hubler, Alamosa County's Land Use and Building Director; Erin Minks, a former San Luis Valley Regional Director for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet; and Sarah Stoeber, Executive Director of San Luis Valley Development Resources Group.
“[The Valley’s transmission] is threatened by natural disasters, such as wildfires,” Hubler said. “All our incoming power travels through one narrow corridor over Poncha Pass before spiderwebbing across the Valley in a collection of radial circuits.”
“We are effectively on an island at the end of a transmission highway…” Hubler continued. “We're isolated.”
Beyond the risk of outages, Hubler explained how the Valley’s isolated infrastructure limits “the appropriate transition of fallow farmland to solar production” and other economic development opportunities for residents.
In 2011, SLVEC completed a comprehensive map detailing current and potential utility infrastructure, sensitive resources, such as wetlands and riparian areas, and land use and management classifications. This map was critical to baseline recommendations for policymakers and utility companies.
SLVEC supported the position that the San Luis Valley could be a model for developing an autonomous, locally generated power grid. With participation from over 450 Valley residents, SLVEC and its volunteers pinpointed specific interests and concerns.
These resources remain relevant after more than a decade.
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