Salazar details plans to generate renewable energy on public lands

LONGMONT – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar traded his cowboy hat for a hard hat Tuesday to tour the Abound Solar manufacturing facility in Weld County.

“I’m impressed,” he said. “It seems like a few years ago I was (seeing Abound) in a lab in Fort Collins.”

As part of the visit Salazar detailed Interior’s plans to use publicly owned land to generate renewable energy. The agency is currently studying 1,000 square miles, located in 24 parcels mostly in Southwestern states, for a solar energy generation project. He said evaluations will determine not only which sites are prime as far…