Ørsted, a Danish renewable energy giant, is trying to lease 4,000 acres of Casey's state grazing land in Arizona to build an industrial solar array - land that he depends on for winter range, without which the ranch isn't viable.
Casey believes productive grazing land shouldn't be touched when there's no shortage of barren desert, parking lots, and brownfields that could take solar instead - and the companies could do it if they wanted to, they just won't because it's cheaper and easier to go after open range.
Casey Murph is a fifth-generation cattle rancher in northeastern Arizona. This episode covers that fight, and what's at stake for generational ranching in America.
5 Key Topics:
How Ørsted is attempting to take Casey's winter range for industrial solar
Why solar should go on parking lots and brownfields, not productive grazing land
Ørsted's existing Arizona install powers a Meta data centre, not homes
The collapse of independent beef operations and what it's done to supply and price
Casey's strategy: state land pressure, political allies, and buying time
Timestamps:
00:00 - Casey intro
02:00 - The Ørsted solar threat
05:00 - Foreign-owned conglomerates
09:00 - Urban disconnection from food
11:00 - Where solar should go instead
18:00 - Political strategy and allies
19:00 - Ørsted's Pinal County install: homes promised, Meta data centre delivered
28:00 - Beef supply consolidation
31:00 - Feedlots and grass-finishing
36:00 - Approval timeline and how to help
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