Colorado rancher wins wind project after $50,000 fight over oil drilling on his land

Salo said wind income could help his own daughters continue the family ranch A Colorado rancher who spent $50,000 fighting oil infrastructure on his 7,000-acre property has won approval for a wind project on the same land. Weld County commissioners voted 3-2 on Wednesday to approve the project, nearly a decade after oil development began affecting his ranch.According to Cowboy State Daily, Scott Salo bought the ranch in northern Weld County in 2014 after running a farm and feedlot in Torrington, Wyoming, with his wife for almost 15 years. The family moved to Colorado to ranch and rebuilt the property, including facilities for their cattle.In 2017, an oil company approached Salo about placing drilling infrastructure on his property. The company wanted to reach oil and gas reserves beneath neighbouring properties through horizontal drilling. Those properties had conservation easements limiting surface disturbance, so the well pads had to be placed on Salo's land.Salo opposed the drilling, but the minerals beneath his property had already been sold by the previous owner. This created a split estate, meaning Salo owned the surface but not the minerals below it. A two-year legal fight f...