Roosevelt County approves inducement resolution to pursue $220 million IRB for San Juan Mesa repower project

Roosevelt County commissioners voted unanimously to adopt an inducement resolution authorizing staff to begin the notice and publication steps required to consider issuing taxable industrial revenue bonds (IRBs) for the San Juan Mesa repower wind project.

Peter Kelton of the Rodey Law Firm, counsel for the county and the developer team, told commissioners the inducement resolution does not obligate the county to repay bonds but allows the developer to begin procurement and to trigger the agency relationship that permits sales-tax- and property-tax-related exemptions. Kelton said IRBs commonly use conveyance/leaseback structures and payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, and he explained statutory timelines: a 30-day waiting period after notices are mailed to taxing jurisdictions and a 14-day publication window before the county could consider an ordinance to authorize bond issuance.

Kelton and developer representatives said the proposed bond principal could be up to $220,000,000 and the project footprint would be roughly 9,400 acres. They estimated Roosevelt County’s portion of generating capacity at about 100 to 112.5 megawatts and noted the inducement resolution lists a 30-year bond term while allowing adjustment (the team said 20 years is also a possibility). Counsel stressed the statutory requirement that school districts are entitled to a portion of any payments-in-lieu-of-taxes and that pilot allocations are constrained by statute.

Commissioners pressed the developer on ancillary commitments. Several asked that road-use funding be limited to the county roads affected and that the county include decommissioning and blade-recycling commitments in bond documents or subsequent resolutions. The developer said decommissioning is part of the project scope and that contractors plan to process blade materials off-site; Kelton said decommissioning language can be incorporated into IRB/bond documents before or after ordinance adoption and can also be adopted later by separate resolution.

Kelton recommended appointing a two-commissioner negotiation committee to work with county management on pilot terms; commissioners volunteered members and agreed to negotiated parity across projects. The developer stated a most recent offer of about $2,075 per megawatt (as presented) for pilot consideration, and commissioners compared that to prior Blackwater/Sundale solar negotiations that settled near $22.50 per-megawatt-unit in earlier transactions as presented in the meeting.

The commission adopted Resolution 2025-28 to begin the IRB process; next steps include mailing statutorily required notices to taxing jurisdictions and scheduling ordinance consideration after the 30-day waiting period.