A new Colorado law clears the way for renewable-energy projects such as geothermal, solar and wind to be sited on “brownfields,” lands compromised by industrial activities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified thousands of such sites in Colorado that could be suitable for renewable energy, including former mines and capped landfills.

Duncan Gilchrist, climate and energy policy adviser for The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, said the measure presents opportunities to spur local economic development.

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“By setting a battery storage project, for example, on a former industrial parcel, you can sort of breathe new economic life into an area of a community that has been blighted and sitting dormant,” Gilchrist said.

House Bill 26-1268 won broad support from local governments, agricultural groups, and environmental and renewable energy advocates. Proponents say the measure will strengthen the state’s energy independence and could help lower energy bills for more Coloradans by increasing access to cheap renewables.

The ability to site projects on former industrial lands also takes some pressure off landscapes important for wildlife and the state’s working farms and ranches.

Gilchrist said the new law gives municipalities new tools to attract private investment while maintaining local land-use decision-making authority.

“HB 26-1268 opens up options for local governments for where they can site renewable energy projects,” Gilchrist said. “Not every landowner, not every farmer or rancher who has land available, wants to site solar or wind on their property.”

Gilchrist pointed to a recent analysis by RMI, formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute, showing that tapping Colorado’s contaminated lands could play a significant role in meeting the state’s climate goals.

“Repurposing just 10% of the brownfields in Colorado could unlock 60,000 acres of land for renewable energy development," Gilchrist said, "and that’s roughly the amount of land that we would need for solar to reach 100% renewable electricity by 2040.”