Apache County residents question wind and solar plans near Vernon, Concho

Ranchers and nearby residents around Vernon and Concho are asking Apache County whether large wind and solar projects belong on grazing land at all, and county officials are now revising the rules that will decide it. The county’s next public steps include renewable-energy zoning meetings in St. Johns, where the cost of new tax revenue will be weighed against concerns about working land, road traffic, water use and long-term damage to ranching country.

Apache County Community Development has posted changes to the county’s utility-scale renewable energy ordinance, including amendments to Article 8 on Utility Renewable Energy Systems, Article 6, and proposed Preferred Energy Generation Areas. The Apache County Board of Supervisors and the Planning & Zoning Commission are reviewing those changes as developers and opponents line up around the same basic question: who controls where utility-scale energy can go in Apache County, and under what limits.

The county’s next hearings were posted for May 26, 2026, and June 3, 2026, at the Apache County Annex, 75 West Cleveland Street in St. Johns. Those meetings matter because the county is trying to set land-use rules while major energy projects keep advancing around it. On March 4, 2026, the Arizona Corporation Commission unanimously approved plans to convert the Springerville and Coronado coal plants to natural gas, underscoring how much is changing for a county that has long depended on power generation and grazing land use for jobs and revenue.

The Lava Run wind and solar proposal has become one of the most visible flashpoints. Repsol Renewables North America describes the project as a 500-megawatt wind facility plus a 450-megawatt solar facility with on-site battery storage, along with an interconnection line that could stretch up to 29 miles at 345 kilovolts. Public hearings drew resident concerns about environmental and safety impacts, and the matter was sent back to the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee for more input from Apache County.

Opposition groups have gone further, with one website saying the Lava Run wind project could involve 112 or more turbines along the US 60 corridor between Vernon and Springerville. At the same time, supporters of the Black Ridge Renewable Project near St. Johns say a 1,150-megawatt wind, solar and battery-storage buildout could bring in millions in property taxes for county services. That is the county’s dilemma in plain terms: whether new energy development strengthens the tax base enough to justify what it could take from grazing access, landowner control and the working landscape that still defines much of Apache County.