Rob Bleiberg wrote an opinion piece published in The Denver Post on January 28, 2017, entitled "Conservation easement tax credit program too critical not to fix." Although Bleiberg does not promote any retroactive fixes for the hundreds of landowners burnt by the C.E. fiasco, at least he honors the value of the program and suggests changes going forward. Unlike the state auditor who recently reported seeing no value in C.E.'s to the State, Bleiberg quotes a study that is more realistic: "A Trust for Public Land study, peer reviewed by a Colorado State University economist, found that conservation easements delivered $6 of value for every $1 invested by Colorado."
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If you are trying to follow the case I mentioned in Blog Post #2 and again in Blog Post #36, here is a timeline of the lawsuit filed by Western Agriculture Resource and Business Advocates (WARBA) on behalf of Landowners United Advocacty Foundation (LUAF).
3/14/16: WARBA filed on behalf of LUAF in the Federal District Court a Complaint for Injunctive Relief, Declaratory Relief for Violations of Civil Rights and State Constitutional Rights. 4/?/16: State filed Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Complaint. 6/10/16: WARBA filed a Second Amended Complaint for Injunctive Relief, Declaratory Relief for Violations of Civil Rights and State Constitutional Rights. 6/23/16: State filed Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Complaint. 8/10/16: WARBA filed Plaintiff’s Response to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Complaint. 9/6/16: State filed a Reply in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Second Amended Complaint. The Case now is awaiting the decision of the Judge. WARBA is expecting a decision within 6 months -- hopefully March or April. Stay tuned! I finished the long personal narrative of Stan and Sharon's experience with conservation easements with Blog Post #36 (below). If you are just coming to the blog for the first time, please read from the "bottom up." This is a serialized blog, and starts with #1 on June 28, so you'll need to go to the June archives on the right and start there. Happy reading!
Don't forget, Landowners, I'm waiting for your stories, too! |
AuthorHi! Welcome to this blog! I'm a professional writer and award-winning author. I didn't really want to write this blog, but I also believe that the story of the huge conservation easement fiasco in Colorado has not yet been adequately told. So here it is! Archives
April 2018
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