Episode Details

Takeaways

• Casey Murph explains how Orsted, a Denmark-based wind and solar conglomerate, applied to take over the Arizona state grazing allotment his family has ranched for more than 100 years, and why he refused to give the company access through his private land.
• Casey makes the case that a full transition to renewable energy is not physically possible, pointing to the Nature Conservancy's Power of Place report, and argues for nuclear power and rooftop or parking lot solar instead of converting working rangeland.
• Amanda and Casey break down what any landowner can actually do when a company or government agency comes after their land: get educated, get local, get loud on social media, and don't wait for Washington to fix it for you.

Summary of the Episode

In this episode of The Heart of Rural America, Amanda Radke sits down with Casey Murph, a cow-calf rancher in Navajo County, Arizona, whose family has run cattle on the same range since before Arizona was a state. Casey explains that since Governor Katie Hobbs took office in 2022 and created a task force to fast-track state land for renewable energy development, he has received repeated notices that solar companies have applied to take over parts of his grazing allotment. The company he's most concerned about is Orsted, a global wind and solar conglomerate based in Denmark and partially owned by the Danish government, which reached out asking for access through his private land to reach the isolated state ground behind his gate. Casey said no.

Casey and Amanda walk through what that process looks like, the leverage he does and doesn't have, and why his cousins across the river already lost most of their ranch to a similar project. They also get into the bigger picture: why Casey believes the renewable energy transition as currently pitched is mathematically impossible, why nuclear and urban rooftop solar make more sense than converting rangeland, and why he thinks every rancher facing something like this needs to get on social media and tell their story, even if they'd rather not be in front of a camera.

Presented by Bid on Beef | CK6 Consulting | CK6 Source | Real Tuff Livestock Equipment | Redmond RealSalt | Dirt Road Radio | All American Angus Beef | Radke Land & Cattle

• Use code RADKE for $10 off your next All American Angus Beef order at www.BidOnBeef.com
• Save on Redmond Real Salt with code RADKE at https://shop.redmondagriculture.com/
• Check out Amanda's agricultural children's books here: https://amandaradke.com/collections/amandas-books
• Learn more about Bulletproofing Your Direct-To-Consumer Beef Enterprise: https://amandaradke.com/products/bulletproof-your-beef-business

• Resources for producers: the USDA Law Fair website and americanlandandlegacy.org