What:
Public Utilities – Generating Stations – Generation and Siting (Renewable Energy Certainty Act)
“Lease for Solar, Harvest Profits,” one company wrote. “You can help power the future of our country,” writes another.
And they think that the law passed by the General Assembly this year — setting uniform standards for solar facilities and limiting counties’ ability to set solar zoning rules — will only make matters worse.”
In addition:
“The issue has united residents of rural areas across the state, who mounted an ill-fated attempt to bring the bill to referendum after it was signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) — from the Eastern Shore to Montgomery County, which is Maryland’s most populous county, but also hosts plenty of farmland of its own.”
The solar debacle has left farmers feeling scorned by Annapolis.
“We’re very tired of the government in the state … our delegates, senators, whoever — a majority of them will not listen to the public the way they should, and they just take it on their own self to vote how they think,” Dean said.”
It should be noted that not one Republican in the State Legislature voted for this bill.
Also there was an effort to put this on the ballot to referendum, however the effort failed to get enough signatures in time to put it on the ballot.
“This is one of the worst land use decisions in Maryland’s 247-year history,” said Jay Falstad, executive director of the Queen Anne’s Conservation Association.
Dorchester County Councilman Mike Detmer said the law strips local governments of any power to approve or deny solar projects, which he believes will be harmful to the Eastern Shore.
“My fear for the future is that the farmland that we need for our agricultural economy is going to be filled with solar panels that won’t meet the state’s energy needs still, and that may pose some safety problems. In the case of a bad fire,” said County Councilman Mike Detmer.
Moore’s signing of the bill has not been taken lightly by Falstad, a local agricultural activist who is attempting to gather 25,000 signatures to bring the issue to a statewide referendum.
“We are trying to get enough signatures to take this matter to referendum and overturn Senate Bill 931,” said Falstad.
He has gathered a few thousand signatures so far, but with a deadline in five days, time is running short.
“That farmland on the Eastern Shore as we know it is going to be forever changed,” Falstad said”
Sources:
“The largest solar project in Pennsylvania, built on more than 1,755 acres of former farmland, is producing power in central Pennsylvania.
The Great Cove Solar Project by AES Corporation, a global energy company based in Arlington, VA, involves two sites in Franklin and Fulton counties that have begun producing 220 megawatts of electricity. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, that’s enough to power approximately 38,060 homes. Energy production began in December.
All the power is being purchased by the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which runs six hospitals and other medical facilities in the state and in New Jersey.
The university aims to have a 100% carbon neutral footprint by 2042.”
“About Spotsylvania Solar Farm
The Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center is the largest solar project east of the Rockies.* The 617 MW solar farm encompasses approximately 6,350 acres of land including 3,500 developed acres and 2,000 acres of preserved land.
Spotsylvania Solar comprises four separate solar projects: Pleinmont 1, Pleinmont 2, Richmond Solar and Highlander Solar. Despite its size, Spotsylvania Solar is almost invisible to the naked eye because it is surrounded by forest cover. The solar facility has all single axis tracking solar panels that follow the sun for maximum solar output. The solar power generated by Spotsylvania Solar is estimated to power 111,000 homes at peak output and offset 340,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Microsoft purchased 315 MW of solar energy from Pleinmont 1 and Pleinmont 2. The energy output from these two Virginia solar farms enables Microsoft to make a significant step towards its clean energy goals. At the time of purchase, this represented the single largest corporate purchase of solar energy.
Before the site was developed into the Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center, the land was used for logging and timbering. The Virginia State Corporation Commission approved the massive solar project in 2018 and construction began in 2019. All four solar projects are active and construction is estimated to finish by mid-2023.”
“Republican state lawmakers are asking President Donald Trump to get involved in the controversial Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project transmission line.
This comes after the company behind it, PSEG, asked a federal judge to instruct U.S. marshals to accompany surveyors onto properties where they’ve received threats.
In a court filing, PSEG claimed that surveyors received threats at six properties after a judge ruled in June that the workers were allowed to go onto the land to conduct surveys.
In a letter Wednesday sent to the president and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the state lawmakers argue that the deployment of marshals would be a misuse of federal resources, saying there should be other ways to deal with the issue.”
“Niobrara County Commissioner Patrick Wade illustrated for the Joint Agriculture Committee on Monday his first-hand experience about what it’s like for a landowner faced with eminent domain.
“It’s like dealing with someone that’s got a gun held to your head. That may be a little harsh, but you don’t ever forget it’s in their holster,” Wade said.
The committee was revisiting the topic after Gov. Mark Gordon in the last legislative session vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the use of eminent domain to build transmission lines for independently owned wind farms.
What Is It?
Eminent domain is a law that allows for the taking of private land by force, referred to as condemning the land, for a project that is deemed to be in the public good. Landowners are paid fair market value for the land, but they have no ability to say no.
Federal and state governments have used eminent domain to build highways, interstates, water supply pipelines and other projects deemed to be for the public good.
Transmission lines are bringing up new concerns about the law.
Wind and solar farms require exponentially more land than conventional power plants, and that will require an extensive buildout of thousands of miles of transmission lines to transport energy from wherever it is being produced at any given moment to where it’s being consumed.”
“Detroit files dozens of eminent domain lawsuits for solar neighborhoods project
“Detroit has filed dozens of condemnation lawsuits for the solar neighborhoods project that the city approved this summer.
The eminent domain lawsuits are part of a legal process that gives government’s authority to take property for public use. Detroit City Council in July backed the project to convert land into solar panel farms, which are expected to generate enough energy to offset the electricity used by the city’s 127 municipal buildings. As of this month, the city had filed at least 89 lawsuits.
The filings “represent less than 10% of the over-900 parcels that are part of Phase 1 of the solar initiative,” Trisha Stein, chief strategy officer, said in an email to the Free Press. “All remaining parcels were or are in the process of being voluntarily acquired by the city.”
“WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer support solar and wind projects on productive farmland, said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a post on X on Monday.
The move is the latest in a series of actions by the administration of President Donald Trump to stall development of wind and solar energy, which Trump says are unreliable, expensive, and dependent on Chinese supply chains.
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“Millions of acres of prime farmland is left unusable so Green New Deal subsidized solar panels can be built. This destruction of our farms and prime soil is taking away the futures of the next generation of farmers and the future of our country,” Rollins said on X”
The piedmont reliability project in western maryland wouldn’t be needed if power companies were not pressured into shutting down good scrubber equiped reliable coal fired power plants.
As with the solar companies wanting to rent farm land, I came very close to renting my farm land for that purpose. It’s hard to make a profit on $3 – $4 dollar per bushel corn when it cost almost $5 to grow a bushel. What prevented me from leasing for solar is the fact that if the solar company goes bankrupt and disappears, I’m stuck with land full of worthless solar panels I can’t do anything with until they are removed. Solar contracts state money is set aside for the decommission of your solar farm if you decide not to renew the contract in 25 to 30 years, which sounds really good, but …. No one has proven this to actually occur with such a young industry. Again, what if the solar company goes bankrupt? Where will the funding come from to decommission and remove the complex? Just some things to thing about.
So true
Thank you