By John Estridge
At the current time, there are no solar energy farms in Union County either in operation or proposed.
Two women who attended the Union County Commissioners’ meeting Friday, March 5, want to keep it that way and are concerned about two possible solar farms at the county’s borders.
Tina Jackson and Traci Robinson talked about the solar energy industry in general and proposed farms just across the state line in Preble County Ohio and just south of Union County in the Bath area of Franklin County.
While Bath is in Franklin County, the children in that area attend the Union County/College Corner Joint School District and the West College Corner Volunteer Fire Department provides fire coverage for both areas, the women said.
Robinson started off her talk with mention of House Bill 1381. It passed the House on mostly Republican support as the Republicans control the House. Locally, Randy Lyness (R-Lawrenceburg) and Randy Frey (R-Greensburg) voted against the bill. It is now before the Republican-controlled Senate. However, State Senator Jeff Raatz (R-Centerville) has publicly stated he is against the bill as it is now written.
Those against the bill say it will take all local control away from approving or disapproving solar farms. It will be up to the state with counties having no input.
It was suggested those against relinquishing local control should contact not only one’s own legislators, but legislators across the state, to express the opposition to this bill. Union County Commissioner Tim Williams said many legislators from more urban areas of Indiana do not understand the groundswell against solar energy farms in the rural areas.
Robinson said those who sponsored the bill receive a large amount of money from the utility companies, which caused Williams to express the need for term limits. He said if the legislators knew they had a limited amount of time in office, money piled into their respective re-election funds would not have the impact it has in today’s times.
Jackson talked about the Preble County situation. She said she and her husband, Kevin Jackson, live on Greenwood Church Road, with their property less than one mile from Preble County and the state line. There is a substation at the east end of Greenwood Church Road, which will be utilized by the proposed solar farm, she said.
The proposed solar farm is under the direction of Angelina. According to the Ohio Siting Board report, it is proposed to be an 80 megawatt project in Dixon and Israel townships. She said the parent company is based out of the U.S. and is in Canada. Energy produced from the project will not remain local. It will be transported to other areas.
According to Jackson, the proposed solar farm will cover about 800 acres in that area. Many Ohio-based farmers have already signed lucrative 40-year leases for their respective acreages. While the company has contacted governmental officials and first responders in Preble County, the West College Corner Volunteer Fire Department and the Union County Commissioners have not been contacted. She said electrical and chemical fires are dangerous with the fire department needing special equipment and training.
Construction will mean heavy trucks on the county’s roads. She said the preferred state route is out of the way for trucks, and she predicted those, which utilize Interstate 70 and state highways through Eaton, Ohio to Preble County will be circumvented. That is out of the way for many contractors, and she predicted they would utilize Union County’s back roads instead. She and Williams pointed out another piece of legislation House Bill 1190 also passed the House on partisan lines and could increase weight limits on state and county roads to 120,000 pounds. It is HB 1190 and is now before the Senate.
While the Preble County Commissioners support the project, the project has been delayed due to a groundswell of opposition against it by the area’s residents, she said. The completion date was set for the end of 2020. That means there is still time to fight against the project. She said the hope is the company over the proposed project may decide the project is not worth it due to the delays and increased costs.
Robinson discussed the Franklin County situation. Many farmers in the Bath Township area have been contacted about leasing the prime farmland in that area for solar farms. Union County Council President Richard Blank, who was attending the commissioner meeting, said the solar companies want prime farmland because it is usually flat and devoid of trees.
Because of a lack of data about the possible long-term negative repercussions of solar farms on the environment, Robinson likened the proposed solar projects to Fernald.
According to the im.doe.gov website, the Fernald site produced high-purity uranium metal products for the nation’s weapons production program. It is located 17 miles northwest of Cincinnati. She said, like Fernald, which started in 1951 and was not fully decommissioned until 1991, the safety of the area because of proposed solar projects is not known.
In Franklin County, the Area Plan Commission and Franklin County Commissioners are attempting to put new zoning regulations in place to address the situation. However, Union County Area Plan Director Jeff Mathews expressed caution at such endeavors. He talked about Concentrated Animal Feed Operations (CAFOs) in Union County. The first proposed CAFO was very controversial in the county. In response, the county put in one of the state’s most restrictive CAFO zoning measures into the county’s zoning code. Since that time, two more CAFOs have been approved in the county because the respective CAFOs have met the zoning requirements.
With solar, now each application for a solar farm would have to go before the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals as a special use variance. There would be public hearings with the variance having to meet five items to pass. With that way, the public has input into each application. With the change in the zoning code, if the proposal meets the zoning code’s criteria, the public is not involved.
Both women said what may be the worst part of this situation is these projects are very divisive to a community. They pointed to other solar and wind projects in Randolph and Rush counties as examples.
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