You own the land - 
 YOU ARE ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS ON THAT LAND!
NOTE:  Every possibility noted in this four part series has already been experienced somewhere by landowners!

You need to think more than money…think liabilities.
 
Taxes:
The land owner is always responsible for the taxes on the land. 
The land converts from an ag exemption to commercial/industrial tax status once construction has started.  There will be a 3 year roll back on that new tax value.  The solar company may offer to pay the tax. 
It will take time to get an ag exemption back.  Everything has to be removed and soil remediated to get it back to agriculture again.
The solar company should be paying property taxes on all equipment but sometimes the owner may be held responsible.  What happens if the company fails to pay them?
 
Liens
If the solar company does not pay their contractors or worker, liens can be put on the equipment and on the land. 

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You own the land BUT!- 
 YOU ARE ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHATEVER HAPPENS ON THAT LAND!
 
You need to think more than money…think liabilities.

Decommissioning Costs:
There are really no actual costs to date on how much it will cost to decommission an industrial solar field.  It is speculated that it could cost between 1 – 2 times the cost of installation.  It will be substantial!  There are not many places to recycle the solar panels (and recycling is much more expensive than just putting the solar panels in a land fill - not so green).  If the solar company were to go bankrupt, you cannot remove any equipment until there has been a lawsuit to claim ownership.  Family members and/or heirs may inherit a huge debt.  
 
Counties may end up owning the site:
If taxes are not paid, the county may end up owning the site eventually.  The solar company claims they are targeting land owners who are retired so they can pass the land onto family members.  There may be nothing to pass onto family members.  
 
Other problems:
There can be lawsuits from neighbors who may experience water runoff or environmental issues, etc.  The land owner is responsible! 

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We need your help!  Right now, the best way you can support us is to comment on our posts and continue to like and share our posts with family and friends.  For now, our community needs to be kept updated of what is going on so when the time comes, we can unite together to stop industrial scale solar. ​

Our source (we will refer to him as Peter)  mentioned how much emphasis was given to do everything possible so solar doesn’t impact neighbors.  

• He asked how close will the setback be?  The solar company responded, probably 50’ from property line.
• Peter asked how they will hide the solar panels?  Their response was they would work with local nurseries to block the sight of solar panels with heavy screening (trees and shrubs).   Peter mentioned the solar company went on to claim they want to retain the communities agriculture spirit and claim the solar panels will be doing this and will not create any eyesores.  Peter went on to say, why do these land owners think it is a good idea to surround my house and be in my back yard, but not theirs (looking at the original project, land owners who signed leases are not putting the solar panels next to their homes)?  He also noted that there were land owners that didn't even live here in the area?  

 
We want to know:

• if the solar company actually cared about the surrounding neighbors having solar panels so close to them, then why only 50' and not 500’ or more away?   
• how close will these shrubs be to each other and how high?  How effectively will they be blocking these solar panels?
• will the trees and shrubs be placed along the whole property line or just the corners?  
• what about the homeowners who will be looking at solar panels on the hillsides.   Since our topography is not necessarily flat, how do you hide those?  There is nothing tall enough to block them.  
• what if the shrubs or trees die, will they replace them?  
  
• are these evergreen or deciduous plants?  Meaning, will they be blocking during the winter months?
• how tall and how fast will these grow?  If they are only 3' - 5' tall how will they be hiding 10' industrial solar panels?  
• does it not seem like an oxymoron that the solar company claims they will plant screening so it blocks solar panels, but if it actually blocks the panels it is also blocking the sun on solar panels?  So, can they really block the view while not blocking the sun from the solar panels.  

How can acres of industrial solar panels surrounded by fencing give that agriculture spirit?  When was the last time you heard someone want to take an afternoon drive in the country to look at industrial solar panels?  What is agricultural about that? 


We need your help!  Right now, the best way you can support us is to comment on our posts and continue to like and share our posts with family and friends.  For now, our community needs to be kept updated of what is going on so when the time comes, we can unite together to stop industrial scale solar. 

One source ( we will call him Jeff) said that the solar company seemed shocked that they were not welcomed into the community last summer and how much anti-solar there was.  The solar company insinuated that because the community was not welcoming them, that they re-evaluated their original project and now it is a completely new project.  It is cut down by ½ the size from before.  Jeff said that they thought it odd they didn't mention how many acres they were going to put solar panels on and he noticed they failed to mention that the many solar leases were expiring (Jeff had checked the information on Lawrence County that many of the leases would be expiring soon).  He said the solar company offered no maps so he would know where they were proposing to go.  They offered nothing.  The solar company, Jeff said,  later mentioned they had learned they couldn't  put solar on much of the original acres.  “It does not work on rolling hills.”  

• Didn’t they just insinuate that they halved the project due to push back and not being welcomed and not because much of the land wasn't suitable?  
• Will this mean they will look for even more flat prime farm land if they can get the project approved?  
• If they get their toe hold here, what is going to stop them from going back to the original 2700 acres in a year or so?  

People that fought hard against solar before, did stop them.  But it looks like the solar company is changing their tactics and still trying to put industrial solar on our farmlands.  

​Tomorrow, another source tells us how the solar company claims they want to retain the communities agriculture spirit.    

We need your help!  Right now, the best way you can support us is to comment on our posts and continue to like and share our posts with family and friends.  For now, our community needs to be kept updated of what is going on so when the time comes, we can unite together to stop industrial scale solar. ​

Another source confirmed what we posted yesterday, that the Hickory Run gas powered electric plant supposedly shut down a portion of their electric they are generating.  It was unclear why they did this though. This is now leaving room on the transmission line for the solar company.  Since the transmission line is so close to Hickory Run power plant, industrial solar is trying to fill this gap with electric generated by solar.  This is one of the reasons they claim they contacted nearby landowners.  This will tie up these farmlands with a lease for the next 30 years by placing solar fields, substations and inverters on them.  Then they will connect all these fields to get this electric back over to the gas powered electric plant’s transmission line. 
 
Our source was, also, surprised to learn that this solar generated electric will not benefit our area.  They felt the solar company was trying to offset this by waving fists full of dollars (through various programs) to the county, local, schools and community? It made them wonder why are they doing this?  Is this from the goodness of their hearts or is it so they won’t notice that, as an individual, this solar electric will not help the locals pocketbook or their electric bill?  They questioned how long will these programs last?  30 years or just until they get their permits and start construction?  
 
This makes their blood boil!   No cheap electric here, they said, but everyone will have to look and listen to solar, watch their property value drop and deal with the noise,  potential flooding, etc.  The list goes on and on. 

Thanks again to those who have responded.  Again, if you have heard anything new or talked with the solar company, please send it to the "contact us" page.  

We need your help!  Right now, the best way you can support us is to comment on our posts and continue to like and share our posts with family and friends.  Continue to keep coming back as there is a lot of information to share and we are posting 5 days a week.  Our community needs to be informed of what is going on so when the time comes, we can unite together to stop industrial scale solar here.  

First, we need to understand why there is so much activity here and surrounding areas, to put in industrial solar farms.   

Pennsylvania has put into law that a certain percentage of PA power must come from an alternative renewable energy.  They are currently working to form a "PA Local Solar" program. This allows electric utility companies to purchase solar generated power and turn around and offer individuals the ability to subscribe to solar power.  (have you seen any ads in the mail offering you the ability to now purchase electricity that is powered by solar?)  This bill was passed in the House and is currently being considered by the Senate committee. Source  Thanks to another law  passed, PA utilities must now purchase SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credits) from only those within PA .  Source  And they are working on more ambitious goals for the future, so this is not going away.  

Now you may say, what does that have to do with us, since we really are not suited for solar (cloudy, and prime farmland).  Why are they here?  One of my sources stated that the solar company told them that Hickory Run energy (Edinburg Rd.) has space on their transmission line and we are the best suited area to put the solar panels on our good farmlands to get it there. 

• Now does this make sense to you? 
• Isn't solar energy supposed to be helping the environment? 
• Is it supposed to be taking prime farmland that is currently being farmed out of production? 
• If they are so concerned about climate change (more on that later) would they be picking one of the cloudiest locations to try to produce solar energy?

​
Another source stated they will be using tracking solar panels (more on that later, also).  Look up tracking solar panels.  They are the most expensive way to go and they advise not to go that route, but this source said the solar company said this is what they have to use in our area to try to be more efficient.  I thought the website stated they did research and we are a prime location...for what, solar or just to fill a space in a transmission line?    
  
We, as a community, need to unite and show solar they are not wanted here.  We need your help!  Right now, the best way you can support us is to comment on our posts and continue to like and share our posts with family and friends.  For now, our community needs to be kept updated of what is going on so when the time comes, we can unite together to stop industrial scale solar.