Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bryan Davis, who is a dairy farmer in Derby and a member of the Derby School Board.
[I] am proud to say that I was born and raised in the Northeast Kingdom. As a local elected official for almost 20 years, it’s been disheartening to see some having a knee-jerk opposition to solar around the state, very often based on misinformation, and often by our own town officials.
Let me give just one example, which is telling of the current statewide discourse here. I grew up enjoying Lake Seymour at a family camp and have been a camp owner with my wife on the lake for the last 17 years. I am a dairy farmer and I understand the value of turning the sun’s energy and our land into productive use for the things we need like food and energy. I believe using renewable resources such as wind, sun and water is a more responsible thing to do than depending on nonrenewable energy sources. That is why I was surprised to see the rush to judgment by some in the town of Morgan in response to a proposed solar project, while most of it not based on facts.
At the heart of the issue, I don’t think a solar project one half mile away from the lake, mostly obscured by trees and on undeveloped private land is an aesthetic eyesore. In fact, the proposed project would be hardly noticeable and would bring great benefit to our community with its clean renewable energy. As a native of the NEK and someone who has spent their entire life caring for the land, it means a great deal to me to protect our natural resources. My wife and I have three children and four grandchildren who also live in our community. I would like to know that I am doing all I can do to leave a cleaner footprint for the next generation.
I am a dairy farmer and I understand the value of turning the sun’s energy and our land into productive use for the things we need like food and energy.
I understand that changes to our landscape can be difficult to adjust to. However, I believe that clean energy projects which are done responsibly are in our best interests in the long run, and we need to be forward thinking enough to support them. That’s something for us to be proud of.
In addition, water quality is important to all of us who enjoy our lakes. As a dairy farmer, I know all too well about water quality regulations. This solar project, which would have almost no impervious surface, would allow natural vegetation to grow up all around the small poles holding up the solar panels. It would have no impact on water quality whatsoever. In fact, the total project includes only 1,486 square feet of new impervious surfaces– smaller than many lakeside camps — not the 41,000 the opponents and town have falsely claimed. Water easily drops off the panels and soaks into the ground. If you look around at existing projects like the one proposed, you see grasses growing all around and no runoff impacts. It could, in fact, vastly improve water quality over any number of other permitted uses for the land. Vermont has strict water quality regulations and this project would need to be installed within those regulations. Acid rain from out-of-state coal plants pose the real threat to our water’s quality.
Contrary to comments made by some Morgan town leaders, this project will pay property taxes, not only on the land as the owner does now, but also a separate solar tax above and beyond current tax payments to the town. A project such as this solar array would not require municipal services like our schools, roads or emergency services, which is positive. This would provide a new source of revenue for the town’s finances. I recently shared this perspective with my local papers. I expected to hear from my neighbors given the uproar. I simply haven’t – except for a state trooper who came up to me and said that I’d opened his eyes to another perspective on hosting solar in our towns. It was then a surprise to me to learn after all the stink about water quality the town has put up about this project that the same town officials would just let sail through a shoreline permit for a driveway just 55 feet from the waterline (versus nearly a half mile for the solar project), on a grade of 8 percent (versus 3 percent for the solar project), with over 90 percent more impervious surface. Not a single public comment. It seems other agendas are at work here.
I would urge folks to reserve judgment and learn more about proposed projects before jumping to conclusions or trusting the misinformation. As Vermonters, we owe it to our future generations to be responsible both for protecting our lakes and land while advancing our energy needs by utilizing local clean renewable energy resources in a thoughtful and responsible manner.
