Centroplex News

The Troy Independent School District (TISD) unanimously green-lit on Oct. 12 an agreement with the consultation firm McDowell School Finance Consulting to examine the $20 million appraised value limitation application by Big Elm Solar for a proposed 3,000-acre solar panel project in Bell County. 

In coverage of the board meeting by KDH News, Monty Humble, managing director of solar farm company High Road Clean Energy, said only 1,400 of the farm's 3,000 acres will have the 18-foot solar panels installed. 

At a public hearing, TISD officials heard the concerns of many residents who believe the solar farm will have serious economic and environmental impacts.

Robert Fleming is a Bell County resident who farms and ranches across four counties in the immediate area, including on property that immediately borders former farmland that is currently home to solar panels. Fleming told Centroplex News that although he doesn't have anything against solar panels that are put on buildings, the Blackland plains of Bell County are precious agricultural space. 

"The Texas Blacklands are an endangered space," Fleming said. "All along [Interstate 35], agricultural space is being split up and sold out. This is very, very fertile farm and ranch land along here."

The Blacklands offer something that most agricultural terrain across the nation doesn't, Fleming said. 

"Rich, growable soil that sees 50 inches of rainfall a year. We can produce food and fiber without irrigation," he said. "Go up out of these plains and you have to irrigate." 

As Blacklands space is sold for solar farm development, Fleming is concerned about the proportion of farmland to food demand, adding, "One of these days, we are going to lose the ability to feed ourselves."

Fleming said companies such as Big Elm Solar need to be more transparent about the environmental impacts of the solar panel farms. From an agricultural perspective, Fleming said that soil loss and erosion would be a problem, noting that with the Blacklands' ample annual rainfall and the angle of the solar panels, water runoff could significantly eat away the soil of the farmland. 

"Think about the water runoff on your house when it rains," Fleming said. "When [your house] doesn't have a gutter, [the water] falls off in a sheet-like matter and hits the ground. Well, when the water hits the ground in the same spot, it creates erosion. It carries the soil away, faster and faster into our creeks and watersheds. Our county just can't handle that kind of erosion."

The Bell County resident also thinks the solar farm will be disruptive to school bus routes while they're being built and heavily damaging to roads and infrastructure. 

With the potential site of Big Elm's 3,000-acre solar farm barely 50 yards from Fleming's property, he expects the ambient temperature in the area to go up by 10 to 15 degrees, with the sun hitting the west-facing panels and reflecting in his direction. 

He also pointed out that the company will remove every tree and push out every terrace they can find on the farmland to level it out for the panels, further impacting the Blacklands' erosion. 

Fleming is worried about the impacts on wildlife, saying "Here in the Blacklands we have beaucoup birds, ducks, geese, water fowl, deer. Swanson hawks come here by the hundreds around harvest time."

According to the article from KDH, the solar farm will have a 30-year lifespan. Big Elm Solar's contract with Bell County requires at least 180 megawatts of electricity each year starting in March 2022. 

Fleming stated that he is against the tax abatements that cushion the solar companies because, although the companies are supposed to be good for the economy and boost the workforce, they have to be given taxpayer money off the bat to be profitable. 

"If [the solar companies] want to come to this county, they can pay the full tax. [...] They made it quite clear that, without the abatement, they can't be profitable. For what?" Fleming said. "To ruin our property values and create issues?"

KDH reported that the solar farm projected is projected to bring in more than $186 million in developments to the Bell County region after acquiring a tax abatement from the county in July. 

Fleming stated that many people have spoken out to the commissioners' court and school board about the solar farm, but he feels the community's concerns fall on deaf ears because of the profit to the county and school entities. 

"It's all about the money. Money talks," Fleming said. "All about the dollar bill, ever since we stepped off the Mayflower."

The property owner doesn't think his neighbors who leased to the solar farms thought their decision through. He said that differing opinions on the solar farms has created a divide in the area's agricultural community, but he hopes that local farmers are making careful, informed decisions moving forward. 

With Big Elm able to sell out the solar farm to Canadian investors at the three-year mark, Fleming is worried that his neighbors' leases for the solar panels will change and not for the better.

"[The solar companies] know how to wiggle themselves in, divide us and prey on the elderly farmers who don't have heirs and want to retire. They also prey on the weak agricultural economy," Fleming said. "Hundreds of companies that are doing this right now are doing it because it's big money, it's federally subsidized. They can be sloppy and still be profitable."

Fleming is urging people to consider the impact of shrinking farmland in the Blacklands, ultimately being replaced by industry. 

"What's more important to you, food on your plate or the light switch to come on?" Fleming asked. "COVID-18 showed us that, when the meat wasn't in the meat counter, we kind of got the message across of what it means if there aren't farmers, ranchers, truckers and food merchandisers."