By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
In the absence of any regulation, it could have been chaotic. That's how Barton County Counselor Patrick Hoffman described why the county implemented a moratorium on the development of commercial solar energy in May. A vote on a proposed extension of the moratorium was not on the agenda for the Board of Commissioners for Tuesday's meeting, but the body did hear from lifetime resident and landowner Chris Clasen, who has agreed to lease part of her land to solar developer Acciona Energy.
"There is a large number of people who have signed up for the solar farm," she said. "We believe in renewable energy. We also believe in landowners' rights. It seems glaringly obvious to us that thousands and thousands of people come in here to Barton County to shoot and kill birds for sport. If you're a hunter, I respect that. We would like the same respect in return as landowners."
Clasen stated there have been no scientific studies that show solar panels placed one mile or a hundred miles from Cheyenne Bottoms would be detrimental to wildlife. She said there are many thousands of acres for the birds in the area in question, and even a large-scale solar farm is small in the bigger scheme of things.
"The 2,500 acres that Acciona wants to use is a drop in the bucket," she said. "It just seems incredibly hypocritical. If I would have leased all my land to an outfitter to lease it out for hunting myself, for people to put out decoys and lie in wait to shoot these birds, no one would have a problem with that. Incredibly hypocritical, in my opinion."
The moratorium on commercial solar development was put into effect in May, largely because Barton County has no regulations regarding large-scale solar farms. The Barton County Planning Commission is in the process of writing those regulations and is asking for an extension to continue that process before the moratorium expires on Dec. 31. Hoffman said that is an important part of the process. Once a draft of rules is complete, the public will be allowed to speak on the record at open meetings.
"It's important that solar moratoriums are not intended to just delay implementation of rules," he said. "They're a temporary measure that the county goes through, in good faith, while we're developing rules. I'm very committed to that in Barton County. We're not just kicking the can down the road with this moratorium. It's just to make sure we don't get permitting happening in the middle of making regulations."
By coincidence, county commissioners and officials attended the Kansas Association of Counties conference in Topeka last week. Solar energy was a topic at the conference. Commissioner Tricia Schlessiger shared some highlights of that session, including:
- A moratorium deprives a property owner of reasonable use of their land, and moratoriums should not be carried on indefinitely.
- Wind and solar energies are the cheapest to produce, even with subsidies removed.
- Each solar panel contains half the lead of a typical shotgun shell, and panels are typically well-sealed with no chemical leaching on surrounding land.
- Urban sprawl and red cedars are permanent causes of ag land loss. Twenty-three million acres of land are lost to CRP.
- Heat is dissipated a few feet from solar panels, thus mitigating any "heat island" theories
- Old panels used to placed tightly together. New panels, because they rotate, require space between where the ground can be seen. This reduces the "lake effect" where birds may mistake panels for water.
The Board of Commissioners will vote on an extension of the moratorium at the Dec. 19 meeting. The Barton County Planning Commission will have a public hearing and regular meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m., in the south conference room of the Juvenile Services Building, 1213 Baker Ave, Great Bend.