BERLIN – At least one of the Worcester County Commissioners is hoping to discuss the county’s growing number of solar farms and their impact on the landscape.
District 4 Commissioner Ted Elder brought up the issue of solar farms and their impact on the county’s agricultural land at last week’s meeting of the Worcester County Commissioners. He’s hoping the topic can be discussed by the board in the near future.
“Before all our land is covered in solar panels we need to get some regulation on it,” Elder said in an interview.
As he’s watched more and more solar farms go up on what were once corn and soybean fields, Elder, who lives in Whaleyville, said he was starting to worry about what they meant for the county’s future. He said he passes three every morning as he heads out on his school bus route.
“They’re taking over a lot of our landscaping,” he said. “Twenty or 30 years down the road these panels are going to be going bad.”
He said he’s concerned there could be hazardous materials inside the panels. He’s worried that could be a major problem if they’re sitting derelict and abandoned in the fields in a few decades.
“We might be creating some problems for future generations,” he said. “we could end up with dead solar farms all over the county.”
Elder said he’s not proposing anything drastic but wants the commissioners to set aside some time to talk about solar farms and any concerns they might have regarding them.
“We need to put some controls on these things before we get to the point it’s too late,” he said.
Commissioner Josh Nordstrom, who like Elder represents a district with a lot of farmland, said he hadn’t heard from any constituents concerned about solar. Nevertheless, he said he’d certainly be interested in participating in a discussion on the topic.
“I’m in favor of solar farms and all sorts of renewable energy but I’m also in favor of farming,” he said. “We have to achieve a balance.”
Nordstrom said he thought that if any one of the commissioners had an interest or worry about a particular topic he thought they should discuss it.
“We have to be able to listen to the concerns of the other commissioners and find the best path for the county moving forward,” he said.
When asked if a solar discussion would be added to a future meeting agenda, Commissioner Diana Purnell, president of the board, said it was likely.
“It’s a possibility,” she said. “We probably will.”
