From:                                                       Claudia Kadra <cmkadra@gmail.com>

Sent:                                                         Wednesday, June 12, 2019 10:58 PM

To:                                                            RPS, DOER (ENE)

Subject:                                                   Public Comment/Commercial Solar

 

Good evening,

I am writing to comment on Massachusetts commercial solar programs and incentives.

I am a second generation, 60 plus year, owner of a 61A agricultural farm in Ware Ma. I am not anti-solar, I own 21 panels and provide my farm with 100% of the electrical power it requires, and yes I did benefit from the Massachusetts SREC program. 

I do feel that individual residents of the state should benefit from such programs for their own personal solar arrays. However, I have a HUGE issue with the large  predatory out of state solar companies operating and taking over our small Massachusetts towns.

These big solar companies are clear cutting our forests, destroying and working in the 100" BVW and 200' riverfront areas, placing huge battery stations inside the BVW, using pesticides, herbicides and deicer both in and out of the 100' BVW.  What will happen to these sensitive areas and the water supply. How long will this continue to be allowed.  We are losing our valuable agricultural lands, prime forest land, and these companies are systematically destroying our small towns. These companies are bullying and lying to our small communities which mostly have volunteer boards.  I have seen this first hand meeting after meeting. These companies are stating in public meetings that if not approved by town boards then they will sue, they will clear cut the entire parcel and just leave it. Time and time again, threat after threat. Abutters concerned about stream crossing, well water quality, their wetlands, their livestock, their property values, the bald eagles nesting, and the other 50 concerns- the list goes on and on.  The entire thing is so tragic. These companies will say or do whatever it takes to gobble up the incentive money. Then guess what- once they collect the money, they are gone, selling off the projects.  I see it in my area- arrays built and not hooked to the grid, work sites left a mess, panels littering the ground, erosion issues into roads and adjacent properties, glare issues with little or no mitigation, conditions of permitting not followed, wetlands destroyed and replication areas not adequate with questionable long term viability. These small communities do not have the expertise required to permit commercial power plant facilities, they do not have the staff or funds to police them during or after construction is completed. It is literally the wild west and these companies need to be stopped now and it is the state that must begin to help.

The State of Massachusetts has unleashed these monsters. Towns need help, citizens need protection, abutters need to be heard. Clean energy is a necessity, but not at such a huge expense to our environment and our citizens. The state should help individuals purchase for their homes, help farms become self sustaining, help companies place it on their roofs, explore other options like solar panel windows in high rise buildings, run them under the high tension lines.

The situation is out of hand. I beg the state of Massachusetts to please discontinue any and all incentives that are driving these giant commercial companies.  

 

Thank you,

Claudia Kadra

Trustee and owner: Shea's Tree Farm

84 Osborne Road

Ware MA 01082