‘It’s red flags all day long’ — Town board tables 160-acre solar farm decommissioning plan

By Matt Freeze —

OWEGO — When Town Supervisor Don Castellucci asked the board last Tuesday for a motion to approve the decommissioning plan for a proposed 160-acre solar project on Monstrose Turnpike, it was met with 20 seconds of silence before he said, “All right, well, I guess we’ll have to table that.”

After the pause, Councilman Craig Jochum said that they’re trying to do their due diligence with the project because it’ll be the responsibility of future generations to contend with.

Jochum confirmed with company representatives from SunEast Valley Solar LLC that there wouldn’t be any batteries involved with the project, but in discussions with area fire departments about how they handle a potential solar farm fire, they told him they’re not allowed inside the fence.

Because it’s an electrical fire, they’re just supposed to let it burn, he said.

“The whole thing just melts down, all the materials — lead and whatever — just melt down into the ground,” Jochum said. “Not that this happens a lot, but it has happened, and I understand some firefighters have passed away from doing this. Shouldn’t we include the cost of remediating 160 acres of potentially contaminated ground?”

Jochum said the concern is that the cost would exceed the bond issued for decommissioning and leave the town with the bond and taxpayers footing the environmental cleanup bill.

Company representatives said they hadn’t seen such a thing included in a decommissioning plan before, but agreed the standard practice is to let the fire burn and contain it from spreading.

Jochum said the board’s hesitancy to approve additional projects like this one stems from feeling they had been lied to about the scope of the most recent 13.5 MW solar project located off of Pennsylvania Avenue in Apalachin, on about 56 acres of hillside.

“Their exact words, if I get them right: ‘We do not disturb the soil, the only disturbance is when we stick a post in the ground to put the racks on,’” he said. “They have been on that project for over a year with two D6, D8 dozers, an excavator, and rock trucks moving dirt.

“It’s an area that has a lot of residents below it and has been an area that gets wet, let’s say,” he said.

During the September 2011 flood, residences below that hill were flooded with runoff from that hill.

“They told us $15,000 to regrade it, and they’ve spent millions — literally millions — moving dirt,” Jochum said. “So, when we get numbers — and I’m not saying this is you specifically — I’ll tell you what: It’s red flags all day long.”

Jochum said he just wanted to be open about it so that people could understand where at least some of the board members are coming from.

Councilman Gary Hellmers asked whether there has been confirmation from NYSEG that the substation could accept the additional power coming into the grid.

Castellucci said he believes it was a verbal confirmation.

Construction Manager Kyle Suther said the company has been working closely with NYSEG on the project, and all the facilities studies have been done.

“You guys seem reputable,” Hellmers said. “I just want to make sure the taxpayers are covered — that’s our job.”

Councilman Dean Morgan told everyone in attendance that the original decommissioning proposal was $124,000; now, it’s a little over $6.1 million.

The board then unanimously voted to table the approval of the decommissioning plan.

The $24 million project uses panels with a life expectancy of 25 to 30 years, and after their useful life, they would be taken to designated recycling centers outside of the state.

One resident who didn’t identify herself said she supports solar projects.

“I’d rather have a field of solar panels next to my house than a field of corn,” she said. “You have a lot more pollution from all the corn growing in this area than you have from solar. (It has) fungicide, pesticides, fertilizers, and it gets into rivers and causes big problems because of nitrogen and phosphorus.”

If anyone really cares about pollution, they should do something about the corn grown here because it is causing a lot of problems, she said.

“Not to say I don’t appreciate your concern about decommissioning and all that with the solar panels, but I do believe it’s a lot less of a problem than what people get from plain old farming,” she said. “It’s more of a concern than people think.”

(Matt Freeze is a senior writer at The Morning Times)