Opinion on Solar Panels — By Tommy Purser

I hesitate to write this opinion here because some folks won’t like it.

First, let me say that the folks who live on McCall Road and environs are justified in their displeasure with what’s happened in their community. They blame the solar farms that have invaded them. I use the word “invaded” because I think it fits here.

If solar farms encroached on my home, I, too, would be displeased.

But I have been a bit misled. I was told things I didn’t question. I believed what I was told and didn’t do my due diligence to check to see if what I was told was accurate.

First off, the destruction of McCall Road. It’s awful. It’s worrisome. It bothers the residents of McCall Road and it bothers me, too. I was led to believe that all that destruction was done by Silicon Ranch’s heavy trucks traversing the road as the solar panel installation was underway. My bad …. I didn’t check. Something I don’t usually do. I usually always check what I’ve been told.

Later, I learned that a lot of heavy trucks totally unrelated to Silicon Ranch’s project on McCall Road have been using the road for a shortcut while running their routes. They have no business on that road. The road was not built to handle such big trucks. Much of the damage to McCall Road, I’ve since been informed, was due to those trucks …. not necessarily the Silicon Ranch trucks.

I was misled. I don’t blame those who misled me, I blame myself. I should have checked.

Secondly, I was told that Silicon Ranch was not fulfilling its obligation to plant vegetation to form a buffer zone between residents in the area and the solar farm.

I did check on that and posed the question to a Silicon Ranch representative who informed me that the company they hired to install the solar panels for them, preferred to wait until the installation was complete before planting the vegetation buffer. That company was concerned that the vegetation buffer could be damaged during the installation process. Whatever. But I’m okay with that explanation.

Thirdly, and this is the opinion I believe will be most unpopular, just because Silicon Ranch’s project in the Denton/Snipesville area is considered to be intrusive, it doesn’t necessarily hold that the Brooker Trail solar project will be similarly intrusive.

No one has seen the plans for the Brooker Trail project. The Jeff Davis County Solar Committee hasn’t seen the plans. The Joint Development Authority (JDA) hasn’t seen the plans. The County Commission hasn’t seen the plans. And the opponents of the project haven’t seen the plans.

JDA Chairman Jimmy McLeod said at the group’s last meeting that they can’t vote on a plan they haven’t seen. They don’t know what the plan is. They don’t know if, or how, the plan will negatively affect area residents. They don’t know.

And neither do the opponents or the three county commissioners that effectively vetoed the plan without even knowing what the plan was.

Like my opinon or not, that’s not fair. Nor is it wise.