County officials are discussing a growing concern about solar companies obtaining options on Bartholomew County farmland.
Efforts are underway to obtain about 2,000 acres, nearly all on Bartholomew County’s east side, said Bartholomew County Commissioner Tony London.
For farmers who have faced stalled crop prices, as well as suffered sticker shock on farm implement prices, it’s getting increasingly difficult to make money through conventional agriculture, London said.
“Some of these (solar panel) companies are offering $1,100 an acre annually,” said London, who said the money is offered in exchange for a 30-year commitment. “In a good year, what does a farm make? $200 an acre? That’s hard money to pass up.”
There have been at least 28 option agreements between farmers and solar farm operators filed since last October, Bartholomew County Recorder Tami Hines said. These options provide about $75 to $80 an acre to hold the land for about five years, said county Commissioner Carl Lienhoop.
The topic of solar farms was brought to the commissioners Aug. 23 by Don Strietlemeier, who said many of his fellow farmers have sought his advice regarding the pluses and minuses of leasing out farmland for solar farms.
“I’m neither for or against it,” Strietlemeier said. “I’m sort of on the fence. But I want to be sure there will be opportunity for public input before any decisions are made.”
The commissioners gave their assurance that any effort to install a solar farm or wind turbines would required a conditional use variance during a public meeting of the Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals. Such a request would automatically require a public hearing before the BZA can vote on the matter, London said.
There have been no such requests made to local zoning board officials at this time to install a new solar farm, city/county associate planner Stephen Hughes said. In addition, Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz assured Strietlemeier that solar farm businesses have no right to declare eminent domain.
But the top concern expressed was whether solar power is a “risky business proposition” according to the county officials.
“What happens if one of those ventures go bankrupt?” Kleinhenz asked. “Then, they leave the property owner holding 300 acres of panels that the company walked away from.”
In the Hoosier state, 34 out of 92 counties have ordinances that restrict wind and solar projects, or prohibit construction altogether. Residents in these counties fear the projects, if too close to their homes, will lower property values as well as inconvenience the lives of those who live near them.
“Private property rights is going to be an issue,” Strietlemeier warned in regard to the solar farms.
On the other hand, a former engineer and solar energy advocate believes those concerns lose significance when you consider the last six years have brought the warmest global temperatures on record.
“A lot of people do not believe there is any such thing as global warming,” Tim Thayer of Hope said. “I’ve asked them to look at Antarctica or Greenland.”
Antarctica is now shedding 149 billion metric tons of ice annually, while Greenland is losing 279 billion metric tons each year, according to NASA satellite imagery and research.
“If the ice in Antarctica and Greenland were to melt, the sea level would rise over 200 feet,” Thayer said. “Forty percent of the population in the United States live below that level. What happens to property values then?”
Two of the three sitting commissioners (Kleinhenz and Lienhoop) were in office from 2014 to 2016, when the question of confined animal feeding operations became an emotionally-charged subject focused on property rights.
The emotions that surfaced during debates illustrated how many farm owners are extremely adamant about maintaining the freedom to do what they want on their property, Kleinhenz and Lienhoop said at that time.
“It’s hard for me to tell a landowner they can’t use their property as they see fit,” London replied. “But we’re trying to balance that now.”
Some possibilities being considered include some sort of bond from the solar panel company, or the creation of a security fund that would pay for mitigation “if something were to go wrong,” London said.
However, county regulations may soon be obsolete. Last winter, the Indiana House passed HB 1381, which establishes default standards standards for solar farms that overrule more restrictive local regulations.
“The companies want to take us out of the equation, because they don’t want to fight with us yokels,” London said. “They want to go at the state level because it will be easier for them.”
Although HB 1381 did not make it out of the Indiana Senate in April, London expects the bill to be introduced again when the General Assembly reconvenes in January.
