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A massive solar project fiercely opposed by residents in Shaftsbury won approval from Vermont regulators last week despite concerns about its high visibility in a scenic spot and the wisdom of chopping down acres of trees to build it.
The Public Utilities Commission signed off on plans by Connecticut-based Freepoint Solar to construct an 80-acre solar farm on pastures and forest in the rural area along Route 7 north of Bennington.
The 191-acre property is located on Holy Smoke Road, so called because of the stunning views from the hillside, locals say. Approximately 50,000 photovoltaic panels will cover an area equivalent to about 65 football fields.
Commissioners said the decision was a difficult one, requiring them to reconcile the state’s need to move toward 100 percent renewable energy with the significant change to the landscape.
“Our review of this petition has forced us to consider aesthetic and environmental impacts affecting a specific Vermont community within the context of Vermont’s broader legislative and energy objectives,” wrote chair Edward McNamara and Commissioner Riley Allen. The two found that, on balance, the project merited a permit, called a certificate of public good, because it will help Vermont and New England meet renewable energy goals.
A third commissioner, Margaret Cheney, agreed with the decision but expressed significant reservations in a separate opinion. She noted that the 20-megawatt facility will be equal to the state’s largest, in Ludlow, which was approved in 2017.
“It will be huge, and it will have impacts,” Cheney noted.
More than 104 acres of agricultural fields will be used for the project, and 42 acres of trees — including nearly 35 acres of mature forest — will be removed, Cheney noted. The area now consists of “rolling hills, agricultural fields, open meadows, dense forested areas, and scattered homes,” she noted.
Cutting down trees, which naturally remove carbon from the atmosphere, is something that the state’s experts advise should be avoided when constructing large solar installations, Cheney noted. Allowing out-of-state renewable-energy developers to clear forest in Vermont, where land can be cheaper, raises questions about what’s in the “public good,” she added.
“Vermont has enough acres to host solar development without sacrificing the state’s carbon-reducing forests,” she wrote.
She also noted that since Freepoint Solar is located out of state and local utilities would not be buying the power, the renewable energy credits generated from the project would benefit entities outside of Vermont.
“In other words, Vermont will bear the burdens of this facility but might not directly reap the environmental benefits that it provides,” she wrote.
The other two commissioners, however, noted that even if the electricity is exported to the New England grid, that would benefit Vermonters by pushing down electricity costs and displacing power produced by oil and natural gas.
The project was expected to create local jobs during construction and to bring in $135,000 in local tax revenue in the first yer.
Jesse McDougall, a local sheep farmer and vocal opponent of the project, said he was “heartbroken but not surprised” by the decision.
“As Vermont’s working landscapes continue to collapse, we will be preyed upon for the natural resources we don’t have the money or political power to defend,” McDougall told Seven Days.
A representative from Freepoint Solar, which has several other large solar projects planned in the state, did not respond to a request for comment.
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Kevin McCallum is a political reporter at Seven Days, covering the Statehouse and state government. An October 2024 cover story explored the challenges facing people seeking FEMA buyouts of their flooded homes. He’s been a journalist for more than 25… More by Kevin McCallum
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