By: Kim Williams

Kim Williams — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:35:49 +0000

This is more of a land use issue rather than an environmental one. Panoche Valley is zoned as Prime Agricultural Land with Class 1 soil. Most of Solargen’s proposed project site is in contract under the Land Conservation Act, or Williamson Act as it’s more commonly known. Converting this land to the proposed industrial use will unnecessarily take it out of agricultural production forever and adversely affect surrounding agriculture, such as Your Family Farm, Claravale Dairy, Heirloom Organics and Douglas Ranch Meats. Also, all of agricultural business in Panoche Valley is conducive to wildlife and their habitat. We don’t need to mitigate land or have Environmental Impact Reports done for our business’s because we responsibly steward the land in harmony with nature. Solargen’s proposal was denied a Compatible Use permit under the Williamson Act because what their proposing is NOT compatible with agriculture – plain and simple. Foreign food dependence is as much of an issue as foreign oil dependence, and with 2 acres of farmland lost every minute in America it’s becoming harder and harder to connect with local, family farmers.
Germany did not become a world leader in solar energy production by filling up their agricultural open space with solar panels. They first employed SmartGrid technology, (allowing the efficient use of an intermittent energy source) and then worked to support solar installations close to point of use. Too much energy is lost through transmission to make the outdated power company paradigm of producing energy in a remote location and trasmitting over long distances to urban areas profitable. If agricultural land is deemed necessary to convert, it makes sense to develop land sandwiched between existing industrial use parcels, and within a city’s Sphere of Influence, rather than leapfrog development that eats up valuable, fertile ag land.

Comments on: Which environmental ethos prevails?

By: Kim Williams