Letter — A warning to Buckingham and surrounding counties

Published 10:00 am Saturday, February 26, 2022

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To the Editor:

The “Friends of the Meherrin” came together to fight the original “Seven Bridges” solar industrial mega site which was five times the size of our existing and operating “Grasshopper” site here in Mecklenburg County and would have fronted the scenic Meherrin River for 19,000 ft. Our county officials have now roundly voted “Seven Bridges” down two times. They are wise to the hollow promises and outright lies of the solar developers after seeing the poor performance of the 500 acre “Grasshopper” site which was fairly level cow pasture and is now owned by Dominion Energy. With their bottomless checkbook, they have been unable to stop the thousands of tons of silt from destroying Butcher’s Creek and sending a plume of mud into the Kerr Lake ten miles away every time it rains. If Dominion Energy cannot correct this issue here, we doubt there will be better results from a larger more steeply graded area such as the almost 2,000 acre Apex Riverstone Solar facility being proposed only one half a mile from the scenic James River and threatening historic Payne’s Pond as well as another historic pond. This site is totally inappropriate for utility scale solar and all its issues with erosion such as the Essex project’s disastrous flooding of Muddy Gut Creek and the Louisa County complaints from farmers flooded fields due erosion as well. Please take heed to what is happening around our state and check out the website www.citizensforresponsiblesolar.org to learn more about utility scale solar here in Virginia. Above all, please attend or comment on the Buckingham Project by email at publiccomments@buckinghamcounty. virginia.gov or call the board for a three minute voicemail at (434) 969- 5039 before the Feb. 28, meeting and voice your opinion on this matter.

Judy Brothers

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Friends of the Meherrin River

Chase City