SUN JOURNAL • May 20, 2023
Fields of solar panels are multiplying around Maine. They generate less than 3% of our state energy usage. The investments are driven by social concern about fossil fuel energy and incentivized by tax policy, tax credits. There is an ancillary cost-slash-benefit factor associated with solar development. Like windmills rising above Maine’s forested skyline, these rolling fields of solar panels are incongruous at best and, to some of us, downright ugly. These fields, by night, are critical grazing areas for all manner of wildlife. A fenced-in solar farm displaces wildlife habitat significantly. LD 1881 would require developers to pay a compensation fee or pay for conservation efforts to mitigate adverse effects on prime agricultural soils and to fund off-site habitat improvement or preservation projects to mitigate the adverse effects. ~ V. Paul Reynolds