BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 3, 2024
Maine has adjusted its potential rules for the development of solar arrays on valuable farmland, and is now taking public comments on a second draft. Solar arrays based on the ground have been spreading in Maine since 2019, when Gov. Janet Mills signed a law that made it easier for the projects to be approved. The new draft removes the categories of forested land and land with local value it had suggested be protected, plus a few steps that would have made more work for developers. It also added blueberry barrens as a category that could become high value land. Maine is trying to manage preserving its remaining farmland while increasing solar energy use as part of the state’s climate change response plan. Those two goals can be at odds with each other, and at times divisive.