Posted on 06/06/2023 8:51:01 AM PDT by george76
Inflicting heavy fines on developers of a project billed as supplying clean, renewable energy, a federal jury has awarded a couple in southwest Georgia $135.5 million after runoff from “Lumpkin Solar” severely polluted waters and soils on their rural property.
According to a lawsuit filed by Shaun and Amie Harris, Lumpkin Solar’s developers – after clearing about 1,000 acres of timberland, farmland, and land previously used for hunting and fishing – failed to install adequate measures for erosion and sediment control.
“The result is what one would expect – when it rained, pollution poured downhill and downstream onto the neighbors’ property, inundating wetlands with silt and sediment, and turning a 21-acre trophy fishing lake into a mud hole,” said James E. Butler, the couple’s attorney, in a statement.
The companies slapped with stiff fines are Nashville, Tenn.-based Silicon Ranch Corp. and its contractor IEA Inc. “According to the lawsuit, Silicon Ranch Corp. has developed more than 160 solar panel facilities across the country, many of which were built by IEA,” the Associated Press reported (May 3).
“Created, Operated, and Maintained a Nuisance”
Despite the companies’ extensive experience in building and operating solar farms, Federal District Judge Clay D. Land found them seriously lacking in the case of Lumpkin Solar. The companies “created, operated, and maintained a nuisance … that caused sedimentation to pollute plaintiffs’ wetlands, streams, and lake. The court further finds that this nuisance has continued for approximately two years unabated,” Judge Land said in his order.
The fines assessed were compensatory and punitive. Compensatory damage was set at $10.5 million. For the solar farm developers, that was the good news. In the punishment phase, the jury found that Silicon Ranch Corp., IEA, and IEA Contractors, LLC, a subsidiary of IEA Inc., acted with specific intent to cause harm. The jury imposed $25 million in punitive damages against Silicon Ranch Corp., $50 million against IEA Inc., and $50 million against IEA Contractors, LLC, the AP reported. In an email to the Associated Press, Silicon Ranch said it would appeal the verdicts and blamed its contractor for the problems at Lumpkin Solar. The company also reiterated its commitment to Stewart County, where the town of Lumpkin is located.
The pollution caused by the solar farm near Lumpkin is no isolated incident.
“Runoff from a growing number of giant solar farms polluting rivers and streams in rural South Georgia is becoming a major concern,” reported Georgia Public Broadcasting last October, citing the opinion of the state’s environmental regulators.
The Meta Connection
In addition to polluting the environment they are said to protect, solar farms often produce electricity, albeit intermittently, for a narrow but powerful segment of society. As noted by Ken Braun in RealClearEnergy, the Lumpkin Solar farm is designed to supply power to a Georgia data center run by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Even after the developers of the ill-fated Lumpkin Solar farm were five months into their lawsuit, Braun points out, Meta’s renewable energy chief had nothing but praise for the Georgia facility.
“We thank Silicon Ranch … for their dedication to successful execution and for sharing our commitment to have a positive impact on the communities where we locate,” the Meta official said.
Meta, it is worth noting, is an enthusiastic supporter of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. The company’s commitment to the “E” in ESG is called into question, however, by its participation in a solar energy project that uprooted timberland and farmland in order to build a taxpayer-subsidized solar farm that wound up polluting wetlands and soils on somebody else’s land.
Calif Labor Board as decided that ‘goat herders’ are basically working 24 hours a day-—7 days a week.
They are demanding that such herders get paid straight time-—Overtime-—& double time, ETC ETC.
Calculates out to about $14,000 a MONTH in PAY for a goat herder.
At those demands-—do NOT look for cities or villages to hire goats for cleaning up hilly areas & helping prevent wildfires.
THIS is AFTER NEWSOM’s ruling last year that no more gas chain saws can be used. Betcha hiring forest firefighters will be pretty tough into the future.
Two square miles== 1280 acres.
And the soil under the solar panels is unfit for any other purpose - nothing can grow there - may as well pave it over.
There is a 35 megawatt solar farm near Shelbyville TN.
Here is a link for a closeup of it (hopefully it works): https://www.google.com/maps/search/solar+farm+shelbyville+TN/@35.0526867,-86.3534047,38m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
It is 375 acres and is used for Vanderbilt University: https://www.t-g.com/stories/solar-farm-willimpact-county,63675
Can anyone tell me what this strange building is? The exact same structure is here and there throughout the Shelbyville TN solar farm. It looks way too small to be a battery storage building.
“Can anyone tell me what this strange building is? “
It’s hard to say. The photos and google maps do not really allow you to get a good close up. Maybe it simply stores tools and replacement pieces such as bolts, screws, etc.
“I’m all for making the greens pay for damages, but $135,000,000? How much was the Harris’s property worth before the damage occurred? “
The Harris’ property and that surrounding it, including the aquatic life in their pond, is probably damaged for their life time and probably their children’s as well. The harm caused can not be easily rectified. Not to mention the harm to their enjoyment of their property. The majority of the award was punitive. That is meant to punish the defendant’s behavior so they will not repeat that behavior in the future and such an award has no bearing on the monetary value of the land itself. Punitive damages are MEANT to hurt.
Punitive damages are MEANT to hurt.
Nothing says green energy like 'nuking' the solar farm soil so that nothing can grow between the panels. Can't have that nasty 'greenery' standing in the way of a few watts of electricity.
Fire prevention -
Goats brought to Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6328693313112
Where’s the EPA on tis violation? AWOL again.
Like all agencies run by this supposed transparent administration they’re no were to be seen.
Fact is they’re to busy going after individuals rater than big polluters.
I had not thought of something like this happening, but it did. Now that adds another reason not to have “renewable energy”. Renewable energy should be used only for EV charging stations. Essential use of electricity (not EVs) should never be supplied by renewables/green energy. It’s not reliable enough.
Aren’t the wind generators getting a pass on protected birds they kill? Don’t know; just asking.
They did that to an area 10 times the size of Manhattan to build a solar power plant in the Mojave desert. No French nuclear power plant has ever destroyed an area 10 times the size of Manhattan.
Sure are
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