We began our journey with a specific mission: to save Lake Nacogdoches and demand a solar moratorium for Nacogdoches County. However, as our coalition grew, we realized this isn't just about a few local projects. We are witnessing a full-scale industrial solar and battery storage takeover that threatens the very fabric of rural East Texas and our beloved Piney Woods.  Every rural East Texas County are being targeted to replace our historic timberlands, our environment and local heritage with steel and glass. The Protect Our Piney Woods coalition has formed as a bi-partisan force to demand that our rural way of life be protected.

To the Governor of Texas and the Texas State Legislature:

The rapid, unregulated expansion of utility-scale solar facilities and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) across rural East Texas has created an urgent crisis. Currently, our rural counties lack the legal authority to properly regulate the siting, safety, and environmental impacts of these massive industrial developments. 

We, the undersigned residents, landowners, and voters of East Texas, stand united in demanding an immediate temporary statewide moratorium on new industrial-scale solar and BESS developments.

The Piney Woods and rural landscapes of East Texas are defined by our productive timberlands, vital watersheds and a heritage of agricultural conservation. Today, this way of life is under threat from an unchecked industrial takeover.

While we support a diverse energy economy, the rapid, unregulated expansion of utility-scale solar and BESS facilities across our rural counties has outpaced our local ability to protect our land and citizens. This is not a partisan issue; it is a matter of local survival.

This moratorium must remain in place until the Texas Legislature grants our County Commissioners the clear authority to:

Enforce Local Oversight: Grant counties the authority to regulate the siting, construction, and operation of industrial energy projects, ensuring they do not compromise wildlife habitats, watersheds, or neighboring property values
Guarantee Land Restoration: Require binding decommissioning plans backed by financial assurances to ensure our forests and fields are restored to their natural or agricultural state—not left as industrial graveyards.
Protect Public Safety: Mandate rigorous fire safety planning and emergency response coordination for BESS infrastructure to prevent catastrophic fires and hazardous gas releases that currently exceed rural response capacities.
Safeguard Our Environment: Implement strict stormwater and erosion control to prevent the sedimentation and downstream flooding of our precious lakes and bayous.
Ensure Transparency: Require full disclosure of foreign ownership and supply chain origins for all major project components.
Preserve Infrastructure: Establish road use agreements ensuring developers, not taxpayers, pay for the repair of county roads and bridges damaged during industrial construction.

Our trees are the lungs of Texas and the backbone of our local economy. We must not allow them to be replaced by steel and glass without the consent and oversight of the communities that live here. We are at a crossroads. We can either protect the natural resources and heritage that define East Texas, or we can watch them be dismantled for industrial profit. We choose protection.

Until these common-sense protections and local authorities are codified into law, we demand an immediate moratorium on all new industrial-scale solar and battery storage developments in the State of Texas.