Dear Supporters:

This was an important week in our campaign to stop the Dogwood Creek Solar Project in Bastrop County. Signing the petition and sharing your comments have made a tangible impact.

At the September 19th meeting of the Elgin School Board, we presented the board with a packet of information that included some of your comments as well as photos of artifacts and springs that have been found on property neighboring the 2000-acre wooded site that would be cleared for the solar project.

KXAN covered the meeting and its reporting was picked up by other media outlets, including Austonia and KLBJ. On the same day of the meeting, the New York Times ran a long piece on the solar wars in the Northeast where as many acres of trees are being cut down as conservations are planting them. That one-step forward, one-step-backward scenario sadly sums up how most states are unprepared for the tidal wave of industrial solar that will flood prime farmlands and woodlands if more spotlights and oversights are placed on this industry.

Reflecting these concerns, the Texas Farm Bureau held a forum to discuss these issues this week. You can find those presentations as well as the media coverage of the Dogwood Creek Solar campaign in the news section of the Friends of the Land website (friendsoftheland.com).

We were encouraged that the school board tabled action on the Chapter 313 application for at least another month. Time is running out for the application to be approved before the tax abatement scheme ends Dec. 31. Our efforts are forcing local officials to look more closely at the pros and cons of allowing renewable energy developers to site their operations with little regard to the environmental and quality-of-life impacts they have on people who live and making their living on the surrounding landscape.

Please pass on the petition. We are so close to 1000 signatures and that milestone will send a loud message to the school board that Dogwood Creek Solar is not the way solar “farming” should be done, here or anywhere.

One final note. The latest issue of Texas Monthly features the drying up an iconic spring in West Texas. It walks readers through the tragic history of water wars in this state and how efforts to conserve and restrict the sale of groundwater have largely been disappointing. While Texas’s rule of capture continues to dictated water policy, one positive step was the creating of groundwater conservation districts to give more local control in conserving water and educating landowners about water issues.

Perhaps it’s time to consider a similar entity — Renewable Energy Conservation Districts — to deal with the wind and solar industry, as its presence will expand in ways -- and places -- few imagined possible in so short a time. These districts would identify what areas are most suited for renewables and set best management practices, as well.

Better coordination and cooperation in how we treat our land are the only way we will meet the huge challenges from a warming planet.

Again, thank you for your support

Skip Connett

Friends of the Land