What We Know At This Time
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Hexagon Energy has been working quietly behind the scenes since at least 2021 contacting landowners around our community in North Liberty and soliciting contracts for leasing farmland to build a large industrial solar farm. There is proof of these contracts that have been submitted for public record with our county recorder.
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We have a map of the intended area for solar, but we know others, who are not on the map, who have been contacted.
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The solar fields will be seen from the entrance of Potato Creek State Park and will extend throughout our prime farmland.
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Hexagon Energy has the Dumont Project listed under their website. This is a massive project and is going to be 150 MW. It will be as big as the Honeysuckle site near New Carlisle, IN. If you want to get an idea of what they will do to our rural country, go take a drive and see the industrialization of the New Carlisle area off of Highway 20. Also, this solar is owned by foreign interests, LightsourceBP, and the energy doesn't stay in the community. PMJ distributes it elsewhere, which is the same PMJ that is mentioned on the Hexagon document below. (Many have commented saying to drive by the solar project in Starke County)
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Most people who will be directly impacted by this project, such as neighbors and recent home buyers, have no clue that this will be happening even though the land owners know.
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There are many valid concerns about this project and our community has not been given a say. This is due to lax laws in St. Joseph County that allows for the industrialization of farmland without notice or rezoning and a unified county council which has yet to champion the cause to protect the people from outside interests.
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There are other counties in Indiana that are fighting against the industrialization of farmland and have first-hand knowledge of the harm caused by these type of solar projects.
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Hexagon Energy was doing the same thing in Boone County and paid professional consultants and influencers to override the community. The people of the community rallied together and won the fight even when contracts were already in place.
HISTORY OF HOW INDUSTRIAL SOLAR BECAME RECLASSIFIED AS AGRICULTURAL
SolSmart is a program, in which is funded by the Dept of Energy, taught in our Universities and pushed by MACOG, and integrated by our local government and boards.
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On 1/21/2020, the Area Plan Commission met and discussed the land usage and solar. They reasoned, even though traditionally the ground mounted SES project required a rezoning to industrial, that the large scale solar farms would minimize the loss of agricultural land, protect our natural and scenic environment, but provide utility services to local residents and businesses and all while achieving a high ranking with the Department of Energy's Solsmart Program.
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On 2/11/2020, St Joseph County Council voted on Bill 4-20, which the Area Plan Commission petitioned for, to change 154.091 agricultural uses and to change other items to be favorable for short-sighted planning of renewable energy systems.
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On 2/18/2020, the Commissioners passed bill 4-20, and so this is how ordinance 17-20 reclassified "Renewable Energy Systems" as a permitted use for agricultural lands instead of zoning for industrial use. This is also how they avoided labeling our energy grid as a public utility and how they bypassed any of the legal processes dealing with utilities even though the specified intent of the Area Planning Commission was to provide public utilities. We believe that preserving our valuable farmland is crucial for the well-being of our community and environment and that it is also important to have open and honest communication about any changes that may impact our land. We do not believe this is what had happened in this process.
Current Amendments being considered
With the favorable approval by the Area Planning Commission and at the County Council Committee Hearing, some basic amendments are moving forward. The most important one requires a special use permit for large-scale solar facilities. This doesn't necessarily protect us if we are not networking and paying attention. The developers are still at the advantage. The other amendments are minimal setbacks that most of us believe do not protect our homes, property values, qualify of life, our wildlife and more.
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We were told that these amendments are just the beginning and we are looking forward to working with our County Council and local officials to protect the interests of our community.
Here are some documents
Below is a compilation of documents. We will continue to add as we get time.
Hexagon project photo with notation of talking to St. Joseph County Council, St Joseph County Economic Development Commission, Planning Commission, Building Commission and have already started studies.
PJM Interconnection coordinates the movement of electricity through all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. It acts as a wholesale market, shuttling our energy into the grid so the entities and traders, who control the market, will come out on top and at our community's expense. It is something like the stock market, but this is called Energy Trading. Markets can be manipulated, unpredictable and volatile.
It is easy to see that this energy issue is about control of our lands and about changing our way of life. Once our farmland is owned or controlled by outside interests, we no longer get a say in what happens in our community. Our interests can be sold and controlled by anyone with enough money, paving our way to serfdom. Preserving our farmlands is vital to maintaining our local interests. Our government should be looking out for the people they serve and not just those with money.