County Legislator Mark Odell has concerns about large solar projects coming to Chautauqua County. He is currently working on legislation to address Payment In Lieu Of Tax agreements for renewable energy.

In 2018, the legislature adopted a resolution requesting the county’s Industrial Development Agency issue no more PILOTs of wind turbine projects larger than 5 megawatts. “It’s been requested by several of my colleagues as well as several constituents in Chautauqua County for (similar legislation for ) solar projects,” he said during this month’s county legislature meeting.

During a phone interview, Odell said that legislation from 2018 was developed in partnership with former County Executive George Borrello. Odell has been in conversation with Borrello, who is now a state senator, to craft similar legislation for solar projects. He hopes to have the proposed legislation ready to be voted on by November.

The Brocton Republican is also a member of the county IDA Board of Directors. He has consistently been voting against larger solar projects on his own. In July, the county IDA voted 7-1 to give preliminary approval for an application for a number of tax incentives to ConnectGen for their proposed South Ripley Solar Project. The company is proposing a 270 megawatt large scale-solar project, which will be located entirely within the Ripley town boundaries. The project will include a 20 MW of battery energy storage component and is expected to cost around $348 million to construct. Odell was the only board member to vote against the project.

Then in September and October he voted against a five megawatt solar farm at 1317 Rts. 5 & 20, Silver Creek. The solar panels would be placed on 33 acres of a 45 acre parcel.

In both cases, Odell, who has a background in energy, questioned the benefit of the projects for county residents, instead saying these projects only benefit land owners.

The Ripley project in particular has upset a lot of town residents. On Wednesday, several community members attended the legislature’s meeting, asking county lawmakers to either stop the project or prevent them from getting a PILOT agreement from the county IDA.

One of the people who spoke was William Gutz, one of the Ripley fire commissioners. He noted they have no safety protocols in place for fighting fires in solar fields. “We are told that if we shut the panels off at one end that we should be able to go through and fight the fire. Now I’m not an electrician, but I do know one thing for a fact — as long as the sun is out these panels are producing electricity, putting my fellow firefighters in danger of electric shock with the water going into this place,” he said.

Gutz also expressed concern about the storage batteries, which will hold the electricity generated. “If these things explode and we have a catastrophic event in the place they want to put these things, you can count on a 7 to 10 mile cloud of chemical and cancer-causing dust to cover that entire area,” he said. “The safety of my fellow people, guys that I work with, the people I fight fires with, the guys that have my back, all these people are important to me and I don’t want to see them get hurt. This has the potential to really hurt the people that I love and work with.”

Julie Rice said she lives right in the middle of the area where the proposed solar project is slated to be constructed. “These solar projects that are proposed by ConnectGen is massive,” She alleged that the developers have flown drones over her property, taking photos, without her permission.

She also noted that the project would hurt farmland. “Once its converted we cannot convert it back to farmland, which means permanent loss of food source for all of us,” she said.

Along with residents speaking in person, the legislature received a letter from the “South Ripley/Ripley Neighbors for a Safe Community” organization. In the letter, the authors say the project encompasses 4,510 acres of land, with about 2,000 acres of it forested and the remainder high value agricultural. “This proposed project facility encompasses 14.5% of the land mass of the town of Ripley. This project is anything but green. It will turn anything pastoral South Ripley into a wasteland,” the letter read.

In the letter, the authors stated they believe the county IDA is scheduled to vote on a PILOT agreement in November. Odell said although that is possible, he does not think the board, nor ConnectGen is ready for a vote.

Odell did say that even if the county legislature passes a resolution requesting the IDA not authorize PILOTS for solar projects, the legislation is not binding, noting that the legislature cannot dictate the county IDA how it can vote.