Municipal leaders and conservation groups press Legislature to restore local control over land‑mounted solar siting

Witnesses representing municipal officials, conservation organizations and community groups urged the Joint Committee to advance House Bill 2312 to restore municipal authority to regulate the siting of ground‑mounted solar projects under 25 megawatts. Speakers said the statutory protection (commonly known as the Dover Amendment language in G.L. c.40A) was written decades ago for rooftop and small systems and is now being invoked to preempt local land‑use controls for large, ground‑mounted solar and associated battery storage projects. Catherine Harrelson of the Community Land and Water Coalition said firms are clearing large tracts of forest and farmland where panels and battery storage are being sited. James McCaffrey of Partnership for Policy Integrity and other witnesses said the state has new siting guidance and incentive programs and that local review should be allowed to implement reasonable protections for forests, wetlands and hydrology. Multiple speakers gave local examples: Meg Sheehan and Laurie Bridal described a North Adams project that expanded beyond early renderings into a highly visible cleared site on a mountainside and later included battery storage; advocates said town officials and neighbors were misled and local bylaws and review tools were insufficient to prevent large‑scale clearcutting. Kate O’Connor and Frederick Spence framed the issue in ecological terms, saying intact forest and working lands provide essential rainfall regulation, carbon sequestration and drinking‑water protection that cannot be replaced by panels. Witnesses urged the Legislature to allow municipalities to apply reasonable siting standards without undermining the Commonwealth’s climate goals and to prefer built and disturbed sites before forest or farmland. The committee took testimony and did not vote.