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Pulaski County commissioners hear wide public comment on industrial solar and battery storage
Summary
Residents and commissioners debated large-scale solar projects and a state bill that could remove local permitting; speakers raised concerns about property rights, fire risk, noise, and community character.
Pulaski County commissioners spent a large portion of their meeting on public comment and discussion about large-scale solar developments and battery energy storage systems, hearing a string of residents who urged caution and asked the county for more information and local control.
The discussion centered on public concerns about how industrial solar and associated battery storage could affect farmland, property values and public safety, and on House Bill 1628, which some speakers described as written to allow multi-jurisdictional projects to proceed without local permits or zoning approval.
Why it matters: county officials and residents said the scale of planned projects could remove tens of thousands of acres from agricultural use, affect where heavy trucks travel and raise questions about fire response and wildlife impacts. Several speakers asked the commissioners for clearer maps, a public communications plan and a mechanism…
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