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Senate committee hears wide-ranging testimony on S.323 section 10, balancing prime farmland and solar siting
Summary
On testimony about S.323’s section 10, state officials, farmers, renewable-energy advocates and community groups debated whether limits on large solar arrays will protect prime agricultural soil or raise costs and fragment development. No vote was taken; the committee continues to gather input.
Montpelier — A state senate committee heard hours of testimony on S.323’s section 10 on Thursday as lawmakers weighed competing goals: protecting prime agricultural soil, expanding renewable energy and respecting private property rights.
The committee did not take any votes. Chair opened the hearing by saying the panel had made no decisions and was taking testimony "to try to figure out if there's a path forward," and then heard from the Agency of Agriculture, renewable-energy trade groups, farmers and community advocates.
Steve Collier, general counsel for the Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, told senators that three principles make the issue difficult: agricultural soil does not regenerate quickly; renewable energy is important to reduce emissions; and private property rights matter. Collier said the current siting framework under 30 V.S.A. § 248 (the Public Utility Commission certificate-of-public-good process) requires mitigation and includes decommissioning conditions tied to certificate approvals. "When you get a certificate of public good from the PUC, there's a required decommission as part of that project,"…
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