Dec. 9, 2024 Editor, The News-Gazette: Rockbridge supervisors seem intent on approving special exception permits for outof- county solar developers, disregarding the concerns of neighbors and the realities of rural life.
Is $11,000 in yearly tax revenue worth the disruption of local neighborhoods, personal relationships, and community trust? Is it worth lowering property values — while keeping tax assessments high for hardworking residents — just so investors can harvest federal tax credits? Is it worth eroding our sense of community and neighborly care so a few politicians and environmental activists can virtue signal for a negligible impact on electricity supply?
The narrative being pushed is riddled with unchallenged claims, including that this 3-megawatt solar project will power “600 homes” in Rockbridge County, offsetting coalgenerated electricity from Dominion. However, a closer look reveals this number is inflated. Accounting for evenings, bad weather, and a 15% efficiency rate, the true figure is closer to 490 average homes — and those homes will still require backup power from non-solar sources to meet their actual needs.
Moreover, what about the cost to all residents in Rockbridge County? Solar-generated power requires expanded distribution and transmission infrastructure, costs that electric companies recover directly from users — us — without filing formal rate increase requests. This hidden expense will hit our wallets hard, especially when combined with the already heavy burden of inflation.
Our Board of Supervisors —not Donald Trump — will bear responsibility when the electrician in Buena Vista, the carpenter in Natural Bridge, or the teacher in Goshen faces higher power bills on top of rising costs. Every supervisor voting for utility-scale solar is endorsing the Green New Deal by proxy, and voters will remember that at the polls.
The people impacted by these decisions are not Lexington academics, they are Rockbridge realists who know who is paying the costs. BILL RUSSELL Kerrs Creek