[1:09] Can you hear me now?
>> Yeah.
[1:15] [clears throat]
[1:28] » [clears throat]
[1:35] » Just
[1:44] stand.
[1:49] Anybody
[1:56] else want to see a copy of that? Next
one up here now.
[2:17] » All right, looks like it's 4:30. Let's
get the public forum started. Thank you
[2:21] everybody for attending and we uh kind
of tried to advertise this. I'm hoping
[2:26] it to be mostly a listening session for
for us to hear what the public has to
[2:33] say just to get this conversation going.
The signin sheet is up here. If you feel
[2:39] like signing in, you're welcome to. I
think that might help the auditor keep
[2:43] track of how many people were here, who
was here, who's that kind of thing. So,
[2:47] if you'd like to sign in, there's a a
sheet up here.
[2:52] Also, I want to make a reminder that
another uh two other opportunities for
[2:57] having your voice heard would be August
5th, 2026 at the uh cultural center
[3:04] between 3 and 6 o'clock there's going to
be a a comprehensive plan meeting.
[3:10] That'll be a situation where there'll be
people set up at various tables talking
[3:13] about topics that the comprehensive plan
have identified as
[3:18] important to the community. So, we're
talking about um recreation,
[3:24] infrastructure,
[3:28] economic development, the normal things
that people look look for in a community
[3:32] whenever they
whenever you plan for the future. So, if
[3:35] you'd like to participate in that,
that'll be August 5th. It's at the Tin
[3:38] Clark Cultural Center. Uh it's at the
Blackbox Theater. There there are signs.
[3:43] Uh should be able to guide you there.
It's going to be an open house type
[3:47] thing. I don't expect many people to be
there from 3:00 to 6 o'clock, but if you
[3:52] can stop in for 20 minutes and give your
opinion on whatever topics are that are
[3:56] most important to you, please do that
and and that'll be part of part of our
[4:02] record. The other thing I mentioned
earlier, we have a comprehensive plan
[4:06] that we are doing a survey for and it's
duboiscounty comprehensive plan.com. You
[4:11] can go there and uh take the survey.
There are some open-ended questions
[4:17] there. So, you can if the questions
don't seem like they've met whatever you
[4:21] wanted to say, fill it in on the final
question and say whatever you'd like to
[4:25] say.
The uh
[4:30] the main topics tonight are going to be
solar the solar ordinance uh land use
[4:35] zoning countywide those kind of issues.
The local media Mr. Stra [snorts] put
[4:41] put an article in the paper about these
meetings and we appreciate that. Uh
[4:45] there was also I think originally the
article said that it was the late '7s
[4:50] the last time zoning was was talked
about and then he since then updated it
[4:55] and I found some some documents as well
that they looked at the same u same same
[5:01] kind of issues in 1997 and the
commissioners had passed it. It got to
[5:05] the county council and it was voted down
I believe four to three. So it was close
[5:09] to being put into place in 1997. Then
three days later or three years later, I
[5:14] apologize, they started the process
again and I think it died in 2002. So I
[5:21] have a preliminary draft uh zoning
program or plan from 2002, but it died
[5:29] and uh I think it's been talked about on
and off ever since then. So
[5:35] looks like we're talking about it again.
Maybe this is the time that we are ready
[5:38] to implement or maybe it's not. That's
one of the reasons we're here tonight to
[5:42] uh if you do come up in front of the the
group to to say your piece. You can let
[5:47] us know if if you think that's a good
idea or not.
[5:51] I don't know that we necessarily need to
have a timer. It doesn't necessarily
[5:55] matter to me if you want to talk for um
two minutes or you want to talk for 15
[6:00] minutes, but the rest of the crowd may
uh may be unhappy if you've eaten up all
[6:05] the time. So, there's a lot of people
here. There may be a lot of people that
[6:07] have something they want to say. So, um
just be respectful of uh your fellow
[6:13] people that are in the crowd because
yeah, if you take 20 minutes, that means
[6:16] somebody else probably won't get to
talk. So, please uh just be be kind
[6:21] about uh about how you do that.
>> Mr. Stephan, anything you want to add?
[6:25] » No, sir.
>> Mr. No, sir.
[6:29] » So, I thought we would start with just
the solar ordinance and how we can
[6:33] improve it or what you think about it. I
think uh that would probably be a good
[6:37] first step. And again, I could sit up
here and talk to you about it for as
[6:41] long as you want it, but I'm happy to
have you come up and talk. And just for
[6:45] the for the stream, it'd probably be
nice if you'd stand up here, please. And
[6:49] if you're not able to, uh you can talk
from your seat if that's
[6:53] » Yeah, I'm Ray House, citizen on 8715
South 500 West.
[7:00] » Uh right in the middle of the best in
the center of the best program.
[7:04] um not the best best but the BESS
[clears throat] and uh recently notified
[7:10] they were going to shut down my road 500
which they did this week. U you know
[7:14] questions I've got that I think the
council needs to understand we're in a
[7:19] modern age where you can bore under
roads. Why do we stop or shut a road
[7:23] down and tear through it in this day and
age? I mean, uh, the power line going
[7:29] from the solar field on the east side of
500 to the west, there's absolutely no
[7:34] reason why that couldn't have been bored
and not a shut down for us. So, we have
[7:39] four residents that uh, this is
operating against us this week. Uh, and
[7:44] then my choice is to go out the airport
road to hit 231, which most of the time
[7:49] lately uh, they're dropping off
bulldozers, excavators right in the
[7:53] middle of Ding Road. and and and that's
a that's a nuisance for me. I'm a
[7:58] longtime teacher in this county u
retired and I kind of enjoy my acreage
[8:04] but I hate the sounding noise and the
bulldozers going all day. But I do have
[8:09] the response I wish you would check is
why couldn't we have bored underneath
[8:13] that road?
Did you check that or do you have any
[8:18] idea? [clears throat]
>> Just for the rest of the meeting. This
[8:22] isn't supposed to be a question and
answer session. But I will answer your
[8:25] question, yours, and then just so the
rest of the people know. I don't want it
[8:28] to be a back and forth thing. I'd love
to hear your thoughts and if you so I
[8:32] think your opinion is you think it
stinks that it was done this way. But I
[8:35] will tell you that um at the first at
the main commissioner's meeting that we
[8:39] talked about this uh there was a lot of
people there that were unhappy about it
[8:43] being shut down. And I can say that the
reason it's taken this long is because
[8:48] we tried working with the city of
Honeyburg. tried doing everything we
[8:51] could to not shut that road down because
people like yourself
[8:56] didn't want it to be. We tried to say,
"Can we pour it? Can we tried doing it
[9:00] on the other side of the road?" 100%. We
just
[9:03] » Yeah. Well, I understand.
>> It just didn't work out. We We honestly
[9:05] gave it a good shot. We didn't want to
close the road down.
[9:07] » Well, I can understand that you can't
just get the other side. You have to go
[9:11] underneath or through it. Uh but just
letting you know that that has to be a
[9:16] consideration in the future for these
type of events.
[9:19] It's not new to bore underneath the road
and um it does make it tough. So the
[9:26] reason I am here today is to speak up.
It's a nuisance for me quite frankly. Uh
[9:31] and then the guys that are working on
boring or going through the road are
[9:35] always coming by. I couldn't even turn
my little tractor around when I was
[9:38] grading my road this week or last Friday
actually. Uh because their traffic's
[9:44] still pretty heavy for them just to come
down 500. Uh, and it's not unlikely that
[9:49] there's 50 to 80 of their vehicles
traveling that short distance. That's
[9:53] only one quarter of a mile from where
they're going through to down to 900.
[9:59] Uh, it's all I've got to say. That is a
nuisance for us residents and should be
[10:04] a concern to you all.
On uh the solar ordinance or zoning in
[10:11] general,
>> yeah, I wished it didn't happen. I I am
[10:14] not as concerned about the solar as I am
the battery innovation center. Look at
[10:18] that thing. That's a mess.
It's unbelievable. One thing you've done
[10:25] great job. You now have about 50 deer on
my property because they can't get
[10:28] through the fences.
That ought to be great for me. They've
[10:33] been eating my apples in my orchard left
and right. They don't have corn to eat
[10:37] right now or beans.
>> So, yes, it does have an impact. And I
[10:42] think it's a lot more than just us as
residents.
[10:46] Thank you for your time.
>> Thank you.
[10:49] » I hope you consider in the future.
[11:02] » Hi commissioner.
>> Hello.
[11:05] » So I do have concerns of the solar panel
invest.
[11:09] » Could you say your name please?
>> Cheyenne Temple. Thank you, Sean.
[11:12] » Um, so I one of my biggest concerns is
school is about to start in two weeks
[11:19] and I drop off my daughter at
Hummingbird daycare at about 7:30 to 8
[11:25] a.m. every morning in Holland and I have
had multiple
[11:31] giant violations or not me, sorry. Um,
the semis bringing in the best that
[11:38] [clears throat] there were almost two
collisions. They have no escorts. They
[11:43] The one had an escort, but they went
ahead and turned right [clears throat]
[11:46] and the semi-truck with the giant Bess
on it, flashed his lights as a um dump
[11:53] truck was coming right. I mean, I I was
paying attention and stopped and luckily
[11:59] he was, too. So, there's a lot of
violations that I think are happening
[12:02] and causing those roadways to be very
dangerous. And I was a high schooler
[12:07] driving on that county road to school
that was late. Um and they are stopped
[12:12] in the middle of that um
state road
[12:17] 161 that they're just they're just
stopped. If a kid's not paying
[12:21] attention. I mean I'm I'm concerned
about the kids. There's 2,000 kids
[12:27] roughly in the 3.4 mile radius of the
[clears throat] crossine alone. Are you
[12:33] saying you you're seeing semi dump
trucks thing?
[12:37] » All of the above.
>> And why would they be stopped on the
[12:39] road or what is I mean does it look like
there's any reason why they are? What
[12:43] » what what's your opinion on?
>> I don't know what they're doing. It
[12:47] seems that they should be if they are
for the the solar fields that they
[12:52] should just turn into their in their
way. that they are stopped in the middle
[12:56] of the road on those narrow roads um
with no flaggers
[13:01] um at their there was one day that there
was end of construction and then there
[13:06] was this a dump truck just parked on the
road and no no notice then they wouldn't
[13:12] let you through and they had the the
road blocked off
[13:16] um and
>> so you're talking about the county roads
[13:19] » that was a county road um and then
>> it's not acceptable anywhere but I'm was
[13:24] trying I was trying to figure out in my
head why any why they would have a
[13:27] purpose to stop on
>> that was sorry I am not a good road
[13:31] person I should have I should have wrote
that down but the main road that the
[13:36] Hummingbird daycare is on um that's
where a lot of the um
[13:40] » oh that is 161
>> so 161 I'm seeing the giant semis
[13:44] they'll pull over into the other lane to
take their wide turn
[13:49] which is understandable if they have to
do that but they should give some sort
[13:53] of Hey, we're going to stop you coming
this way and turn. Um, so just school
[13:59] buses and kids, high school drivers, the
heavier traffic that's going to be on
[14:04] those roads dropping kids like to and
from school and all those plants are I
[14:11] call it plants, but the fields are
letting out at those times where the
[14:15] school buses are going to be going. So,
um, just new drivers. I know that's
[14:21] always a higher accident. Seems like a
higher accident time. Um and I just
[14:26] I mean with [clears throat] all these
kids in that radius, is there a safety
[14:30] plan for these kiddos if something
happens?
[14:33] Um that's one of the the biggest
concerns I have. And then I know at the
[14:39] your commissioners meeting you guys
maybe talked about developing a board,
[14:43] but I think a community energy review
board would be awesome to review these
[14:48] issues. um have representative
um I don't know 24 members uh minimum
[14:57] each township one incorporated one
unincorporated
[15:01] um but let all those little towns you
know have have a voice and have a
[15:05] representative
[15:08] so please stop any further solar and
best projects
[15:15] it's it's it seems like a
The roads are a mess and
[15:21] the safety of the children is
let alone the all the land owners and
[15:27] but I mean come on there's kids you're
putting them right in the middle of all
[15:31] of that.
[15:34] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[15:54] Hi,
my name is JC Lamb. I'm from Honeyburg.
[15:58] I have a short statement to read.
In Dubois County, a dangerous regulatory
[16:05] gap allows utility scale battery energy
storage systems, vests,
[16:10] to be cited in the 100-year flood plane
with no single agency claiming full
[16:15] oversight.
The Indiana [clears throat] Department
[16:18] of Homeland Security requires equipment
to be elevated to feet above the
[16:21] 100-year flood or flood level, but only
for systems subject to its approval
[16:27] under Indiana Code 22148.
and it explicitly does not regulate land
[16:32] use or comprehensive flood plane
permitting.
[16:36] The Department of Natural Resources
issues floodway permits and the
[16:40] Department of Environmental Management
handles storm water and wetland reviews.
[16:44] Yet neither search jurisdiction over the
full 100-year flood plane area itself.
[16:50] Our local authority would typically then
revert to the SWCD
[16:56] soil and water conservation district.
Unfortunately, for whatever reason it
[17:00] may be, RSWCD
does not participate with IDM
[17:05] and this further dissolves any real form
of regulation our county would have
[17:10] because Duboce County has no zoning
authority whatsoever and there is no
[17:14] local body to impose sight specific
restrictions or conduct the holistic
[17:20] review that floodprone development
demands. There is no line of defense.
[17:25] IDEM accepts the SWP3 that the developer
provides whether our county or our
[17:31] community agree with it or not.
This is not a minor administrative
[17:37] detail. It is a failure to rip
government that leaves residents exposed
[17:40] to catastrophic risks. [clears throat]
Lithium ion batteries and thermal
[17:45] runaway release toxic gases and
flammable electrolytes.
[17:49] If flood waters reach them, those
contaminants can spread into soil,
[17:53] groundwater, and nearby waterways. While
emergency responders face inaccessible
[17:58] sites and reignition hazards that
standard firefighting cannot safely
[18:02] address,
state and local officials must make
[18:07] closing this gap an immediate priority
through legislative or administrative
[18:11] action that assigns clear jurisdiction,
mandates full environmental and safety
[18:16] reviews, and prohibits or severely
restricts best placement in flood planes
[18:19] until those protections are in place.
The technology is advancing rapidly.
[18:25] Duboce County as well as the whole state
of Indiana cannot afford to let
[18:29] regulatory lag create the conditions for
the first major best related incident in
[18:34] the state due to an overlooked
regulatory gap.
[18:38] A community energy review board would
directly protect residents health
[18:43] health, safety, and well-being by giving
the people who live here a formal voice
[18:48] in decisions that affect their air,
water, emergency access, safety, health,
[18:52] well-being, and property values.
Unlike a land use committee appointed by
[18:57] officials or dominated by industry
voices, this board would be made up of
[19:02] the very residents in unincorporated
areas who bear the consequences.
[19:07] people's whose homes and families sit
downstream or downwind from these
[19:11] projects. It would consist of the 12
townships, each sending two residents,
[19:16] one from its unincorporated parts and
one from an incorporated town inside its
[19:21] borders. Creating a 12 to 12 balance
that prevents either side from
[19:26] dominating.
This ensures the board required requires
[19:31] developers to present full safety data,
flood risk assessments, and emergency
[19:37] plans and public hearings before any
approval which closes the gap where no
[19:42] agency currently claims jurisdiction.
Thank you.
[19:47] » Excuse me, ma'am.
Something
[19:51] you want to take you want to take your
time, you're welcome to
[19:55] talk.
>> Yeah, sure.
[19:58] Yeah.
>> Yeah.
[20:05] » I would like to know why a resident of
Duboce County is allowed to speak when
[20:09] he is a corporate. He's with um the Duff
Solar. He should not have a word. This
[20:14] is a Duboce County residential tax.
We're taxpayers. He should not be able
[20:19] to speak at this forum.
[20:29] Are you
>> from D County?
[20:32] » Didn't you say you wanted to hear from
the community?
[20:37] » We [clears throat] were in the meeting.
>> I was just going to maybe help with
[20:40] something. Uh I you mentioned
regulatory.
[20:42] » Will you please come up?
>> Yeah, sure. Brent.
[20:44] » Yeah. I was just going to mention
something. We We're not What's your
[20:48] name?
>> What's your name?
[20:49] » My name is Tom.
>> Outburst again. I'm gonna ask you to
[20:52] leave.
>> Yeah. My name is
[20:54] » Tom Lurko. I'm with EDP Renewables. We
don't develop vests here. Uh we're
[20:58] developing the solar site uh over near
Duff west of uh Huntingburg. Uh but just
[21:05] to answer your question about the the
>> I didn't have a question.
[21:09] » Your your assertion that there was a
regulatory lag.
[21:12] » Um sure. And I just wanted to say that
because I was part of the hearings last
[21:16] year. The Senate actually acted upon
this and they put in Senate Bill Indiana
[21:21] code now 22148-8
and it requires best to be located no
[21:26] less than or well it can be no less than
one half mile unless it is uh from a
[21:33] 100red-year flood plane unless it is two
year two feet above that flood
[21:37] elevation. So I just it's like 30 yards
within the 100redyear flood plane and it
[21:43] is not elevated two feet. I've already
talked to IDHHS about it.
[21:46] » Okay, sure. I just wanted to let you
know about that.
[21:48] » Yeah, I do know about it. That's the
problem.
[21:50] » Fantastic. Just just to let you know.
>> Okay. Someone else.
[22:05] [laughter]
>> So, John Cenberger, Town of Holland. Uh
[22:07] I've talked to the the county
commissioners numerous times about
[22:12] zoning and using a uh excuse me, I'm
sorry.
[22:17] should have my hat off to you guys. Um,
and
[22:22] I spent a lot of time today
scratching my head and coming up with
[22:29] some ideas and uh I'm not going to talk
about them all. I'll be more than happy
[22:34] to retype them and submit them to an
email to you all so you can see. But the
[22:37] gist of it all is, you know, I've talked
about common sense zoning. And I think
[22:41] it's time for this county to use common
sense zoning. And when I talk about
[22:46] that, I'm not telling that we're not
telling the the residents of Duboce
[22:49] County they can't build something on the
property. We're want we want to see this
[22:54] directed towards these industries that
are coming in and being more um
[23:00] [sighs and gasps] and being more
proactive to keep these industries in
[23:03] check. And that's what we have a problem
with right now is keeping this industry
[23:07] in check. The crossfine,
[23:11] they are out of control. Absolutely out
of control. These bests that are coming
[23:16] up on 161 on these heavy haulers. No
escorts
[23:21] at all. If they are getting ready to
turn on to 800, they swing out. Like one
[23:27] of the individuals just said, they do
swing out. I' I've witnessed this
[23:29] myself. They swing out into the oncoming
traffic and then pull on to 800 if they
[23:35] can make it. We've already had one that
couldn't make it and he locked them up,
[23:38] locked the brakes up and traveled past
the 800. Decided that he wanted to back
[23:43] up on 161. That wasn't a great idea, he
thought. So, he went up to the next
[23:47] intersection where uh Old State Road 64
and 161 and did a U-turn there. So, we
[23:54] we tal we talked to the the uh state
police about that and that's called an
[23:58] infraction. But right there, that's
public safety. And you've heard me talk
[24:02] about public safety till I'm blue in the
face and keep shaking my head that that
[24:07] this company is not doing the right
thing. They're down. They're offloading
[24:11] these heavy skid series on reverse side
of 161 or excuse me 64 with no flaggers,
[24:18] no cones. People travel over there. Even
though you guys did reduce that that
[24:22] speed limit, that's just to me it's just
like the stop signs in Holland. just a
[24:26] suggestion because you I've seen people
that even though I set my crews at 35
[24:31] miles an hour, I've seen them blow past
me. So, we need to get this these
[24:36] companies in check. And I think the only
way we can do this is by some type of um
[24:41] special use zoning, a common sense
zoning or something like that where we
[24:46] are required, they are required to come
to us, give us their information. we as
[24:51] a community in public hearings look at
this and just not participating uh
[24:58] individuals, land owners and things like
that. We should have a say in the
[25:02] safeguard of our our communities. Um
[25:08] the one thing that really I've hear a
lot about is from the nonparticipating
[25:13] uh land owners that they have that they
have the the solar fields uh within you
[25:20] know what's that 200 250 yards from
their property lines. Okay. And and I
[25:27] think it needs to be more sorry feet.
Uh, I think that needs to be more
[25:32] because if they're not participating in
this, why are they being forced to look
[25:36] at it outside of their house? We already
have one house on Maple Grove Road that
[25:41] is right next to one of the fields for
Crossfine that's up for sale. Will he
[25:45] sell that his property? Most not like
likely not because they're still
[25:48] pounding tickets in even though he said
two weeks to have this completed.
[25:52] They're still pounding in. So, um, I
would like to see and and I know this is
[25:57] probably more farfetched than and then
most of the solar people would like to
[26:01] talk about, but for nonparticipating
property lines, I like to see a,000 ft.
[26:05] And I would like to say 1500 ft from uh
the nonparticipate participating
[26:11] residents instead of what they have. Um,
when it comes to a best area, it I
[26:17] automatically think it should be within
cannot be within a five mile radius.
[26:22] Period.
My thoughts on that is if you're going
[26:25] to put a best, it needs to be on brown
ground, old coal mines, or at power
[26:30] plants, period. They don't need to be in
the country when we have people's houses
[26:35] within a half a mile. And if you don't
believe we do, I know six houses that
[26:40] are within a mile of it. I know three
houses that are less than half a mile of
[26:44] it. And then Ry's house is just just
stone throw. So for these companies to
[26:50] stand up here and say that there's
nothing out there, we don't have to
[26:52] worry about it is horse dump.
Absolutely.
[26:56] Um
and I don't say just that means
[27:00] everything from schools, daycarees,
churches, uh nursing homes, hospitals,
[27:06] anything that is going to is there to
help people or uh to educate people. Um
[27:13] and we do not need to have a best a
standing alone best in this county. they
[27:18] need to be on uh at the power plants
where they have it at. Things that we
[27:23] need to look at as far as zoning, you
got to look at this the solar solar best
[27:28] best wind um AI
um data [clears throat] centers and now
[27:34] the ugly little monster that's poking
his head up is the hydrogen plants now
[27:38] that they're starting to talk about.
That's another thing that's coming in
[27:41] into the uh to the realm. But again, I'm
gonna go ahead and finish up, but I will
[27:46] type this up, these uh three or four
pages that I have here, and uh I will
[27:51] send them to you guys through an email.
Um also, I have uh came up with a little
[27:56] bit more um kind of like the special use
conditions um will kind of flow into
[28:03] with this. But as far as a land use
committee, I honestly think that we need
[28:09] to be pretty pretty hot on that. And we
need to make sure that we have uh
[28:13] nonparticipating and participating folks
there, farmers, non-farmers,
[28:19] um at least with the commissioner,
commissioners, county council, uh your
[28:25] the lawyers, uh schoolboard meetings,
all the fire, you know, fire chiefs, uh
[28:29] airport manager. That's one thing that
really tightens my lower jaw being a
[28:34] pilot is to know that I'm going to be
taking off a 27 and there's solar right
[28:39] there. If I have a hiccup in my engine,
[clears throat]
[28:43] my number one priority is to fly the
aircraft. But if they put something
[28:46] that's left within a half mile of me and
I cannot maneuver that aircraft, I'm
[28:51] going to go into that.
That's really a that's that's that's
[28:55] really dumb. Absolutely dumb that they
allowed that. And uh but again, thank
[29:03] you for your time, guys.
[29:14] » Hi, my name is Charlotte Conland and I'm
against any further salt development and
[29:18] especially to battery energy storage
systems in our community.
[29:21] » Did you say Cheryl?
>> Charlotte. Charlotte. Sorry.
[29:23] » Thank you. That's okay.
>> No, you're okay.
[29:25] Uh I was born and raised in Holland and
I have lived in Jasper for the past four
[29:29] years with my husband. Me and my husband
both attended um Southridge ele
[29:35] school uh Southridge Middle School and
Southridge High School uh for the last
[29:40] four years. I have also worked at my
family's third generation company in
[29:44] Holland, making the commute every day.
Because of that commute, I travel Duff
[29:48] Road 600 Southwest and Old State Road 64
regularly. Over the past several months,
[29:54] I have been incred increasingly
concerned about the safety of these
[29:57] roads. Sorry.
I have witnessed company trucks and
[30:01] other work vehicles traveling at
excessive speeds, pulling out from work
[30:05] sites without checking for oncoming
traffic, making sudden stops and turns,
[30:08] and creating hazardous driving
conditions. The situation has become so
[30:12] concerning that now I avoid these roads
whenever possible because I no longer
[30:16] feel safe driving them. With school
starting soon, these concerns become
[30:19] even more significant. School buses,
student drivers, and families will all
[30:23] be traveling on these same roads during
peak hours.
[30:28] Increased industrial traffic combined
with the everyday commuters creates
[30:31] uncert unnecessarily safety risk for our
people and our community. And I'm also
[30:36] deeply concerned that while many
important questions remain unanswered,
[30:40] more than 30 battery units are already
on site in the Holland in Holland.
[30:44] Battery energy storage energy storage
systems present serious fire and safety
[30:50] concerns and residents deserve clear,
transparent, transparent information
[30:54] about the risk, emergencies, response
plans, evacuation pre procedures, and
[30:59] the potential impact on nearby homes,
schools, and first responders before any
[31:03] project should have moved forward. Our
community should not be expected to
[31:07] accept additional risk without
confidence that every safety concern has
[31:11] been fully addressed.
the projects that haven't been approved
[31:15] and constructed.
>> Three months. [laughter]
[31:24] » Sorry. Um [laughter]
[31:30] » you'd like to sit down? You can come
back up in a little bit.
[31:32] » No, I'm good. I got to get it out.
>> Okay. [laughter]
[31:37] The projects that have been approved and
constructed, the impacts on our roads,
[31:40] our landscaping, and our community will
not be easily undone. What's done is
[31:45] done. But I would respectfully ask our
elected officials to put the health and
[31:49] safety of Duboce County residents first
until all safety concerns have been
[31:54] thoroughly addressed and the public have
received complete transparent answers. I
[31:59] urge you to reject any expansion of
solar projects and to stop the approval
[32:04] of battery energy storage systems in our
community. And I encourage you to use
[32:08] the community energy review board. Thank
you here for hearing me out.
[32:12] » Thank you.
[32:16] [cough]
[clears throat]
[32:22] » You guys mind if I sit down?
[32:27] » [laughter]
>> uh Dave Duncan and once again I didn't
[32:30] plan on talking but I will. So u I'm
looking at and I've looked at this
[32:36] before I never had a chance to talk
about it but I'm looking at 8-1-42 which
[32:39] is the solar state solar ordinance that
Dubo County adopted for the county.
[32:45] [clears throat and snorts] So I want to
look uh direct you to 8142-6 which is
[32:49] permitted permit authority. I'm just
going to read it real quick. Uh
[32:52] [clears throat]
as used in this chapter, permit
[32:55] authority means a unit or a board,
commission or other governing body of a
[32:59] unit that makes legislative or
administrative decisions
[33:03] [clears throat and cough]
concerning the permitting, construction,
[33:07] installation, signing, modification,
operation or decommission of CSSE system
[33:11] in the unit. The term does not include
the state or any of its agencies,
[33:17] departments, boards, commissions,
authorities or instrumentalities or the
[33:22] court or judicial body. So that
basically means the county is the
[33:27] permitting authority. If we go over to
uh 8-1-429
[33:34] permit authority responsible for
enforcing compliance with standards
[33:37] authority to adopt less restrictive
standards or to wave or make less
[33:40] restrictive existing standards units
planning and zoning power is not
[33:44] affected. Okay. So it's basically what
this says is permit authority for a unit
[33:49] described in section A which is the
local uh county of this chapter is
[33:54] responsible for enforcing compliance
with any standard set forth in section
[33:57] 10 through 20 of this chapter that apply
in the unit under section A of this 1A
[34:02] of this chapter. The unit may adopt and
enforce commercial solar regulation that
[34:07] include standards that A concerning the
permitting, construction, demilation,
[34:11] sighting, modification operating for
decommission of CSA systems in unit and
[34:16] B are less restrictive than the standard
set forth in this chapter. And two, wave
[34:21] or make less restrictive or any standard
set forth in this chapter. So this
[34:26] document gives the local authorities.
I'm not paying you guys a card block. I
[34:32] could just ignore the standards and wave
them. So my point is there shouldn't be
[34:37] no waiverss in any kind of zoning. Okay?
And there's other counties in Indiana
[34:42] that have zoning and I would suggest
that you look at them and use them as a
[34:47] template. I'm not going to mention
counties because there's so many out
[34:50] there. I know we're only one or six.
Maybe maybe they're north. of of
[34:54] counties in Indiana have don't have
zoning on solar BSS or any of the other
[34:58] things that have been mentioned here. Uh
and I know uh the one of the key factors
[35:02] here is property rights, right? People
want to do what they want to do with
[35:06] their land. My rights stop when I have
interfere with your rights. My rights
[35:12] stop when I interfere with the land use
your of your property and your
[35:17] livelihood, your enjoyment, your safety.
That's when my rights stop. that those
[35:22] rights are true no matter what. So I
just want to say thank you. So I will
[35:28] because I was going to bring this up if
I was assuming people were going to talk
[35:31] but if they weren't I was going to bring
that up too. So to kind of your point
[35:35] there 8-142-9.
>> Yeah.
[35:39] » So prior to us implementing this they
could have put the uh solar panels on
[35:45] the property line. They could have you
could according to this you could still
[35:49] wave that. This is what's in effect
right now. We we could wave that.
[35:52] » Right. Right. Right. So before we had no
zoning at all, correct? We had no
[35:56] zoning. Our options at this time were
>> we could either implement zoning. Right.
[36:02] So that's what we're looking at now. But
at this time it was either leave leave
[36:05] it where we have no zoning or they could
put panels,
[36:09] you know, they'd have to go by whatever
uh there would be no local hold back. So
[36:14] our thoughts at the time or I'll speak
for myself, I won't speak to the other
[36:17] commissioners were this was better than
nothing. And I'm not saying at that time
[36:21] it wasn't.
>> So, so I think what happened was we had
[36:25] no zoning. They gave us an opportunity
to put in some mild zoning here. So, we
[36:28] put it in,
>> right? And I think I agree with you and
[36:32] most of the people in the room probably
that we can do better than this. You
[36:37] know, 100 250 ft from a property line
probably isn't enough.
[36:41] » And Marshall, I'm I said I wasn't going
to say this, but Marshall County is 1320
[36:45] ft. I know that one of the commissioners
said that won't stand up in court. their
[36:48] zoning for uh solar's been since 2024
and it's still in
[36:52] » right so they have zoning so I think we
could be even more restrictive but
[36:56] unfortunately what this says and as you
read it
[36:58] » we could either put this into place
>> or we can make it even worse
[37:04] » right for the people that are here we
can do nothing and make a
[37:07] » so I think this was our best option we
felt or I felt at the time and now I
[37:11] would say that our our best
>> well would you say I agree with you
[37:14] would you say that at that time you
didn't know as much about the ESS and
[37:17] solar I You learn a lot, right?
>> I would think nobody in the community
[37:20] knew as much as they do now.
>> So when you know for me when we know
[37:24] more,
>> we'll do things differently.
[37:27] » Okay, that's great.
>> Absolutely.
[37:28] » All right.
>> Thank you for your
[37:38] » Don't mean to be taking it up, but if
there you have something to say, please,
[37:41] please do.
>> Hi guys.
[37:46] » Thank you for having us today. Um,
sorry. Do you
[37:49] » No. Is Sandy, is everything still
running as far as you know?
[37:53] » I just want to make sure because I'm
sure there's plenty of people at home
[37:56] that want to want to listen in. So,
please go ahead.
[37:59] » Nobody's texted to say it's not.
[laughter]
[38:02] » Um, thank you guys for doing this. Um, I
I know that these projects and projects
[38:08] like it have taken a lot of your time.
Um, I hope that I hope that the
[38:12] companies that are coming in privately
to do this are paying for that, too. not
[38:16] the taxpayer, but um sincerely thank
you. I think that I'll be honest though,
[38:21] I think if we would have had these
before um [music]
[38:24] permits and agreements were signed for
these projects, we probably wouldn't be
[38:28] here. If you had a public meeting before
them, um like you said, Chad, though, we
[38:31] all have learned a lot, right? I know I
have. Um,
[38:36] we have the the DEV project that's
that's currently under construction,
[38:40] phase one. Um, that that's working its
way to completion to to come online. Um,
[38:46] the CrossFime project between Holland
and Huntingburg. Um, piles are being
[38:50] driven, battery batteries are being
moved in right now. Um, and then I know
[38:56] I know I've showed it to most of you.
There's there's a advertisement for um a
[39:00] solar invest project in the Ireland area
on the brown fields and surrounding. Um
[39:06] so so three projects for our county
covering up a a pretty significant
[39:10] amount of land signed up. Um isn't that
enough?
[39:16] Um why do we need more?
I don't know. Maybe that is a goal of
[39:21] the county. Um I don't know if that's an
econ economic development goal. I don't
[39:25] know if that's uh the direction that the
county wants to go into. Um but but
[39:29] honestly, I would love to know and
understand why. Why do we need more of
[39:34] this stuff? Um again, if that's the
goal, I'd love to know and I think the
[39:38] public would like to know where we're
we're going and why, which I think is
[39:41] why you're doing the comprehensive plan.
But um again, that might make might help
[39:46] to get everybody on the same page.
Um, I I hear a lot of folks sharing
[39:52] their grievances, what they're seeing,
what they're experiencing. And I'll be
[39:56] honest, I think they're doing it because
you're the permitting authority. Um, you
[39:59] guys, and I'm not picking on you guys as
people, let's be very clear. Um, I'm
[40:03] putting your commissioner hats on you.
Um, but you guys are the permitting
[40:07] authority. The construction permit was
signed by you guys for these projects
[40:11] for the best, for the solar. Um
and and I think that folks just want to
[40:17] ensure that safety risk, financial risk,
all of that was done for this and it's
[40:21] done in the future. Um
uh when it comes to zoning, um I I I'll
[40:28] be honest, I'm not an expert on it, but
it kind of seems like a distraction. The
[40:32] county has ordinances. Um they enacted
multiple ordinances last night at the
[40:36] county council. You guys have signed a
ton of ordinances. You have an existing
[40:39] solar ordinance.
um why why can't we make more? Why can't
[40:44] the like you said the solar uh more or
the solar ordinance may not be right may
[40:48] not be the right fit for the county
right now. Let's strengthen it. Um I've
[40:53] heard that EDP wanted you guys to pass a
best ordinance. Um let's do it. Data
[41:00] centers. Um all of it. Let's let's get
ahead of it. Pass ordinances. You don't
[41:04] need zoning to pass ordinances. The
council doesn't need uh zoning to pass
[41:08] ordinances.
Um, if the solar setback or the solar
[41:12] solar ordinance is something that you
guys are looking to to change to
[41:16] strengthen for the community, um, like
like other folks have said, let's
[41:21] increase some setbacks, some common
sense. So, we are respecting neighbors.
[41:25] Um, we are respecting the county
decommissioning plans.
[41:29] » I think I just want to say I think I
share your goals of doing that, but I I
[41:33] my understanding of those walls would be
if we have no zoning, this is as strong
[41:38] as it gets.
for for this. So, I think we would have
[41:41] to put in zoning to to increase those.
>> If you could send me some legal
[41:46] documentation on it, since I'm not being
sarcastic, like if you could sincerely
[41:49] send me some legal documentation on
that, I would love to read it just
[41:52] because so many other counties zoned and
unzoned still do have solar ordinances.
[41:57] » I mean, we have a solar ordinance. So,
yeah.
[41:59] » Right. But have but have increased
increased off of the the general
[42:03] adopted.
>> See, I'm not aware of any of that wood.
[42:06] Doesn't have it any stronger. Like I
said, please send it my way because I'd
[42:09] love I'd love to to read it and
understand more. Um, but decommissioning
[42:14] plans funded at day one. I know the
CrossFime project decommissioning plan
[42:19] isn't funded until year 10. Um, after so
10 years after the project is turned on.
[42:25] Um, when ground breaks, that
decommissioning plan needs to be
[42:29] decommissioning fund should be funded.
Um, I don't know what what EDP what
[42:33] Duffs is. I'll be honest. Um, what is
the
[42:36] » last thing? You don't know.
>> I don't know what the Duff
[42:39] decommissioning plan looks like at the
EDP site. Um, I don't know. Can you When
[42:43] is the decommissioning fund funded?
>> It's a public document. Um,
[42:48] » yeah,
>> that I just haven't looked at. Can you
[42:50] quote on what it when it is fully
funded?
[42:52] » Um, when it's So, it's it's in effect as
of now.
[42:57] » Okay. And it's fully funded everything.
>> Yeah. So, um, I can I can give you the
[43:02] whole document.
>> That'd be great. Yeah, it's a public
[43:05] document.
>> Perfect. I just haven't done I haven't
[43:07] looked over.
>> Yeah, no problem.
[43:09] » I'll eat my words.
>> Great.
[43:12] » Um, max number of AC acres that the
county wants to have in this stuff,
[43:16] solar data center, etc.
>> Will you please not
[43:24] have some respect for the lady speaking?
>> Sorry.
[43:28] » Um, mandatory rules with public
hearings. You know, again, I know you
[43:32] guys have commissioners meetings. Um, it
is very hard for people to attend those
[43:36] during the day without taking off work.
Um, but [clears throat] having a public
[43:40] hearing like today, I think you'll have
a lot more participation and and
[43:44] feedback.
Um, fully represented community. I know
[43:48] a lot of folks have said that get a
nonparticipating owner participating
[43:51] owner, right? If we're debating this
pair of glasses, hear both sides and
[43:54] then take it to a public hearing on on
what the community wants. and then full
[43:58] financial review of cost and benefit. Um
I was at the county council last night
[44:02] and asking a lot of questions on what we
we truly expect to receive in revenue
[44:09] and cost to incur for projects and um I
know they tried to answer the best that
[44:13] they could but they had a lot of
unknowns as well. I don't mean to be
[44:16] speaking for them. That was my my
takeaway my opinion. Um, so yeah,
[44:21] ordinances, ordinances, ordinances where
we can and if we can't, moratoriums
[44:25] until we can get some some good
understanding and like I said, I have a
[44:29] gap with ordinances. So maybe with all
of the legislation, so if there is
[44:34] legislation, please send it my way so I
can be more informed. Um, but if if the
[44:40] the legal structure doesn't allow us to
have ordinances, then yeah, I think
[44:44] zoning, common sense zoning is the
direction to go. Um, one more note I
[44:49] want to make on the closure that was
brought up and the um the closure that's
[44:53] happening right now. Um, I appreciate
what what you said that you guys pushed
[44:58] it tried to get the the city of
Huntingburg to allow them to have it all
[45:02] done on their property, but I think an
important thing to note is it's a
[45:06] private company and you guys still
allowed it. Um, you still allowed the
[45:10] closure. You could have said no. Um,
>> so I think that's it. I heard you say
[45:16] that we could come back if we have more
thoughts. I want to
[45:20] » as long as long as you're not taking
somebody else's time.
[45:23] » Thank you all.
>> I want everybody to have a chance.
[45:28] » We have to get to school.
>> There's two more seats.
[45:41] And one other thing before you start off
>> I think too I think in one hand
[45:47] comments were right. We can make
ordinances about all kinds of things and
[45:53] they're they're not from the legal
advice that I get sometimes they're not
[45:57] enforceable. Right. we can we can put it
in. Um but uh
[46:02] » what we want to do is we want to make
sure if we put an ordinance into place
[46:05] that it actually has teeth and so that's
what that's another thing that we we
[46:10] look for because no need to put it in
and then for example like you said if we
[46:14] if we put it in that it has to be 10
miles away from any residents we could
[46:18] likely be sued on something like that.
So we want to make it that u that we're
[46:22] protected we don't get involved in
lawsuits unnecessarily. And am I
[46:26] understanding correctly, I'm not our
county attorney, but if we do too many
[46:32] ordinances, we push the envelope too
close to zoning and then the state can
[46:37] come um essentially force us into
zoning. We can't do zoning without doing
[46:43] zoning. So, we can't just use ordinances
to,
[46:48] you know, avoid zoning. And yeah, we I
mean we have very we have a few things
[46:52] in place, but we again we've been told
by our attorney if you if you put if you
[46:58] put anything else online then it's uh
then we're not we're skirting the law.
[47:03] So, but again that that's okay because
that gives us the opportunity. We want
[47:07] to put zoning into place and we can put
zoning into place. I mean, that's
[47:11] » that's the next that's the next step.
And that's one of the things that not
[47:14] everybody that's coming up is [laughter]
explicitly saying it, but um if you if
[47:19] you're in favor of that or what degree
you're in favor of it, please uh please
[47:23] tell us. So, please go ahead. I'm sorry.
>> I I think we're already telling land
[47:27] owners what to do with their land by
ordinances and by different things that
[47:32] are in there. So, I think we're already
in zoning. Not to the extent of having a
[47:39] um big zoning or a but we're already
doing it. We're already going to get
[47:46] there as more as the city of Jasper
takes more land and zones it in. We're
[47:52] already there. So, we just as well do it
so that we can get in front of all of
[47:55] this other stuff instead of coming in
behind the fact. I don't know if you
[48:01] said who you were either.
>> Barb,
[48:03] » thank you.
>> So, I know there's somebody from EDP
[48:05] here. Is there someone from CrossFine
here?
[48:09] » They don't have to.
[clears throat]
[48:12] » Okay. I just wondered. So, and I kind of
did a different take. I know a lot of
[48:17] people are coming up and saying what um
Crossfine and EDP maybe are doing that
[48:24] they don't like. Um but I thought this
was more on what do we want in an
[48:28] ordinance. Uh, so that's kind of where I
went. I mean, I think every what
[48:32] everybody said is true and everybody
thinks the same thing. We don't like it.
[48:36] Nobody likes it. There's health hazards,
there's um fire risk, there's all of
[48:42] that. You know, nobody wants it. So, but
for me, uh I know the last time I had
[48:48] sent you guys a Davies County ordinance
and it was 2500 ft uh set back and you
[48:55] said that that was too much and that
Davies County is probably going to get
[48:59] sued or pushed back on that which they
haven't yet. So mine is 1500s feet from
[49:06] neighboring property lines and an
additional 500 ft set back from
[49:12] neighboring subdivision properties
uh due to the number of residents that
[49:17] could potentially be in that area in the
time frame of the
[49:24] um solar fields because the solar fields
are what 35 years plus two 10year
[49:30] additions.
So, it would end up for a subdivision to
[49:36] be 2,000.
You know, there's pictures of the high
[49:41] voltage fence on the fence. So, if
that's 250 the f I don't know if it's
[49:46] the solar
um
[49:50] the actual solar panel that's 250 ft
from a residence or if it's the fence.
[49:55] » Solar panel.
>> Solar panel. So the fence then
[50:00] » I think what what the law was if I read
it right it was 50 feet from the
[50:03] property line. It has to be at least 250
ft from
[50:07] » So then we have these high voltage
fences 50 ft from a subdivision
[50:12] or from a house
>> from a propert
[50:16] » the fence is 50 solar panels 100
>> fence is not
[50:22] [laughter]
>> and then my next thing is barriers I
[50:26] mean some they don't have to do barriers
right now but barriers of line trees and
[50:30] solid fences should be mandatory for
neighboring property lines. to lessen
[50:34] the danger of the high voltage areas and
for solar panels and battery parks and
[50:40] maybe reduce if we do have hail and we
do have wind that get them loose. Due
[50:47] the risk of fires and damage, panel
should be a minimum of 1500 ft set back
[50:51] from LP tanks on neighboring properties.
Commercial solar energy facility shall
[50:57] not use any rightway. I know we've had
that discussion
[51:02] and talking about the road closed
solar um the current solar one should
[51:09] not be considered a utility because they
don't have the end the util the energy
[51:15] is not being here and I know you sent me
something from them there's a loophole
[51:20] of course that they can be called a
utility but I don't think they should be
[51:24] I think we should be able to put
something in place because we are not
[51:27] using their energy
They should not get to use a rideway of
[51:31] a adjacent property owning battery
storage system should be a minimum I
[51:37] have 25 miles [laughter]
from schools, daycare facility or
[51:41] subdivisions every 3 months during
construction. Review roads that need to
[51:45] be repaired and repair them because
we've looked at other solar companies
[51:51] not the same one in Pike County and they
don't fix the roads. They say it's
[51:56] [clears throat] going to be when it's
over. Well, it's [laughter] during that
[52:00] time where the roads are need to be
fixed. Telecommunications
[52:04] and wireless single report including
independent internet study to show any
[52:10] slowness or disruption concerns
condition and if any conditions are not
[52:15] met, termination of the project could
occur. So, we're talking about that we
[52:21] don't have the water tank over there by
Bess. we don't have uh the cooling
[52:26] system set in place and they're putting
the batteries in. If the solar company
[52:32] is not following guidelines with road
usage, battery storage systems, cooling,
[52:37] and other guidelines, they must
immediately halt until those guidelines
[52:40] are met, such as having firefighters
train before moving batteries in place,
[52:45] not having cooling systems in place,
etc. the construction workday 8 to 5
[52:51] with no lights on before 7 and not after
6. If you've seen the big lights in the
[52:57] place, they light up a football field.
And then once land is in a solar
[53:02] contract, the property assessment
changes to the higher assessment as soon
[53:08] as they're signed up.
[53:25] Can you identify who's allowed to
interrupt and when it's acceptable
[53:31] » like you're doing
[snorts]
[53:35] » I don't want
>> my interrupting though. Nobody's I'm
[53:38] sorry Randy. Excuse me.
>> You're not interrupting me.
[53:41] » I'll sit down. You come back.
>> No, go ahead.
[53:43] » Okay. I want to interrupt
>> I want one thing clear about this road
[53:48] on 500. I got my easement here. We
signed you know to get the road paved
[53:54] and this is the last sentence is you got
we got a 60oot rideway. The same use for
[54:00] public road purposes such as public
utilities may be approved by the board
[54:08] of county commissioners.
You gave this utility. You can call it a
[54:13] utility company. It says utility
company's may. You gave these people
[54:17] free ride away for about a half mile of
county road. You didn't get any money
[54:23] for it, did you? If they would had to
come on on a property owners, you would
[54:28] have you we would have got money for it,
but you you let them go down the center
[54:31] of the road and you didn't get a dime
for it, did you?
[54:36] I'm not allowed to ask questions. I'm
sorry.
[54:43] You want a copy of this?
>> You've seen it before, I'm sure.
[54:52] » I'm sorry.
>> Okay.
[54:56] [laughter]
[55:01] » I'm sorry. you go through all that.
>> I have that effect on a lot of people
[55:06] until
um
[55:10] » Oh,
>> so I'm
[55:12] » You're interrupting me.
>> I'm sorry. [laughter]
[55:19] » Um when I look at things like this, I
always want to go right to the end and
[55:23] say, "Well, what's
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm Jason
[55:26] McCoy."
>> Thank you.
[55:27] » Um
[55:32] always want to consider what the end use
of the battery storage is. Well, the
[55:37] purpose, as I understand it, is to store
the power that's collected by the solar
[55:46] and then that's going somewhere. And I'm
thinking, okay, so where's that going?
[55:50] What's going on there with that? Where's
why I mean, why are we doing it? So, um,
[55:57] called my cousin who's way smarter than
me and I said, 'Hey, what's what's going
[56:00] on with all this stuff? He works for one
of the big three. He said, 'Well, which
[56:04] part? I said, well, because there's
three parts. There's [clears throat] the
[56:08] solar, there's the battery, and then
there's the data center. I said, so
[56:12] what's it? He said, it's about the data
center. Are we on record or off record?
[56:16] He said, off record. What's the story on
these data centers? Good or bad? He
[56:21] said, off record, bad. I'm building two
of them right now and I'm telling you
[56:26] it's as bad as anything we've ever done
could be is building all these data
[56:32] centers. Jason, it doesn't get worse
than this. All the battery stuff and the
[56:37] solar stuff is to power all that. So
when I hear that, I'm thinking to
[56:40] myself, okay, well at what point is
anybody going to say, well, why are we
[56:45] even doing this? Because we're talking
about setbacks and electrified fences
[56:48] and we're talking about ordinances and
we're talking about all this stuff. But
[56:52] if we look step back and we take a
three-dimensional view, why why are we
[56:56] talking about all this? It's not clean
energy, we know that now it's
[57:00] alternative energy, right? There's
there's a third of an acre of concrete
[57:05] and steel under every one of those
turbines, those wind turbines, for
[57:09] example. There's never been a wind
turbine on the planet that has yet to
[57:15] offset the carbon footprint that it
costs to put it in. You know how much
[57:18] diesel fuel it takes to mix that much
concrete? the diesel fuel you have to
[57:22] put in trucks to drive the guys there to
pour the concrete, having machinery to
[57:26] operate it, the crane. This is not clean
energy that's good for all of us. It's
[57:31] alternative energy. It's just a
different kind of energy. So my smart
[57:35] cousin, I said, "So what's what's the
deal?" For the record, I'm a Republican
[57:40] capitalist. I don't want zoning. I'm
opposed to any kind of regulation.
[57:45] Fundamentally, I'm opposed to any kind
of regulation. I don't want regulation.
[57:50] I pretty much want us to make our own
decisions and do what we want to do. But
[57:55] I don't want you guys, you three or
anybody on the council or any of our
[58:01] employees, which is what I consider you
guys, right? You asked for the job, we
[58:04] gave it to you. The job is to represent
us. And the main part of that job in my
[58:09] opinion is to not not just do what a few
oligarchs want, what a few of the rich
[58:16] people want or what a few of the
business people want because they're
[58:20] saying this is good. We're going to do
it. What I want you to do is anytime
[58:24] somebody comes and asks for something, I
want you to have one of these right
[58:27] here. I don't even know this woman
clearly, but anytime anybody wants
[58:32] something done that's going to affect
any of us, I want you to have one of
[58:34] these right here. a color-coded binder
with all these tabs that go I guarantee
[58:40] you that woman right there knows more
about this than anybody else in this
[58:42] room because she's got this.
So, in my opinion, Shereice, Chad,
[58:50] Nick, before you allow anybody to do
anything that affects us,
[58:57] I I want you to do what this lady right
here did. I want you to get it all
[59:00] together. And even if if you don't feel
like you have time to do it, quit. Give
[59:05] the job to somebody else who does. Let
somebody else who's got you, you get get
[59:11] up there and grab Chad C or whatever. If
you don't have the time or the
[59:15] inclination or the impetus to put this
much time and attention into something
[59:19] that affects all of us, then let
somebody else do the job.
[59:24] One of the things that I said to Doug
Ubelar, I said, I I will tell you that
[59:29] if you if you're what you're running for
this position, it is a mandate of mine.
[59:37] In short, I'll I'll encapsulate that
discussion. You got to have this every
[59:42] single time. Every time you have to do
this amount of research and don't make a
[59:46] decision that affects all of us because
this guy wants you to do it or that guy
[59:51] wants you to do it or
whoever, right?
[59:57] We have a contract.
Okay. The three of us, the three of you
[1:00:02] have a contract with me. And our
contract is that I I pay my property
[1:00:08] taxes on the 70,000 square feet of
commercial space I have here in Jasper,
[1:00:12] Duboce County, right? I have to pay
property taxes for that. What is it? 60%
[1:00:19] of which goes to fund schools. Is that
about right? probably, right? My kids
[1:00:24] don't even go to school here, right? I'm
not making a big deal about that. That's
[1:00:29] kind of the contract. I've got to pay
the money for my property tax. And if I
[1:00:34] pay that, then you guys have to hold up
your end of the bargain. And your end of
[1:00:38] the bargain is you don't give this cat
over here
[1:00:43] a a permit to do anything that's going
to affect all of us without checking
[1:00:48] with all of us. So, we're we're a little
too late coming here now. I'm with this
[1:00:53] other guy. I appreciate that you guys
calling this forum here.
[1:00:59] But the chatter I'm hearing is, "Well,
he was calling that because they're
[1:01:01] scared we're going to run him out of
office." I I don't know if that's true
[1:01:05] or not. I didn't see this letter of no
confidence or whatever they're all
[1:01:08] talking about. I'm glad you guys are
here and I'm glad you guys are
[1:01:11] listening.
But if I started speaking PTON to you
[1:01:16] right now,
[1:01:20] if I started speaking Latinium
or French, you know, if I French or or
[1:01:27] or Spanish,
[1:01:30] I'm the fool for speaking to you in a
language you don't understand. And I'm
[1:01:35] wondering, I get the impression a lot of
times lately because of other issues
[1:01:39] that I'm involved in,
[1:01:43] if you guys aren't listening, even if
we're speaking the Queen's English,
[1:01:49] it doesn't do any good
if you're not listening. So, to me,
[1:01:54] what's most important is I want to be
represented. That's what I want. the
[1:02:01] details. We can work the details out.
But if I'm talking and you're not
[1:02:06] listening or if you've already made up
your mind,
[1:02:11] the last mayoral race or the the
commissioner's race is a perfect
[1:02:15] example. I explained to my friend Dean,
I know you're on the wrong side of this
[1:02:20] thing. If you don't get on the right
side of this thing and start paying
[1:02:23] attention, you're going to be ridden out
on a rail. No. No. He wasn't paying
[1:02:29] attention. We all know that the election
proved that
[1:02:36] I I've got a lot of time invested
begging my employees to listen to me and
[1:02:43] I'm getting a little bit tired of it.
These people sitting behind me have a
[1:02:46] lot of time invested.
The contract between you and the rest of
[1:02:52] the con your constituents is
that we allow you to represent us and
[1:03:00] you represent us. The majority of your
constituents, not a few, not a few, not
[1:03:07] the oligarchs, not a few,
but all of us. And if the majority of
[1:03:13] people are going, "Hey, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no. Hey, look. Look here
[1:03:17] what I've done. You're supposed to
really, really want to hear that. You
[1:03:22] shouldn't be afraid of it. But what's
this person going to think? What's that
[1:03:26] person going to think? If you're driven
by that, if you're motivated by worrying
[1:03:32] about what people are going to think
that have the power, you shouldn't be
[1:03:36] here, right? What we call that is we
call those people our elected officials
[1:03:43] here in Duboce County. There's a few of
them. I won't I won't name them because
[1:03:47] I don't want to embarrass them or put
them on the spot, but we all know who
[1:03:49] they are, who the freethinkers are, and
we know who the sick ofants are, right?
[1:03:55] We know we know who who the people are
that are just supposed to kind well, you
[1:03:59] know, this is kind of what they want us
to do, so this is what we're going to
[1:04:01] do, right? We don't want those
representatives, right? We want we want
[1:04:07] people that are actually going to
represent the best interest of the
[1:04:10] majority of their constituents.
And this to me this this is a perfect
[1:04:16] example of why I what I nobody's
demonstrated to me how these data
[1:04:22] centers are a good thing and how this
best thing is a good thing. I get how
[1:04:26] it's good for him, right? I get that. I
understand that. I understand how for
[1:04:31] companies like Hallebertton, I mean,
they're rocking these data centers, but
[1:04:35] as fast as they're getting approval from
people like you to build them, people
[1:04:38] like us are coming out and they're
shutting it down. And it's not our job
[1:04:41] to do that, right? I've got kids to
raise. I got stuff to do. Come on. All
[1:04:45] right. We hire you to represent us. We
don't want to have to come in here and
[1:04:48] fight you. Um, so I want to I want to
offer that to you. And um, again, I
[1:04:55] don't know these ladies over here, but
Chad, I'll tell you, it seems
[1:04:58] disrespectful to me personally the way
you the way you're talking to these two.
[1:05:02] I just want to close with that.
>> Thank you.
[1:05:16] Good evening.
>> Good evening.
[1:05:19] » I'm Kevin Olinger. Rephrase that. The
other Kevin Olinger. Not the Kevin
[1:05:24] Olinger. The other one. Buzz knows.
[laughter]
[1:05:28] U.
Just a little bit about me. Don't live
[1:05:31] in Jasper. Farm and raised in Snowville.
I started selling fever when I was 19.
[1:05:37] Fresh out of high school. I spent 37
years in corporate America with Land of
[1:05:42] Lakes.
Grew into senior leadership roles,
[1:05:46] covered six states, watched
um the bureaucracy and the regulations
[1:05:55] suck the life out of the family farmer
from the aronomy guys. I work in pig
[1:06:00] farmers so I like bacon. Um, but with
cattle farmers, dairy farmers everywhere
[1:06:07] and it's just the regulations, it's the
burdens. You know, when you talk about
[1:06:13] zoning, I don't want anybody to tell
Daryl what to do with his land because
[1:06:19] that's his.
But what you can do is stop all the
[1:06:24] federal subsidies. Well, you guys can't,
but somebody's got to stop all the
[1:06:28] federal subsidies
that's blowing this stuff that's
[1:06:32] consuming our farmland. So, I've got a
list of questions. I This is just one
[1:06:38] page. I've actually got two pages, but
And I don't want you guys to answer the
[1:06:42] questions here. I don't want to put you
on the spot because I've asked several
[1:06:47] of our elected officials
these same questions. And sadly,
[1:06:55] they didn't know the answers. I know the
answers to almost everyone on this page.
[1:07:01] How many people or families are fed
annually per acre of farmland?
[1:07:07] How many hogs, turkeys, cattle can you
feed per acre of farmland?
[1:07:12] I got copies for you, Chad. [laughter]
[1:07:18] Who are the owners? Crossvine, Rats One,
Rats 2, Promeis,
[1:07:24] all the solar companies that were put in
in Pike County, Knox County, there's
[1:07:30] thousands and thousands of acres.
[clears throat and cough]
[1:07:35] It doesn't take long to find out who the
principal owners are.
[1:07:40] This here is just hearsay. How long is
the battery storage fields? Uh how long
[1:07:45] will they power the homes when the
system loses power?
[1:07:49] Good friend of mine hauled the rock down
to the to the battery storage down in
[1:07:53] the old P&L plant in Petersburg.
Got to know the job foreman down there.
[1:07:59] He said three hours.
That's coming from Bruno. So, who knows?
[1:08:05] I don't know. I'd be curious to know,
though.
[1:08:09] Do you guys know who makes all of the
solar panels that are being installed in
[1:08:14] southern Indiana?
I do.
[1:08:19] Yes, ma'am.
>> Have you
[1:08:21] any elected officials ever been on or
inside of a solar farm as they were
[1:08:27] being constructed
to actually see them? What they do, how
[1:08:32] they do, nothing against Indiana
renewable energy, but what you see on
[1:08:37] Facebook is not what you see out in the
country.
[1:08:42] I've been on them.
Do you know how much fossil fuel is
[1:08:46] consumed per solar acre?
[1:08:52] Friend of mine, we had a 3,500 acre
solar farm, not me, that we were hauling
[1:08:58] gravel to. One order was 7,000 ton
7,000 ton of stone just to put between
[1:09:07] the panels.
Go green.
[1:09:11] Is I damn prepared for the aftermath
when something when something
[1:09:14] catastrophic hits? I don't know. I know
in my 30 plus years working with pig
[1:09:20] farmers, whenever we tried to get a
permit working with IDM to get a hog
[1:09:25] facility put up
through county zoning and all that stuff
[1:09:30] through state, it was a zoo. You had to
have 200 foot setbacks.
[1:09:36] If there were, unless there was a church
involved, well, all of a sudden there'd
[1:09:39] be a holy roller church pool right up
next door or a daycare. Then all of a
[1:09:43] sudden there's a daycare. So rules are
meant to be broken.
[1:09:48] You know, sadly, our state and federal
government could probably erase 95% of
[1:09:54] all the rules on the books today. Don't
tell anybody. It wouldn't change
[1:09:59] anything.
>> [clears throat]
[1:10:01] » It wouldn't change a damn thing how we
live our lives because you can't rule
[1:10:05] and you can't govern when you don't have
morals.
[1:10:11] Local farmers, they can't spread. They
have spreading regulations from coming
[1:10:16] down from the state. They can't spread
manure up next to a creek even though
[1:10:20] it's organic, about as organic as you're
going to get.
[1:10:24] Who pays for the disposal of solar farms
once they reach the maturity or the end
[1:10:28] of life? that I don't know. That's just
a question coming from me. Do you know
[1:10:33] how long you can hold your hand on the
bottom side of a solar panel when it's
[1:10:36] 88 degrees out on a Saturday morning?
[1:10:41] I'll be 60 in September. I've got more
scars than my granddaughters can't even
[1:10:46] keep track of on my hands. 8 seconds.
That's how long you can hold your hand
[1:10:51] on the bottom of a solar panel at 88
degrees out. On the top side, I barely
[1:10:57] got 5 seconds.
[1:11:01] And you know, I I've asked Mike and Mark
why the mad rush to take over the
[1:11:06] farmland. I've got my conspiracy
theories, but and why the outlandish
[1:11:10] subsidies. You could quadruple the
subsidies that the prop that they're
[1:11:15] offering the the farmer, the land owner,
the second, third generations of dirt.
[1:11:20] You could quadruple it and put post up
in Walmart. I get it. You can't put it
[1:11:25] on an existing building structure
because it probably wouldn't hold them
[1:11:28] up. But there's parking lots, whatever.
Who pays the leases when the original
[1:11:34] company that [clears throat] got the
free federal grant? Who gets that lease?
[1:11:39] Who takes over that lease when they
sell?
[1:11:42] Harrison County recainesville
just got done ripping all their panels
[1:11:46] out.
The politicians up there say it's
[1:11:51] because they were outdated and
ineffective.
[1:11:55] I don't know how much solar panels have
improved in techn technological
[1:12:02] advances,
but I got a good friend of mine that
[1:12:06] farmed several thousand acres up in
Harrison County right by his buddy at
[1:12:10] the RAC said they were money pit from
day one.
[1:12:14] When you look at who and you know who
are the primary owners of AES,
[1:12:20] that's an interesting one. Who are the
primary shareholders of Black Rockck and
[1:12:25] Vanguard?
What percentage of Black Rockck is
[1:12:29] institutionally owned? Another
interesting one.
[1:12:34] And do you know how what the federal
grants were for the AS that AES received
[1:12:38] for the Rats one, Rats 2, not your own
crossine,
[1:12:42] but the one that really prompted this
one is there's a landfill closure
[1:12:47] project down at the old IPNL down at
Petersburg.
[1:12:53] And I it's the damnest thing I've ever
seen. They're covering 80 acres
[1:13:00] of a closed landfill with astroturf.
Has nothing to do with solar. Nothing.
[1:13:07] But they hadn't put anything in that
landfill in 15 years.
[1:13:13] the I I looked up the work Rar for the
company that was hired to to do this RA
[1:13:18] AES
company out of Cleveland, Ohio, parent
[1:13:22] company in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I saw the nine-page work order to close
[1:13:27] it. They stripped all the top soil off
and I kid you not, they're putting
[1:13:30] astroturf on 80 acres. I told Shane
Lindau, I said, "Well, at least they had
[1:13:34] enough smarks to put it on top of a
landfill because in 10 years when that
[1:13:38] astral turf starts blowing everywhere,
all you got to do is open the landfill,
[1:13:42] put it back in."
[1:13:45] I've got u a lot of pictures and
documents and stuff on how some of the
[1:13:51] uh solar vines or solar vines, the solar
panels, the solar farms were built.
[1:13:59] They will not last as long as
everybody's being sold.
[1:14:05] A friend of mine up in Knox County who's
battling a solar farm right next to him,
[1:14:10] one that got put in. He's saying that
his lease the leases on his neighbor's
[1:14:15] property is already up and they're
battling on it. This guy was actually
[1:14:18] smart enough. He went back to the the so
the rats company or whatever the that
[1:14:23] shell company was. He did the math and
he said, "Well, I tell you what." They
[1:14:27] said, "I'll sell you whatever acreage
you want for your solar farm, 25,000 an
[1:14:32] acre." They said, "Nope. We'll only
lease it."
[1:14:38] And bottom line is
couple other thoughts. Do you know what
[1:14:43] the ambient temperature is on a solar
farm 10 ft above the solar panels or 20?
[1:14:49] Go out and look at go and stand in a
corn field and get an ambient
[1:14:52] temperature reading over a corn field or
soybean field.
[1:14:56] big difference.
>> The one solar farm down in Pike County,
[1:15:01] there was not one player from Indiana.
All in all the weeks that I hold rock
[1:15:06] down there,
Missouri,
[1:15:10] uh, Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa,
[1:15:17] they hold water in from Michigan to
spray the roads down.
[1:15:22] Bottom line for me on solar, you know,
I'm doing this. I got three
[1:15:25] granddaughters. I'm done in life, you
know, I'm okay to go. But if we don't
[1:15:31] have food, we don't need electricity.
It's just bottom line. Amen.
[1:15:38] » And when things don't make sense,
>> which a lot of this stuff, I've seen
[1:15:43] them getting built. I've seen the
landfill closure projects, you know,
[1:15:47] we've seen some of the DNR projects that
they're just wiping out trees because
[1:15:54] they got to fix a high wall or
something. They just mulching down acres
[1:15:58] and acres and acres of trees
for what? Follow the money.
[1:16:04] It's 100% follow the money when things
don't make sense. So,
[1:16:10] I've got a few other extra copies of my
questions and I've got another page on
[1:16:15] questions on solar. I got a page on uh
some of the IDAM stuff that we battle
[1:16:20] all the time. IDM's worried about
keeping dirt out of the water when our
[1:16:24] water's stored in dirt,
but yet they allow everybody to spray
[1:16:29] underneath power lines and everything
else. And it's just bizarre. They spray
[1:16:33] rod over top of the top egg. Don't say a
dang word about it. So I got two more
[1:16:38] pages on that end. [laughter]
>> Thank you.
[1:16:41] » Thank you.
[1:16:53] » Just give me one second, please.
[1:16:59] Okay. Go ahead, Sarah.
Jared Harrisburg
[1:17:05] res um on Mr. McCoy's speaking I wanted
to kind of clear something up on the
[1:17:13] he stated that the solar
the best is there to get filled with
[1:17:20] energy from the solar field. From what I
was told from a a best expert from
[1:17:27] California was
the panels are getting hooked to the
[1:17:31] substation, the centerpoint substation
there that they just built. The best the
[1:17:38] only thing the best is doing
is pull energy off the grid, buy it
[1:17:44] cheap, sell it high every day. It's just
their money maker. The solar field is to
[1:17:53] is like a cover to trick people into
thinking that it has to be there and
[1:17:57] it's for the solar. They don't need 92
giant ass batteries
[1:18:04] for that energy to go into every single
day. That field is not going to produce
[1:18:08] crap. You could have one battery, four
batteries, not 92. You don't need that.
[1:18:14] It's all a money maker. So,
just to clear that up because I don't
[1:18:19] want people thinking that you have to
have they don't go hand in hand. You
[1:18:23] know what I'm saying? It's they're not
even hooked together. And if they are,
[1:18:26] prove it because we would like to ask
CrossFine, but they've never came to a
[1:18:32] meeting, never seen anybody from there
because they're a crap company.
[1:18:36] A yes, I should say. Um,
>> and you guys got a
[1:18:42] » can I you just in your opinion, would it
be good for you or for the community if
[1:18:47] Crossbine hadn't because when they were
here before people felt like they're
[1:18:52] just they're not really doing anything.
It's not it's not worth my time to even
[1:18:55] show up.
>> I don't know. I don't know if I want to
[1:18:56] get arrested.
[1:19:01] So just
>> I mean honestly though
[1:19:04] » because here's the thing they
>> these people come to the meetings about
[1:19:07] when you had a meeting about u cross
vine these people came and talked and
[1:19:13] it's not their project it's it's
sickening
[1:19:17] » crossine has offered to come and I just
I didn't know if it was going to be of
[1:19:20] value if it would be
>> good.
[1:19:23] » Sure.
>> Thank you. So sorry to interrupt you.
[1:19:25] guys don't hear on that.
>> U
[1:19:31] this project, these projects are they're
freaking huge. You guys got to look, you
[1:19:36] got to do research beforehand before you
approve them because
[1:19:40] [clears throat]
me and my wife, we got four kids, three
[1:19:45] of which are still in school at
Huntingburg.
[1:19:48] Uh, well, one's a Holland, one's in the
middle school, one's in the high school,
[1:19:54] and
I don't know what everybody else thinks,
[1:19:58] but these parents, but if something
happens,
[1:20:03] there's going to be a lot of people
that's going to have a lot of answering
[1:20:07] to do because it's a big deal. I mean,
my house is one mile from those
[1:20:12] batteries. Um,
so say they're sitting there 35 years.
[1:20:17] 35 years I got to worry about something
happening. It's crap.
[1:20:21] » Get out.
>> Like what [clears throat]
[1:20:24] um John said, they need to be on
uh power plant ground behind the fence
[1:20:31] being monitored by these professionals
that have a crew there.
[1:20:36] If something happens out there, 45
minute delay,
[1:20:42] which it doesn't matter. You can't do
nothing anyways. Watch the damn thing
[1:20:45] burn. It's just it's sad. I mean, it's
ridiculous.
[1:20:51] I don't know what else to say. I wasn't
going to speak, but whenever I heard him
[1:20:54] talking about the batteries and the
solar, I wanted to make it clear that
[1:20:57] what we were told by a professional was
they're not even going to be hooked
[1:21:01] together.
The solar's going onto the grid. The
[1:21:07] batteries are just there to pull energy
off the grid
[1:21:12] and sell, make money. Just a money
maker. That's all it is.
[1:21:18] I don't know. Oh. Um,
[1:21:23] I did want to ask if
I don't know you probably didn't answer
[1:21:27] me anyways, but I was going to ask you
three if you guys signed NDAs on from
[1:21:31] any of this stuff from any of these
solar companies or energy companies
[1:21:36] » because it seems like we aren't getting
anywhere with this and it feels like
[1:21:39] that
you guys are being awful tight lipped
[1:21:43] and we we need to get the ball rolling
on this crap on preventing future stuff
[1:21:50] like now we do. That's all I got.
>> Thank you. Is there anybody that hasn't
[1:21:57] spoken? We We've got about 12 minutes
left. So, I'd like Whoever would like to
[1:22:01] speak, come on up. [laughter] You'll be
next.
[1:22:04] » Okay.
>> Hi.
[1:22:06] » Hi.
>> I'm Dennis Witz from Duff. Uh I don't
[1:22:11] know whether I'm
uh need a shield behind me. Y
[1:22:20] » probably uh going to speak
[1:22:25] uh against some of the things that been
said.
[1:22:29] One thing on on Bass, I I don't know
very much about it, but I would suggest
[1:22:35] that
we find out what the
[1:22:41] actual
[1:22:44] uh
problems are and how high the risk is
[1:22:51] from this storage. in your book.
Um, that's all I [clears throat] like to
[1:23:01] say. I don't know any more about that.
Uh, we farmed in stuff for I'm 65, been
[1:23:08] living there all our lives. We
[1:23:14] um
had the solar project on our ground.
[1:23:21] So obviously we're getting paid
generous uh lease payments for that but
[1:23:31] I can say that we are well pleased with
the job EDP has done. I can't speak with
[1:23:40] AES
uh to to them.
[1:23:44] Um
as far as the the trucks, anytime they
[1:23:49] had anytime they have trucks
or any kind of
[1:23:55] uh equipment on the road, they have
flaggers in front and behind every day.
[1:24:03] our [clears throat] roads
get swept with a
[1:24:08] street sweeper
multiple times a day.
[1:24:13] Um
but the [clears throat]
[1:24:17] the thing that I would say people need
to keep in mind
[1:24:26] with the solar
as you said somebody said it is
[1:24:31] alternative but we know what the
alternative to solar is because that's
[1:24:38] what we lived with
for most of our lives.
[1:24:43] All of our lives around here is coal
and we had coal
[1:24:51] mines
all around Duff previously.
[1:24:56] There's we've had our own ground was
mined
[1:25:02] 35 years ago
and it was reclaimed but it is still not
[1:25:10] the same as it was prior to that
35 years or 55 years whenever this comes
[1:25:18] out of the solar project.
there's enough
[1:25:23] material steel mainly in the project
that it will even if EDP does not have
[1:25:33] funds available.
The steel was
[1:25:38] in the project is enough to pay somebody
to to pull it out and sell it for scrap.
[1:25:44] It's there's not that much in it.
[1:25:53] It's not [clears throat] like the wind
turbines where it's
[1:25:56] » all the concrete in
[1:26:00] uh
[1:26:03] the coal mines
um
[1:26:09] [laughter]
or the the coal uh fired plants. We can
[1:26:13] see two of them from the land that my
grandpa owned.
[1:26:19] And
uh
[1:26:23] in years past,
southern Indiana had the worst
[1:26:29] air quality of any place in the state.
And I had questioned that previously and
[1:26:36] why that was. Well, it's because we are
producing the power in the
[1:26:43] three or five
coal fire plants to send
[1:26:49] north basically and and for us.
So,
[1:26:56] what would you rather have?
[1:27:00] uh [clears throat]
[1:27:03] coal coal
uh produced energy.
[1:27:08] You only have to look you you just
mentioned the
[1:27:13] uh road bonding issue
with the [clears throat]
[1:27:20] Ireland uh shamrock.
>> Yeah, shamrock. And that that pit's
[1:27:26] still open.
Uh,
[1:27:30] and
as far as I know, there's not funds
[1:27:34] available to close it.
uh
[1:27:40] you know that is what I would suggest
people keep in mind
[1:27:49] that
yes it is taking
[1:27:54] some farm ground out of out of clay but
what they are putting in solar panels
[1:28:04] on
as at least our ground. This is not
[1:28:10] prime farm ground. This is rolling
hills.
[1:28:15] They could probably take Dubo County and
and take all the farm ground and it
[1:28:22] wouldn't
make any difference as far as the
[1:28:27] production of grain
for Indiana.
[1:28:32] Um Obviously, we don't want that.
Uh and I would suggest
[1:28:42] also that
we take
[1:28:47] time to
wait until these projects are
[1:28:53] completed
before
[1:28:56] we judge how they're going to be.
Obviously during construction there is a
[1:29:02] lot of traffic,
there's a lot of noise,
[1:29:09] but
>> once it's in
[1:29:13] installed and in production,
uh there's [clears throat] not going to
[1:29:19] be noise
um
[1:29:25] or smoke
like from So
[1:29:30] hopefully
[1:29:34] » folks, we have about three minutes if
somebody wants to make their you were up
[1:29:38] next.
>> Oh gosh, sir.
[1:29:40] » John mistakenly said a while ago 250
yards. Okay. Meaning 250 ft. The sad
[1:29:46] truth is if that 250 yards was on there,
they couldn't have wrapped most these
[1:29:51] neighborhoods out of honey. They
wouldn't had room for it. Just that one
[1:29:54] little setback. Okay.
[1:29:58] The other question I have is for
[clears throat] our EDP guy. He stated
[1:30:01] while ago that he has nothing to do with
vest, that you're just solar. Can you go
[1:30:05] on record saying there won't be no best
in phase two at Duff? You will. There's
[1:30:09] no no best out there
in the first no
[1:30:16] first phase.
>> The best
[1:30:21] speaker
in four minutes here. The other thing I
[1:30:24] want to say is we started this battle
last year and we were told by Honeyburg
[1:30:28] Council, no permits, you should have
been here before you got permits. You
[1:30:32] guys told us no permits. Should have
been here before you got permits. Okay.
[1:30:36] We were successful when we got a year
moratorum, you know, at Honeyburg and
[1:30:40] here. Okay. AS came in and paid a fire
truck and whatever and got their permits
[1:30:45] back at Honeyburg. Okay. The way I
understand it, we got you cannot extend
[1:30:51] a moratorum more than a year. Okay. So,
that gives us like four months to get
[1:30:57] zoning or some kind of control in place.
Okay. It's time to do it.
[1:31:05] Do I have time for one more person? If
somebody would like
[1:31:12] Ron Hope and you were talking about
people talking about the rightways and
[1:31:16] on the roads and basically your heavy
use road use permit, if I remember
[1:31:22] right, gave them the rightway
and that shouldn't have been in there
[1:31:27] because it should be public utility, not
a private company. And uh
[1:31:33] it also had in there they can change
names and change our LLC name and
[1:31:39] everything and not notify the county.
And that shouldn't have been in there
[1:31:42] either. I'm not a lawyer, but I I can
read stuff and I know what ain't right.
[1:31:46] That shouldn't have been in there either
one far as the reclaim funding.
[1:31:51] So you're saying you got a 100% put in
right now for redone?
[1:31:57] » Yeah, there's
>> not to 25. Can you can you ask your
[1:32:00] question of him afterwards?
>> Share your comments, please.
[1:32:03] » Okay. Then as far as the installation,
if you look in the internet, basically
[1:32:11] 50% of it's paid by the taxpayers
completely.
[1:32:16] Uh our former egg secretary Vilsac was
on the egg show one morning. He said 50%
[1:32:22] was covered by the taxpayer till uh the
inflation reduction act. Our last
[1:32:29] president had added 40%. So he said 90%
of this installations to the bus
[1:32:35] taxpayers. So we're paying for this.
And then they had it all publicized to
[1:32:42] give 10 or $15,000 to schools and all
this.
[1:32:46] Well, that's to cover all the bad rep
they were getting. So, they make it
[1:32:51] public that they donated money. What
about all the sheet and metal shops, gas
[1:32:55] companies, everybody that donate to the
community all the time and doesn't make
[1:32:59] a big deal of it? That's a kind of kick
in the foot for them. And then
[1:33:06] batteries,
they're got new technology, some kind of
[1:33:10] sodium or other batteries that's
supposed to be better in lithium. when
[1:33:13] they'll get out and good. Maybe they'll
be better than lithium. Maybe they won't
[1:33:16] be. I don't know.
[cough and clears throat]
[1:33:20] Depends, I guess, if lithium batteries
is worse than having a mini nuclear
[1:33:25] plant next door. So,
I don't know.
[1:33:29] » Thank you, Mr. Ho. Y
>> All right, folks. That's the I think
[1:33:33] we're up against the time. Um it's 6:01.
I do appreciate everybody that made
[1:33:38] their comments and uh
>> we'll we'll just keep moving forward
[1:33:42] with this. Thank you.
>> Can I say one one sentence?
[1:33:48] » People ask me all the time what BS is.
They see the signs. It st stands for
[1:33:55] battery excuse me batter
[1:34:00] energy storage system. Just for anybody
that wants to know, I get asked it all
[1:34:04] the time.
[1:34:12] » [clears throat]
>> Hi,
[1:34:13] nice to meet you.