[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.

Commissioner Public Forum 7-28-2026

Transcript