In the editor:
I used to be horrified to see the “information” within the Tribune a couple of social occasion hosted by the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce, in assist of the Spanish-owned utility firm Acciona Energia. Free drinks, free meals, and an opportunity to talk with Acciona representatives pitching their proposed photo voltaic farm mission in Barton County. This worldwide company desires to shine 2,000 acres of agricultural land on the southern fringe of the Cheyenne Bottoms with a sea of ​​shiny black panels proper in the course of the North American Central Flyway, which has been traveled by tens of millions for hundreds of years. -millions of geese, geese and different birds and designated. an space of ​​vital significance to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and worldwide environmental teams. Resting, feeding, and bathing areas can be blocked; Recent estimates of chook deaths round photo voltaic farms run to 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 birds a yr. Those of us who love this distinctive and irreplaceable wetland and its wild inhabitants say: This is NOT the place to impose such a development. Acciona admits that after they purchased the rights to develop this mission, they knew nothing concerning the Bottoms, about Barton County, or the distinctive wants and values ​​of this area.
Regarding financial advantages: this mission is exempt from property taxes for 10 years, and any “fee in lieu of taxes” have to be negotiated with the corporate, steadily. Once development is full, there can be two dozen long-term jobs. This barely impacts Barton County’s present 2.8% unemployment fee. The energy generated by this mission can be offered to different states, different corporations; it will not run your range or air conditioner or pump. The {dollars} from this deal will go to Acciona, and a few landowners within the speedy block of land south of the Bottoms.
I’m involved that the Chamber of Commerce is supporting this ill-advised and over-hyped mission. Meetings with the county fee and the planning and zoning committee have been crammed with residents who don’t desire it constructed: not on their property strains, not close to Cheyenne Bottoms. We are usually not towards photo voltaic power; many of those similar folks have photo voltaic panels on their roofs, in their very own fields. But 1000’s of hectares shouldn’t be destroyed to line the pockets of a giant foreign-owned firm. Don’t let a few free beers and slices of pizza flip your head (are we that simply carried away?). Say no to Acciona.
Julie Steilstra
Ellinwood
