To the editor:
After attending recent Shelby County government meetings the past two months and having schooled myself on the solar companies wanting to come into the county, my plea to the local county government is to actually listen to the concerned citizens and review, study and educate themselves on the information they have been given.
There has not been nearly enough transparency by these governing bodies to adequately address its current four-page solar ordinance. Its comprehensive plan wants an inviting rural community. They are selling out the farmers by allowing any solar plants. After one of these meetings, a county council member stated he did not want solar panels where he farms.
Shelby County landowners are presently being solicited by solar companies in an area dangerously close to the wellheads which provide the water to the City of Shelbyville. I built a house just west of these wellheads. My deep concern is that toxins could be released from solar panels compromised due to hail damage, a small earthquake, lightning, tornadoes, high winds, traffic accidents, etc. and enter the lower aquifers. The water of Shelbyville has been tainted once before.
County leaders have also been informed some fire departments do not have adequate ways to deal with solar panel fires and sufficient water supply to extinguish them. This information alone should have been a big wake up call to the county planning commission and county commissioners.
If you live in the City of Shelbyville, rural Shelby County, state of Indiana or the Midwest, this solar issue affects you. Educate yourself on these out-of-state companies coming into your area. Talk to your local government bodies to express concerns you may have for the area in which you live.
Susan Weaver
Franklin
