BY PAUL MITCHELL
North Country This Week

CANTON – Nature’s Storehouse owner Rainbow Crabtree has launched an online petition and letter-writing campaign on behalf of Canton Citizens for Responsible Solar to halt a 240-megawatt solar center on the Rich Road in the Town of Canton.

Crabtree is a member of that community watchdog group. As of Feb. 16, the petition had 379 signatures.

“One of our main goals is to inform our community about the proposed Rich Road industrial-scale solar facility,” said Crabtree. “Our group wants to ensure all pertinent environmental aspects of the project are carefully reviewed to ensure the health and wellbeing of our wildlife and community.”

“While we the undersigned believe renewable energy must be a priority, we stand in strong opposition to the location and scale of France-based EDF Renewable’s proposed 1700-acre, 240-megawatt solar installation to be sited bordering 7 roads on either side of US Rt. 11 at the gateway to Canton, NY,” the post reads.

“EDF Renewable’s planned industrial-scale solar installation will impact our rural community, county and St. Lawrence Valley region in many detrimental, irreversible ways.”

“It is incumbent on renewable energy companies and New York State officials to avoid siting large-scale solar and wind projects in highly agricultural, ecological-sensitive, historic areas. In addition, targeting low-income, rural communities with limited resources is a form of colonialism. The origin of ‘colonialism’ can be traced back to the latin word ‘colonia’ meaning a place for agriculture. According to Byjus.com, the standard definition of colonialism is “a policy and practice of a power in extending control over weaker people or areas.”

The Change.org posting says local zoning must be considered in all solar projects.

“Additionally, renewable energy companies must respect local zoning laws and protect natural resources including wetlands and forests, wildlife and birds, prime farmland, rural viewsheds, property values, and community values.”

There is also a call on local leaders in the posting to develop a unified approach to address energy projects.

“As renewable energy companies look to Canton, New York and St. Lawrence County as potential sites for utility-scale solar power installations, county and town officials must have a strategic, county-wide approach and metric in place for siting of utility-scaled renewable energy installations. With 4 universities, a large rural health-care system, and a healthy agricultural industry, we have much to preserve. With strategy and metrics in place, we need to protect our community from becoming a patchwork of industrial-sized solar installations and from the detrimental, decades-long impact they will have on area residents, local economies, natural resources and scenic viewsheds.”

The post also says that ensuring the taxbase is compensated for the land use is essential.

“Furthermore, renewable energy companies building and operating solar energy systems in New York State must be required to pay the full amount of county, town and school property taxes permissible by law and based on the assessed value of both the land and the renewable energy systems infrastructure – both considered real property in the State of New York.”

“In closing, we the undersigned strongly urge New York State, St. Lawrence County and local officials to take immediate action to preserve and protect our community’s high-quality agricultural soils and farm operations, natural resources, native birds and wildlife, scenic viewsheds, and tourism- and recreational-centric economy by denying EDF Renewable’s permits to build the proposed 1700 acre solar installation in Canton, NY.”

The community group invites the public to join the cause to protect the essential history and character of our rural community and its many resources from being degraded for decades by this wrongly-sited, wrongly-sized industrial solar facility.

“We welcome people to join the group. It’s important for people to recognize they don’t need to be an expert on something in order to care about, get involved and make a difference,” Crabtree remarked.

“We are doing our best to learn about something that none of us are experts on. We care about our community and we care about the world,” she stated.

What you can do:

· Learn about the project:

https://cantonny.gov/solar-projects-information/

· Attend local board meetings:

https://cantonny.gov/government/calendar/

· Submit a letter to the editor:

St. Lawrence Plaindealer tgraser@wdt.net

NCTW Letters@NorthCountryNow.com

· Submit a letter to the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES):

orespermits.ny.gov

· The petition is available here.

EDF Renewables officials say the solar project and eventual solar center will provide an economic boost to the local economy.

Development Manager Jack Honor has stated the project has the potential for up to 300 jobs, more than two thirds of the jobs for electricians during the 14-to-18-month build.

Honor also noted that a community benefit fund of $30,000 per year will be distributed to local civic groups, non profits, general projects or other community programs. Local residents along with the local project team will determine how the funds are allocated, he said.