To the editor:

County commissioners and Lawrence residents have been hearing impassioned pleas from neighbors and artists claiming devotion to clean energy but wanting a relocation of the northern solar farm project. Has anyone suggested an alternative flat property with grid connection? This is NIMBYism and nay-saying. It is everywhere in the state and the country. Why do you suppose we do not have solar farms already?

When the world climate is in such dire straits, seemingly reasonable people resist at the first obstacle. Much of what we are hearing is outdated, incomplete or just misinformation. These acres cannot feed all of Douglas County as some have said. Or the solar farm is the size of the KU campus. Does that mean big is bad? Kansas is thick with river bottoms. Just look at a map — rivers and streams everywhere. Sure, some soils are better than others and some are due to ancient glaciation but there is no shortage.

The idyllic images of what this property should be are not consistent with the realities of commodities farming. Developers agreed to some of the strictest Agri-voltaic regulations anywhere. That means our county will be pioneering agricultural practices on the solar farm that could help the nation transition. The county engineer thinks groundwater basins/pumping stations can work without harming north Lawrence in a flood situation. We should all be helping encourage our commissioners to approve this preservative, important, first step toward a better future. The commissioners can’t please everyone and hopefully will approve.

Tony Schmidt,

Lawrence