More Information here
-We worked with the MoCo Green Bank and Office of Ag to offer webinars and other resources for going solar on your home/business/farm
-Resources for homes on well and septic on how to save water
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The County Executive has launched a new Climate Smart program that asks residents to commit to small changes they can make to yield big results in emissions reductions for the county. More Information here More to Explore:
-We worked with the MoCo Green Bank and Office of Ag to offer webinars and other resources for going solar on your home/business/farm -Resources for homes on well and septic on how to save water (Chaberton energy is sending postcards offering 10 times what leasing farmers pay for land in the Ag Reserve and have proposed two projects on prime soils in conflict with the county master plan. The state Public Service Commission (PSC) has authority to allow these projects to go through. Show up to help make the case for local farms and the Ag Reserve.) Please plan to join MCA, and our partners at a public hearing on the first of two large solar proposals seeking to end run MoCo's master plan by siting on prime soils - first up the Sugarloaf Array in Dickerson- organized by the Public Service Commission Tuesday February 4 at 6:30pm The Upper Montgomery County Fire Department 19801 Beallsville Road in Beallsville. [agenda and info] Here's How You Can Help:
Much more info in our recent newsletter here. Data Centers are an entirely new (and unregulated) land use with massive resource needs:
Our digital lives require cloud storage but the rise of AI has made the need for data centers explode. Developers are looking all over the country and world for suitable places to site data centers. Maryland, particularly Western Maryland, with it's proximity to Virginia's 'data center alley' is appealing to the industry. But we have lots of questions about just where all these resources will come from and who ends up footing the bill. That is why we support the Data Center Impact Analysis and Report Act (( HB270 SB116)) we are working with state and local partners in the Climate Justice Wing of the Maryland Legislative Coalition to support this and other common sense bills to protect our environment. We will be asking for folks to write in and testify on this bill - for now, please check out our fact sheet. How we use our prime agricultural lands matters. Flat, sunny, well drained soils are at a premium. Despite a compromise allowing solar in the Ag Reserve on non-prime soils as a conditional use in 2021, 2 solar projects are now applying to the state to end run the County's protections for prime soils in the Ag Reserve. All while solar companies inflate land values, putting acreage further out of reach for the new, diverse crop of local farmers in the only area set aside for farming. Above - a postcard to Ag Reserve residents offering 20 times what local farmers are paying per acre of land. Update: The County Council and County Executive have also sent a letter to the PSC urging denial of the Chaberton Sugarloaf project. Summary: The Montgomery County Planning Board voted to send their recommendation to deny a solar project (full video here) (Chaberton Sugarloaf in Dickerson) (known as a mandatory referral) to the MD Public Service Commission (PSC) on 1/9. Their decision reasoned that the project proposed to occupy Class II prime farm soil and generate over 2 mw conflicting with county zoning. Much credit goes to the nearly 100 supporters who wrote quick letters to support the denial and strong testimony from Montgomery County Farm Bureau and Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association. The State PSC is the ultimate deciding body and can still approve the project over MoCo objections. MCA and partner groups have intervened in the PSC proceeding to advocate for continued protection of the Reserve’s prime purpose – agriculture, and denial of the project as submitted. After the Planning Board vote on 1/9 (3-2), Board members engaged in broader discussion that revealed troubling misperceptions of the Agricultural Reserve, its history and success, agrivoltaics, the position of the MC Office of Agriculture, and why solar has been slow to gain approval in our electrical service area. Background: Chaberton Energy has applied directly to the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) for two large solar projects of 3-4 mw facilities in the Reserve - almost entirely on on prime farm soils in contradiction to the County’s zoning provisions. Much more about the Sugarloaf and Ramire proposals here. Next Up The project proceeds at the PSC, MCA with partners have been granted intervenor status and we are mounting a defense of prime soils and our master plan. Bonus: Misconceptions at the Planning Board The ZTA is the factor preventing solar projects - false At the 1/9 hearing the Planning Board discussed whether and how to ask the Council to revisit the zoning provision for solar in the Reserve - ZTA 20-01 – with several board members arguing that only two projects being built in the Reserve since 2021 is cause for opening all prime soils to the industrial use. The Planning department's own report (p.9) in December 2023 identified that zoning is not the central issue holding back construction of new arrays. Instead, a long waitlist for interconnection with the utility and grid operator are the largest hurdles to making proposed arrays a reality. In fact PJM - the grid operator for much of the Mid-Atlantic - has the most severe backlog of new generation projects of any grid operator in the country - "projects entering the queue today have little chance of coming online before 2030." All the same, more projects are being proposed through the county's conditional use process - including on sub-prime soils in Barnesville. Agrivoltaics make this an Accessory to Farming - false In the September 5 public hearing the planning board had asked the applicant, Chaberton Energy, to come up with an agrivoltaics plan. Their draft request for proposals (RFP) is here. The RFP visions that farmers might grow crops in the 7 feet between arrays and harvest them by hand. Water might be available - it might not be and no plants can be over 2.5' high. It is clear that farming is an afterthought here - an opportunity to say that farming opportunities were offered but no farmers were able to meet the criteria of what becomes the industrial use supplanting agriculture. The RFP says that this offer of free "farmland" in 7-foot strips will make a difference for the large number of farmers seeking affordable land. All while Chaberton is seeking approval for a project that takes prime soils out of farming for at least a generation in conflict with the master plan and drives up the cost of other unencumbered farmland that might have been available for these producers. (Check out our Land Link program to see local farmers seeking long term leases). What do Ag Reserve farmers think about agrivoltaics? The Office of Ag says local farmers, like many, are seeking more data before embracing farming under solar arrays. OAGs thoughts about the Agrivoltaic RFP here. The office wants to be clear that the office did not help draft the plan or sign off on the project in any way. MCA and colleagues have repeatedly asked that the County invest in a full-fledged agrivoltaics demonstration project on county land that can provide key data on whether compatibility of table crop and livestock production and solar arrays in our specific growing conditions. Board member Hedrick said, “ we're talking about allowing a use on the AG Reserve that's a better use than anything that's currently going on on the acreage that's being proposed. Right here no one's talking about taking anything [sic] think about offering up an option for use of the AG Reserve which is inarguably both economically and environmentally a better use than most of it's currently put to.” This view represents a lack of knowledge of the agricultural production, supporting businesses, and ecological services that serve in the Reserve. More to Explore:
- Solar info session recording - Some proposals are working within the master plan to balance farming and solar generation - the two Chaberton proposals are not. We spoke with stakeholders about where solar stands in the Reserve in November 2024 - Interested in solar on your farm, business or home - check out our info session with the MoCo Green Bank MCA is leading the charge to balance solar production and protection of farmland in the Ag Reserve- this local focus relies on local support - we'd be honored by your tax deductible gift. |
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MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.
MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there. |