PLEASE NOTE:  SUPPORTERS OF INDUSTRIAL SOLAR DEVELOPMENT AND OTHER INTERESTS HAVE ADOPTED THE SAME OR SIMILAR NAMES USED BY THE HICKS ALLIED GROUP.  ONE SUCH FACEBOOK PAGE HAD A STONE CASTLE LOOKING PHOTO AS ITS PROFILE PIC LOGO  AND NOW HAS A TREE PHOTO PROFILE PIC TAKEN FROM THE PHOTO COVER PAGE OF THE JUNE 2023 PRELIMINARY REPORT & FINDINGS - FRANKLIN COUNTY SOLAR RESOLUTION STUDY.  PLEASE BE SURE YOU RELY ON THE SAVEFRANKLINCOUNTYTEXAS FACEBOOK PAGE WITH THE "BIG GREEN TREE"  PHOTO LOGO TO AVOID CONFUSION AND POTENTIAL MISINFORMATION.  IF ALL ELSE FAILS, LOOK FOR POSTS UPLOADED OR SHARED BY YOURS TRULY, B.F. HICKS.  THANK YOU FOR VISITING.

**************************************************************************************************************

MAY 21, 2025

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins kicked off the “Make Agriculture Great Again” initiative on Monday. The first policy pillar of this agenda focuses on small family farms, “which are the heart of our communities and our nation,” say policy documents. Read More: https://www.agriculture.com/usda-sec-rollins-to-remove-obstacles-for-small-farms-11737968?utm_source=emailshare&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons 

***************************************************************************************************************

This link is about solar footprint.

https://open.substack.com/pub/energysecurityfreedom/p/the-solar-footprint-just-another?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

***************************************************************************************************************

 

Please reach out to all the Members and the committee clerk on the House State Affairs Committee urging them to give SB819 a hearing.  This also comes at the request of the bill author, Senator Lois Kolkhorst.  

 

Here is the link to all Members - https://house.texas.gov/committees/committee/450

 

Please EMAIL and CALL - get everyone you know to reach out - let's FLOOD their offices.

 

Thank you!!!

 

This regulation is common sense.  Solar fields have to be set back a minimum of 100 feet from their neighbors (a minimum of protection for neighbors) and wind turbines set back from neighbors at twice the height of the tower.  This is not the end of the industry.  For this unregulated industry, this is the barest of requirements.  Filing plans with the PUC.  All other utilities do this.  And no real permits; a neighbor can complain if there is blatant environmental harm proposed.  We need SB819.  We can't wait two years.  Call the Texas House.  Time for the State Affairs Committee to answer to Texans and not foreign developers.

 

*************************************************************************************************************

 

 

 

 

 

MAY 16, 2025

 

Legislative Update.   A Plea for Action.  URGENT!

 

The Calendars Committee Can Kill Bills Through Inaction!
The committee has no obligation to act quickly. It is empowered by Rule 6.20 to sit on a bill for 30 days without explanation, and it is perfectly legal—even procedurally encouraged—for them to let that time run out without consequence. The end result is that the committee’s silence becomes the equivalent of a veto. No hearing, no vote, no explanation—just death by delay.

 

Out of over 150 bills filed with proposals for regulation of solar, wind, and battery energy systems - at least three remain viable.

With deception AND money, the renewables industry has managed to derail almost all proposed regulation.  One industry report stated that Senator Kolkhorst was going to take property rights away from farmers who wanted to lease for solar development. No, she would have protected landowners like me with a 100-foot setback from my land as I had to listen to industrial developments installed to defile all of nature.  For now, the neighbor can lease and develop right up to my boundary.   Property rights go two ways.  Neighbors need protection from the shards and toxins coming from broken panels and blades when the tornado does hit.  

Three bills have a chance for passage:

 

SB75 – 28 of 31 senators have signed as authors and co-authors of this bill filed by Senator Bob Hall of Edgewood.  The bill requires grid resilience.  Approved in the House State Affairs Committee; now in the House Calendars Committee.  We need this bill advanced by Calendars and set for a vote in the Texas House. 

HB3356 filed by Representative Jared Patterson of Frisco limits price gouging by renewables.  It rewards dispatchable power providers and limits the possibility of a repeat of the Artic Storm Uri pricing.  A companion bill was filed by Senator Ken Sparks.  HB 3356 has 18 co-authors in the Texas House.  It passed the House State Affairs Committee and has sat in Calendars since April 29.  We need HB3356 advanced by Calendars to proceed for a vote by the Texas House.  We ask the House to approve this bill.  

SB1789 -  Authored by Senator Charles Schwertner of Georgetown - standards for electric service quality and reliability. This bill passed the Senate; passed the House committees and is up for full vote on the House general calendar.  We need this bill.  Call members of our Texas House and ask them to vote for this bill and protect Texas.

Please call and e-mail.  We cannot afford the footprint of wind and solar on our land.  We cannot afford to subsidize the industry through our taxes and the intangible costs we face in the footprint of this industry.

Our oil and gas industry is here;  in Europe, natural gas is classed within clean fuels and we can now capture emissions.  We have safe nuclear developments.  Oil and gas and nuclear take up less than 5% of the land required by solar and wind to generate equivalent amounts of electricity. Nuclear costs more but has a life far exceeding solar and wind facilities and a gas facility costs less than half of the equivalent solar and wind facility.  Ask our leaders to back reliable, dispatchable and safe energy production.  Adopt SB 819, SB 75, SB 1789 and HB3356 this session.  We have two weeks to get the bills passed.

The Calendars Committee is chaired by Representative Todd Hunter: -512-463-0672

https://house.texas.gov/committees/committee/050

Rep. Terry Canales (512) 463-0426

Rep. Toni Rose (512) 463-0664

Rep. Stan Gerdes (512) 463-0682

Rep. Cody Harris (512) 463-0730

Rep. Ana Hernandez (512) 463-0614

Rep. Ann Johnson (512) 463-0389

Rep. Jeff Leach (512) 463-0544

Rep. Janie Lopez (512) 463-0640

Rep. Ramon Romero, Jr. (512) 463-0740

Rep. Carl Tepper (512) 463-0676

We need this committee to set SB75 and HB3356 on the general state calendar.

We need every member of the Texas House to hear our voice in support of all three bills (SB75; SB1789; HB3356).  We cannot wait two more years for oversight.

Pick up any of the following talking points.  All are applicable.  Pick and choose.  Our leaders in Austin need to face reality.  Industrial solar and wind are not good for Texas.

 

  1. Renewables are not reliable, not dispatchable.  Not safe.
  2. Renewables are not regulated; the oil and gas industry is heavily regulated; every aspect of production.
  3. Renewables get 52 times the financial incentives of the oil and gas industry.
  4. The renewable footprint for production of equivalent energy requires over 50 X the same land as the land required for an oil and gas or nuclear facility.
  5. Solar and wind are intermittent.  When not operating, we still cover the cost of manufacture of equipment (produced with coal and shipped from other lands) and requiring back-up by reliable gas and nuclear;  It is not logical; it is not clean. 
  6. We believe that a wind turbine’s “clean energy production” can never actually offset the carbon released in manufacture, transport, installation, and operation of the system.
  7. Solar and wind require transmission lines; uninsulated; killing birds and wildlife and impacting our health.  We do not know the cost nor consequences. 
  8. Subsidies paid to renewables enable these unreliable intermittent developers to operate at a loss while undermining our Texas reliable and dispatchable oil and gas industry. We cannot afford the tax burden required to subsidize solar and wind.
  9. There will be hail and hurricanes and tornados. Panels will shatter and turbines will topple.  And debris will lay waste to neighboring lands.  Who has property rights in this situation.  The wind and solar industry is a threat to neighbors; a threat to all of us.
  10. Clean up of the mess after developers take tax credits and subsidies back home and we have to pay for cleaning up our land. Land that may not be readily adapted to agriculture or any other good use for generations. Who covers the cost?  
  11. Disruption of local economy. One or two permanent workers for thousands of acres formerly in agriculture.  The impact to rural economies where farms supported the local economy and this nation with our own food production.  In Franklin County alone, one-third of the agricultural land is under options for solar and related energy development uses.  These foreign developers want tax breaks in addition to the disruption they cause.  Temporary cheap labor in the  initial construction phase.  No vast numbers of veterans will be used nor would they have meaningful permanent employment.
  12. Fire and safety concerns: miles and miles of chain link fencing driving wildlife onto roads; damage to roads; fire hazards from solar fields and battery installations. 

We cannot afford this industry.  Vote for SB75, SB1789 and HB 3356.

All of Texas is watching and we will remember.  Do what is right for Texas and America and not for these foreign developers who could not do this in their own home countries.

 

***************************************************************************************************************

MAY 15, 2025

Gratitude to Senator Brian Birdwell and co-authors, Senators Bob Hall and Charles Schwertner

Senator Birdwell introduced SB 1754 – legislation to end tax abatements on industrial solar, wind and battery projects.  These abatements – whether set up as payments in lieu of taxes or special valuations – one more subsidy available for foreign developers coming here and despoiling our land and landscape.

These abatements can still be offered by counties under Chapter 312 – Texas Tax Code. 

Totally unfair. 

Let me summarize comments from our friend Joanna Friebele in Erath County:

We need to support the proposed legislation (Senate Bill 1754).

 While these industrial energy projects often promote themselves as beneficial to rural communities, their actual impact tells a different story. Their trend is to diminish neighboring property values, place undue strain on rural infrastructure, and undermine the agricultural character that defines our counties. Despite receiving generous federal subsidies, developers continue to seek local tax breaks—shifting financial burdens onto residents while providing little meaningful economic return.

 SB 1754 represents a critical step toward restoring equity in our tax system by ensuring that public incentives are reserved for projects that genuinely serve local communities. Texans deserve the right to protect their counties from outside developers whose profits come at our expense.

 Several counties including Erath, Hood, Hamilton, and Eastland, adopted resolutions supporting the bill.

The bill passed the Texas Senate.  The Texas House received the bill; it was referred to Ways and Means and it never got out.  Sound familiar as to House leadership and the slow death of efforts to get legislation that regulates the free money passed over to solar and wind and batteries. 

It is probably too late to call on members of the House Ways and Means Committee but here are names and numbers:

Way & Means – house https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/MembershipCmte.aspx...

diego.bernal@house.texas.gov; angie.button@house.texas.gov; Giovanni.Capriglione@house.texas.gov; barbara.gervin-hawkins@house.texas.gov; Hillary.Hickland@house.texas.gov; trey.martinezfischer@house.texas.gov; morgan.meyer@house.texas.gov; sergio.munoz@house.texas.gov; candy.noble@house.texas.gov; vincent.perez@house.texas.gov; ellen.troxclair@house.texas.gov;   Chris.Turner@house.texas.gov; Cody.Vasut@house.texas.gov;                                                    ryan.marquess_hc@house.texas.gov;

Morgan Meyer  R - (512) 463-0367                                      Trey Martinez Fischer D (512) 463-0616

Diego Bernal D - (512) 463-0532                                        Angie Chen Button (R) - (512) 463-0486

Giovanni Capriglione (R)- (512) 463-0690

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D) - (512) 463-0708                    Hillary Hickland  R - (512) 463-0630

Sergio Muñoz, Jr D - (512) 463-0704                                           Candy Noble R - 512) 463-0186

Vincent Perez – D (512) 463-0638                                     Ellen Troxclair – R - (512) 463-0490

Chris Turner – D (512) 463-0574                                       Cody T. Vasut  - R - (512) 463-0564

There will be a time when you get a chance to vote for some of these people.  Ask them how they voted.  We may need to act to vote them out.  Embrace of industrial solar and wind operations and the battery systems that support them is not acceptable.  We have huge reserves of natural gas in Texas ready to provide immediate dispatchable reliable electric power for our state.  We can build nuclear facilities that will outlast these solar and wind installations.  Natural gas and nuclear take a tiny fraction of the land mass required by solar and wind for equivalent energy production.  Stop these tax breaks.

And thanks to our Texas Senators and House members who have tried to stop the assault these foreign developers have mounted on our state, our land, our people.

***************************************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************************************

MAY 13, 2025

I tried to get Dallas Morning News to publish an opinion article to counter all of the false reports that the Dallas Morning News is publishing about value of renewable energy development. Rejected, or course. Here's the article. Please share it around Texas.

 

 

To produce a megawatt of electricity requires an investment of about $3M dollars; to get a facility to be capable of producing that same amount of electricity you invest $800K in a plan burning clean natural gas; yes, we are there with natural gas and we have a vast quantity available in Texas. And the land required to produce the same amount of electricity is less than 1/50th the land use required by solar and wind. Solar and wind aren't reliable nor are they safe. We will have hail and we will have wind and we will have damages. Let's stop now and limit the certainty we face from the damage and destruction these foreign developers bring to us.

 

***************************************************************************************************************

MAY 13, 2025

What is of interest? This post and notice below this statement are about the fact that the Texas Farm Bureau has adopted a state policy that says it is time to regulate the unregulated renewable industry. That the use of farmland for placement of solar panels which displace agricultural uses is not valid. Only so many sheep we need. We cannot replace our agriculture economy with a short-lived industry which destroys the land.

 

This is from Save Van Zandt County Facebook page posted by David Dunagan, admin of that page on April 17, 2025:

 

"The full statement by the Texas Farm Bureau. A big thank you to Brian Cummins for contacting them:

 

In line with TFB policy, we fully support legislation aimed at regulating and overseeing wind, solar, and battery energy facilities. We have consistently backed such legislation in previous sessions. This session, Sen. Kolkhorst’s SB 819 has progressed the furthest, being passed out of the full Senate and is currently waiting for a hearing in the House.

 

Additionally, we officially registered TFB’s full support for SB 1825 by Sen. Schwertner and its House companion, HB 3824 by Rep. King, during their committee hearings.

 

SB 1979 by Sen. Hall and HB 4363 by Rep. Money have yet to receive a committee hearing this session. Nevertheless, we are in full support of these bills and will officially register TFB's position once they are scheduled for a hearing.

 

TFB has not opposed any bills that would implement regulation and oversight of wind and solar energy.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information.

 

Thanks!

 

Charlie Leal

 

State Legislative Director"

***************************************************************************************************************

 

May 12, 2025

The Dallas Morning News ran a recent editorial with the representation that proposed legislation would destroy the renewables industry.  I wonder if the editorial staff reviewed any of the proposed laws.   They are all pretty commonsense:  prohibiting placement of BESS units near residences; giving communities some control over placement of wind towers; protections for the public.  Senator Kolkhorst’s Senate Bill 819 requires a minimum set back  for solar installations with 100 feet of clearance between the solar panels and a neighboring property owner.  This protects Texans against foreign developers destroying our land and landscape.   Read SB 819.  And, please read my “letter to the editor” which I sent to the News.  They haven’t published it, of course, but here it is.  Please share this message from the heartland.  With the proposed construction of the Marvin Nichols Lake and taking land for wind and solar, we end up letting cities take up a big chunk of our land. 

 

**This is the letter I wrote to the Dallas Morning News: **

 

Renewables are unregulated at the state level.  We want simple regulation.

 

Please look at Senate Bill 819 (loaded at QRCode above).  Straight forward and short.   Setbacks for solar - 100 feet from neighbors (200 feet from residential property);  twice the height of wind turbines from neighboring property.  A single newspaper notice.  Simple filing of plans with the PUC (automatically approved except under exceptional circumstances).   We are in rural Texas; we deserve  notice of  what foreign developers plan for us; we need setbacks from the installations which currently can be built up against our fences.  We need reasonable regulation of this unregulated industry which milks our tax coffers (taking over 20 times the credits and subsidies of the oil and gas industry).  Get on board with nuclear and stop funding wind and solar destruction of our lands (again – 20 times the land required as against solar and oil and gas to produce equivalent amount of energy). 

Foreign developers are destroying our land.  Please rethink endorsement for SB819.  We need help now.   

And we need House Bill 3356 authorized by State Representative of Frisco.  A bill to limit the opportunities for price gouging by the renewable industry and to prevent a repeat of the public financial harm arising out of Artic Storm Uri pricing. 

Call your senators and representatives and ask for these bills to be approved.  This is not going to kill solar and wind.  Passage of these bills can bring reasonable regulation to an unreliable industry.

B.F. Hicks, Daphne Prairie Preserve, Franklin County  

**************************************************************************************************************

The Houston Chronicle ran a feature story regarding the efforts of a Houston billionaire to protect his property from the construction of wind turbines and utility solar panel installations on a neighboring tract. These large scale introductions change the migratory routes of animals and the wind turbines cause strobe effects and can impact all of nature. I’m glad a billionaire is protecting Texans from the billionaire foreign investors who are despoiling our land and landscape. Enel can’t even put in solar panels over farmland in Italy but they can surely come to this country and do what they please. The newspaper isn’t publishing the letter to the editor I sent in response to their article. Please read my letter. It’s a message from the heartland. Share the letter. Call your state representatives and ask the Texas House to pass Senator Kolkhorst’s SB 189. This common-sense piece of legislation has 10 co-authors from our Texas Senate. They stand for Texas; our House leadership needs to do the same.

This is the letter I wrote to the Houston Chronicle:

Dear Editor: Your paper recently reported of Dan Friedkin’s efforts to regulate renewable energy. Friedkin backs Senate Bill 819 authored by Senator Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham. The bill is straight forward and short. Read it. Setbacks for solar - 100 feet from neighbors (200 feet from residential property); twice the height of wind turbines from neighboring property. A single newspaper notice. Simple filing of plans with the PUC (automatically approved except under exceptional circumstances). We are in rural Texas; we deserve notice of foreign developers plans for us; we need setbacks from our fences. We need regulation of this subsidized industry (taking over 20 times the credits and subsidies of the oil and gas industry). Get on board with nuclear and stop funding destruction of our lands ( solar and wind use 20 times the land required by oil and gas to produce equivalent amounts of energy). I’m glad your Houston billionaire is fighting to protect our land and all of nature. Foreign billionaires taking our tax dollars overseas leaving us with destruction. And let’s back House Bill 3356 to prevent the price gouging which followed Artic Storm Uri. We need reliable and dispatchable energy; we can have a mix; but we must not make Spain’s mistake and end up with complete blackouts when we have only these unreliable power sources (and batteries last about 4 hours – print the truth). We cannot wait 2 more years; we need regulation this session. B.F. Hicks, Daphne Prairie Preserve, Franklin County

 

******************************************************************************************************

May 7, 2025 post



Check out the new solar destruction at 9423 CR 2310, Pickton, Texas 75471.  Destroying fields and forests on rolling East Texas landscape.  Oil and gas takes a fraction of the land to produce equivalent energy and oil and gas is reliable and dispatchable; neither of which describes wind or solar.  And a battery system will  discharge for about 4 hours.  We can't afford this industry.  About 18 miles southwest of Mt. Vernon, Texas.  Tell our state leaders to give us some relief.  Erosion and pollution and ruin.  And what do we do with the wasted and damaged panels when the inevitable hailstorm or tornado hits.

*************************************************************************************************************

May 6, 2025

ENDORSEMENTS (WE ASK THE PUBLIC TO PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL  AUSTIN FOR PASSAGE OF ALL 6 OF THESE BILLS)

** SB 819 **

 Author Lois Kolkhorst; 10 total primary authors in Senate;  House Bill 553 filed by Jared Patterson of Frisco. 

Companion Bill to SB 819.  SB 819 – passed Senate; and is now assigned to House Committee on State Affairs. Waiting for committee hearing date to be set.  This one is important (even though SB 819 only requires something like a 200 foot setback for solar construction but right now it is 12 feet so 200 feet is an improvement).  Solar/wind/battery developers have to give public notice by a newspaper publication (one time).  Have to apply to PUC but if no contest, approval follows automatically.  No hindrance.  At least we (the public) get some regulation.

 

SB 819 – Please contact members of the Texas House of Representatives and particularly members of the House Committee on State Affairs.  SB 819 is covered in news stories as being repressive.  SB 819 is an honest attempt to protect property owners.  Foreign solar developers will have to honor setbacks.  100 feet from property lines of neighbors; 200 feet from property lines of residential property.  No more.  This is fair.  At this time, they can build right up to property lines. 

 

A solar developer would have to give a one time published notice in a newspaper (up to 25 mile distance) of a development and would have to apply to the PUC for a permit which is pretty much guaranteed under the language of the bill.  Read SB 819.  This is not repressive.  This is common  sense protection for neighbors. 

 

** SB 383 **

Author Senator Mayes Middleton – SB 383.  Regulation of  siting for offshore wind turbines.  Passed in Senate – Business and Commerce Committee.  5/5/2025  (Co-authors – Middleton and Kolkhorst).  Now up for calendar committee/ pending vote before full Senate.

Please ask our Texas leaders to pass this bill which gives local communities control of the siting of offshore wind turbines along our Texas coastline.

** SB 75 **

Author Bob Hall. Grid resilience requirements / standards.  Oversight by state.  Passed Senate.  In House State Affairs Committee (public hearing 5/5/2025)

 

Please ask the House State Affairs Committee to approve this bill and advance it for a vote in the Texas House.  This bill protects Texans.  A winter storm covering panels, a tornado, or doldrums which stop blades from spinning;  a demand on batteries lasting more than 4 hours depleting their energy and Texas in the middle of a two-day freeze:  no, we have to have resilient standards.  We have to have the back-up of resilient power provided by either modern nuclear plants or clean-burning natural gas.  Ask the House leaders to pass this bill for the sake of Texas and Texans.

 

** SB 1754 **

Author - Birdwell.  Hall and Schwertner - co-authors.  (end Section 312 tax breaks)  (HB 4057 is companion to SB 1754 and is in the House Ways and Means Committee).  SB 1754 Passed the Senate and is the House Ways and Means Committee.  

Solar and Wind production requires over 50 times the land space required for production of equivalent energy by natural gas or nuclear facilities.  Solar and wind are getting over 20 times the tax credits and incentives offered for natural gas and nuclear.  Time to end the Section 312 tax breaks.  Please tell the House Ways and Means Committee to approve this proposed legislation and advance it for a vote in the House for the sake of Texas and Texans.

 

** HB 3056 **

Author – Rep. Virdell.  Multiple co-authors.  In House State Affairs Committee. to regulate placement of BESS installations at 500 yards from neighboring property owners. 

This bill proposed by Representative Wes Virdell and multiple co-authors is in the House State Affairs Committee.  Ask the Committee to approve this proposed legislation which will require dangerous and deadly BESS installations to be placed 500 yards away from neighboring property owners.  We need this protection and we need it now.

 

HB 3356

Filed by Jared Patterson, (has companion bill in senate); passed House State Affairs Committee.  2 joint authors and 18 co-authors.  Passed State Affairs.  4/29/2025 -to calendars committee to schedule vote before full House.  Great bill.  Limits price gouging by renewables.  Rewards dispatchable power providers. Would limit possibility of a repeat of the Artic Storm Uri pricing.

A bill to limit price gouging by solar, wind and battery operators.  We don’t need another Artic Storm Uri.  We can’t afford the expense to Texas consumers.  Please ask the Texas House to pass this bill and pass it on to the Texas Senate for the sake of Texas and Texans. 

**************************************************************************************************************

https://www.msn.com/en-us/public-safety-and-emergencies/fire-and-rescue/scorched-birth-how-fire-brings-life-not-death-to-northeast-texas-prairie/ar-AA1C4egp?ocid=Bi

**************************************************************************************************************

May 2, 2025

Below is a post from SaveVanZandtCounty facebook page

****

David Dunagan
Admin
· April 18 at 4:23 PM ·
The full statement by the Texas Farm Bureau. A big thank you to Brian Cummins for contacting them:
In line with TFB policy, we fully support legislation aimed at regulating and overseeing wind, solar, and battery energy facilities. We have consistently backed such legislation in previous sessions. This session, Sen. Kolkhorst’s SB 819 has progressed the furthest, being passed out of the full Senate and is currently waiting for a hearing in the House.
Additionally, we officially registered TFB’s full support for SB 1825 by Sen. Schwertner and its House companion, HB 3824 by Rep. King, during their committee hearings.
SB 1979 by Sen. Hall and HB 4363 by Rep. Money have yet to receive a committee hearing this session. Nevertheless, we are in full support of these bills and will officially register TFB's position once they are scheduled for a hearing.
TFB has not opposed any bills that would implement regulation and oversight of wind and solar energy.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information.
Thanks!
Charlie Leal
State Legislative Director

 


Facebook

 

*******************************************************************************************************8

April 29, 2025 post

Folks:  A renewable industry paid agent (J.R. Howard) is calling our Franklin County solar opposition team “alarmists.” 

 

Mr. Howard rents out sheep to graze under solar panel placements.  I doubt there is enough grass to really support the sheep, but it may let the foreign solar developers claim agricultural use on their land and lay some claim to tax breaks.

 

Normally a rancher would pay to lease land for livestock.  I think this is a case where the foreign developers are paying to have the sheep brought in.

 

The land is so compacted and damaged from construction of the solar fields that I doubt there can be enough grass to justify regular agriculture use.

 

And:  to heck with all of the great photos of wildflowers attracting birds and bees.  Go look at the installations across Lamar and Hopkins Counties.  Pretty pitiful looking land with a lot of acreage covered by damaged panels after March storms. Those panels leach toxins; and now sheep are eating the grass… No, this won’t do. We can’t afford this industry.

 

But let’s back to Mr. Howard’s comments regarding our work in Texas.  He says we are missing out on millions in tax revenue and there are new schools and other improvements.  I don’t think so.  Hopkins, Lamar, Red River – all gave tax breaks; some jurisdictions gave complete breaks for 10 years. 

 

And in Franklin County, our school system was planning to grant the breaks, but we got hold of the internal memo passed to school board members (see attached).  The memo covers the applications for tax breaks submitted by Samsung  - operating Lupinas 1 and 2 - (South Korea) and Enel - operating Stockyard  (Italy) and so we end up with the school reporting less than $14 Million in actual revenue that we could retain in Franklin County spread out over 18 years. 

 

We didn’t even get $1 Million per year, and we put our entire county at peril.  The school board president voted for the breaks;  three or four jobs (all less than $50,000 annual salary) pledged; no questions for plans to cover 8,000 acres in our tiny county with over 1 million solar panels or to enclose the acreage with over 34 miles of chain link fencing topped with wire installation of over 100,000 lithium batteries…. No.  We don’t know the consequences. 

 

We are not alarmists.  We don’t want a tornado spreading toxic debris over our countryside.  Look at what 65-mile per hour winds have done in Cunningham in March.  We don’t want a lithium battery explosion (look at the recent fires at Moss Landing in California).   We can’t afford the destruction of our land to benefit foreign developers with profits shipped overseas.  Go back to sheep country Mr. Howard and stop harassing the people whose lives and livelihoods are at peril because of your activities. 

 

 

 

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

04/25/2025 post

Here is SB819 which has passed the Texas Senate. Wind and solar and batteries have no regulation in Texas. They do what they please. They send money overseas. They destroy our land and they do not have to clean up their toxic wastes after storms or at end of life. Read the proposed regulation. If the industry can't operate under these rules, we don't want them in Texas in any event. Contact Austin: tell the members of the Texas House: vote yes for SB819. Protect Texas and Texans. 



Please share. https://youtu.be/59NJ_bNvELo

 

https://www.house.texas.gov/SB 819 is now in the Texas House and needs to be passed through the House Committee on State Affairs. Contact the committee members - https://house.texas.gov/committees/committee/450

contact members of the Texas House

https://www.house.texas.gov/

ask for regulation of the unregulated industry.   04/25/2025