Lamar County residents packed the Mill Creek Community Center in Purvis during a July 31 town hall meeting to voice their opposition to a proposed 1,700-acre solar farm from Lightsource BP, the largest solar developer in Europe and the third-largest in the world outside of China.
The $137 million farm – known as the Minkar Solar Farm – would be located on a piece of property between Old Highway 11 and Old Okahola School Road near Purvis and would feature approximately 25,000 solar panels. However, residents at the meeting said the farm would do far more harm than good.
“This isn’t just about private property rights, and it definitely is not about all the hype being put out about how great this will be for Lamar County – it goes much deeper than that,” said Jennifer West, a leader for a group known as Stop Solar Farms in Mississippi. “This is (President Joe) Biden’s New Green Deal, also known as Agenda 2030, a United Nations Plan to get rid of the fossil fuels, destroy our food supply, eliminate rural living and bring every living person on Earth under total government control.
“The plan, if implemented, would close all rural roads, eliminate private property, force everyone into cities to live in ‘stack-them-and-pack-them’ housing where they will only have access to public transportation. They don’t want us to drive, they don’t want us to own property, and they’ll only be allowed to work where the government tells them to work. This may not be for us, but if we don’t change course, it could be for our grandchildren, and we are the watchmen on the wall right now.”
According to materials provided by Stop Solar Farms in Mississippi, solar farm projects can result in lower property values, minimal or no savings on rates, displacement of wildlife, destruction of habitats and agriculture, and a decrease in peacefulness and aesthetic values. That literature says they also can negatively affect hunting and fishing, as well as leach poisons into the ground and air, including carcinogens and electromagnetic pulses.
Rucker Howell, a Lamar County resident who for almost 40 years has served as president of a bank that has invested in residential mortgage on a nationwide basis, spoke on the alleged negative affect of solar farms on property values.
“During the course of my career … I reviewed thousands and thousands of appraisals on properties all over the country,” he said. “I can tell you, in almost every instance, if the property we were looking at backed up to – or was in view of – a commercial, industrial or utility site, that property was severely diminished in value.
“This thing is going to be backing or facing peoples’ homes, subdivisions … and in my experience, if you can see it, your value is going down. If this goes through, and this solar farm gets built, the floodgates are open. I guarantee you there’s 10, 20 30 companies waiting to see what’s going to happen, and if this goes through, our county is going to be changed forever.”
In January, Andy Taylor, who serves as development manager for Lightsource BP, touted the benefits of the Minkar Solar Farm.
“The goal is that, as we build up our energy infrastructure, that electricity would go down in cost,” he said. “We focus heavily on setbacks and buffers and vegetative screening, so that we can have as minimal of an impact as we possibly can.”
At that time, Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said he also would be in favor of the development, given the success of the existing one near Sumrall.
“The one we have now has been a tremendous benefit to the county,” he said. “It has not required any county resources – the road department, or the court system, or the sheriff’s department – it’s been a valuable asset within the county.
“So once all the due diligence is done, this second project, moving forward, would be a major benefit to the county as well.”
Lighthouse BP is currently conducting studies at the site, and will hold an upcoming public meeting on the matter. Once that process is complete, the proposal will be placed on the agenda for the Lamar County Planning Commission for review, at which point that board will make a recommendation to the Lamar County Board of Supervisors.
