Panoche Solar regional mitigation

In mid-May, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously and vigorously rejected the appeals to the approvals of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for the Panoche Valley Solar Farm proposed for far southeast San Benito County near the Fresno County border. The SEIR was conducted on an improved plan for the, 2,400-acre, $650 million, 247 megawatt photovoltaic solar farm proposal accompanied by an unprecedented, 10:1 mitigation offset including a 24,000-acre habitat and wildlife conservation plan including robust bird and bat conservation plan and is designed to Avian Power Line Interaction Committee (APLIC) standards.

The Board spoke strongly in favor of the project and denied the claims of “San Benito County Residents for Responsible Development ” (South San Francisco), the Sierra Club (Palo Alto/San Francisco), Santa Clara Audubon Society (Cupertino), Audubon California (Sacramento), Center for Biological Diversity (Sacramento/Los Angeles), and Defenders of Wildlife (Sacramento), upholding the San Benito County Planning Commission’s April 25 decision which rejected an appeal of the unanimous approval of Use Permit No. 1023-09-A and certification of the Final Supplemental Impact Report and adopted findings for the Panoche Valley Solar Farm project. Ironically, the same groups challenging the solar project are many of the same groups that inundated our sparsely populated County of just 57,000 residents and campaigned successfully to ban fracking and essentially all fossil fuel development via Measure J in the November 2014 election.

Several members of the community publicly addressed the Board of Supervisors urging the Board to reject the meritless appeals and demanding that the appellants refrain from further attempts to sue the County, stall and delay a clean, renewable energy project that stands to provide much needed jobs and tax revenues to an economically depressed county such as San Benito. Comments reflected the sentiments of project supporters including:

More than 100 community members have signed project endorsement cards, sent letters of support and spoken in favor of the project at meetings, events and hearings.

“San Benito County banned fracking against the wishes of Big Oil. Now it’s leading the way with renewable solar energy development. I supported the fracking ban, and also support the Panoche Valley Solar Project and call on fellow environmental and wildlife stewards to do the same. It’s a good project that benefits both the environment and the San Benito County economy,” said Congressman Sam Farr.

“To the groups who have fought us every step of the way, I urge you to let us, as San Benito County to bring this project to fruition. Our community, the courts, our staff, the developer, these Supervisors and two former supervisors have found a balance to protect endangered species while providing a means for human beings to survive as well. We need the jobs, we need the economic benefits, we need the renewable energy, we need an environment that can survive our changing world. Please help us instead of hindering us,” said Supervisor Margie Barrios.

“This community was recently divided over Measure J which banned fracking and high intensity oil extraction. We needed to look beyond oil. This project gives us the opportunity to vote today, it give me my opportunity to act to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We need to focus on alternatives, produce clean energy, fight global warming and reduce carbon emissions as mandated by state law under AB 32,” added Supervisor Robert Rivas.

“Panoche Valley Solar Facility will help California responsibly and thoughtfully meet three of its major objectives: the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through the expanded use of clean renewable energy, adding to our growing number of independently funded conservation lands while at the same time providing significant investment in the community and tax base for San Benito County,” said Mike Ford, Nevada and Southwest Director of The Conservation Fund. “The overall, permanent, comprehensive conservation benefit of the Project integrates over 24,000 acres, the equivalent of nearly 40 square miles of new, private high value habitat contiguous to state, BLM and various agency conservation lands resulting in nearly 175 square miles of overall protection of precious Central Valley flora, fauna and other species,” Ford concludes.

“This is a solar, renewable energy project that is good for the country, the state and our county,” said San Benito County Business Council Vice President Bob Tiffany, a long-time Hollister resident and business owner. “It is ironic that outsiders from the Bay Area where the economy is booming are coming down here to try to tell our county what is good for us. They tell us to put the project somewhere else but somewhere else won’t impact our economy. We need the jobs, and the revenue, and it is time for this project to move forward at long last. It is time for the outsiders to admit defeat and move on to the next battle.”

The Panoche Valley Solar Farm was originally approved on Oct. 20, 2010 by the San Benito County Planning Commission, a decision that had been mired in appeals and litigation, until the California Sixth District Court of Appeals upheld the Planning Commission’s original approval on June 25, 2013. The Panoche Valley Solar Farm had to return to the County for a supplement to the original Environmental Impact Report for modifications made to the project that included a reduction in size, and additional accommodations for many protected species, notably the San Joaquin Kit Fox. The appellants requested that the Board of Supervisors require additional study and recirculation of the supplemental environmental documents to address concerns that included vernal pool fairy shrimp study, impacts on groundwater, and a recent giant kangaroo rat population decrease. The Board unanimously rejected these demands and approved the project.

For more information see: http://www.panochevalleysolar.com and http://www.sbcbusinesscouncil.com/  and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PanocheValleySolar and https://www.facebook.com/sanbenitocountybusinesscouncil

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