I was surprised to see a guest column in the Gazette with anemic science.
We are in a climate crisis. We are dependent on oil — most of us continue to heat our homes and drive cars with fossil fuels. The well-intentioned people who are delaying solar farms are either furthering our reliance on the Middle East and Russia, or increasing the need for domestic pipelines and fracking.
In medicine we often have to choose the method of least harm and solar is one of those crucial methods. None of us are going to stop using energy sources so we simply must pick one with the safest footprint.
Here are some facts:
■Shutesbury is 92% forested. One-third of its land area is conserved for the Quabbin and another one-third has been conserved by Cowls. Solar does not threaten the conservation value of the town.
■Cowls has won innumerable awards for sustainable forestry, wildlife habitat enhancement and climate efforts. They employ forest ecology experts and are making careful and rational decisions about land use.
■Cowls is not threatening watersheds; it is actually the state’s biggest and most awarded conservationist. Cowls has conserved over 5,500 acres around the proposed solar sites and I hear they’re working on 1,000 more in Amherst’s watershed.
■Towns hosting solar net many tens of thousands of dollars per array per year with no cost to schools, emergency services, DPW or senior services. Besides saving the planet, hosting solar means schools, libraries, and other community priorities are more viable.
■It is simply not possible to put all necessary solar on rooftops and parking lots. Even if these structures could physically hold them up and the strength and surface area existed, roofs don’t last the 50-year lifespan of the solar lease and we don’t want a mall parking lot around that long.
■The electrical substation with capacity is in Shutesbury. It costs millions a mile to connect solar arrays to substations. The solar arrays have to be nearby the substation in Shutesbury — they can’t go to mall roofs in Hadley.
■Three-phase power is required to connect solar farms to substations. There is no three-phase power on highway median strips.
We are a community of activists, but I think the anti-solar local movement, while well-intentioned, simply delays realistic, practical and safe methods of obtaining energy and drives us to continued use of fossil fuels which are far more harmful environmentally and internationally.
I urge Amherst’s Town Council and Shutesbury’s Select Board and Planning Boards to listen to scientists and experts.
I have confidence that our reasonable zoning bylaws and conservation commission requirements will vet existing projects sufficiently to eliminate those in inappropriate places.
I trust that you will make a well-considered decision. Delaying solar simply prolongs the harm being inflicted on our planet. We need to assure local climate resilience. Vote no on the moratorium and encourage all the solar we can for our community and our planet.
Dr. Kate Atkinson lives in Amherst and operates Atkinson Family Practice.