Solar company responds to latest filings

HASKINS — The Goldfinch Solar Company, through an attorney, issued a response to Office of Consumer Advocate and labor group filings that set the stage for a massive solar facility’s potential approval in eastern Washington County.

In a document filed with the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) Tuesday, Goldfinch Solar Attorney Samantha Norris said the company agreed with OCA findings that a public hearing was unnecessary, and did not object to a petition from the Great Plains Laborers’ District Council asking for a seat at the regulatory table.

“The evidence in the record demonstrates that Goldfinch Solar’s application has satisfied the criteria for issuance of a generating certificate under Iowa Code,” Norris wrote in the response document. “Goldfinch Solar mailed a copy of its waiver request to all owners of record of real property within the project footprint or within 1,000 feet of the project boundary; an affidavit confirming the mailings will be filed shortly.”

It’s not clear exactly how the labor group would be involved without a public hearing process. In an interview earlier this month, Iowa LECET Director Richie Schmidt — an affiliate of the Laborer’s International Union — said it had other ways to participate, but did not clarify how.

There still is some local resistance to the company’s efforts at skipping public hearing procedures.

A letter to the IUB from project-adjacent property owners Mike and Pat Klopfenenstein was posted online the same day as Goldfinch’s latest filing. It repeated the concerns of other local comment makers, estimating that the 30-year project would prevent production of about 19.2 million bushels of corn in its life span.

It also said the nearby farmland owners had many unanswered questions.

“How can we be assured there will be no access/use of our land or that we do not have restricted access to our land because of the project?” the letter asked, among other things like, “What recourse do we have if the land we own decreases in land value and marketability? What recourse do we have if existing potential tenants of our land do not want to lease our land or want to lease it at a reduced rate because of the project?”

While the project itself is planned entirely on 3,200 acres of leased farmland, developers have signed onto several “good neighbor agreements” with nearby property owners, according to previous docket filings. Those arrangements provide “certain economic benefits to accrue from the operation of the project,” if they’re close enough to the planned solar arrays, according to the company’s application for a generating certificate.

It was not clear whether the Klopfenensteins were party to such an agreement, although they said they told a spokesperson in May of 2022 they were “not interested in being a part of the project” and, “had not been contacted” since, until receiving a copy of the application and waiver request in late August of this year.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com