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July 8, 2022

As Maine farmers lose prime land to solar development, dual-use farming has emerged as a way to keep the land in production while using it to generate energy. But developers say it's so expensive it's unlikely to become the norm anytime soon. Photo courtesy of Michael Dennett.

DEP looks to streamline permitting process for certain solar developments

By Kate Cough

In the past few years I've run out of satisfactory descriptors for solar development in Maine. It's booming. It's soaring. It's an explosion. A gold rush (my least favorite). Whatever you want to call it, the pace of development has shot steadily upward in the past five years. And it's starting to have some unintended consequences, like farmers competing with developers for land, and large blocks of wildlife habitat - important for birds, bats, deer and lots of other critters - from being broken up.

That's why staff at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have begun crafting rules aimed at guiding solar projects away from certain places by rewarding developers who do so with a more streamlined permitting process, saving companies time and money.

"I can’t think of another type of development where all of a sudden you've seen such an increase," Nick Livesay, director of the Bureau of Land Resources at the DEP, told the Board of Environmental Protection during a meeting on Thursday.

"We have hundreds of solar projects. We have not had hundreds of shopping malls, or hundreds of industrial facilities," Livesay continued. "It's been overwhelming for staff trying to process all of these permits."

Solar arrays tend to be low-impact after construction, with few changes to traffic, noise or stormwater runoff. But they are unique in their large footprint and location patterns. Unlike shopping malls or industrial sites, which tend to be clustered near high density areas already impacted by humans, solar arrays can be located in rural areas that have previously seen little development, places that might be providing valuable living space for flora and fauna.

Those biodiverse ecosystems are also important for fighting climate change, said Naomi Kirk-Lawlor, a senior planner with the DEP. Swamps and wetlands, mucky though they may be, absorb carbon dioxide and provide a buffer against flooding and drought, mitigating some of the effects of climate change. But so far, said Livesay, the state hasn't done a great job assessing the potential impact of so many solar arrays on large undeveloped habitat blocks.

"There’s a need to incentivize the siting of solar development away from those most valuable habitat blocks," Kirk-Lawlor told the Board on Thursday.

Under the current rules, many developers are configuring projects in "non-optimal ways," said Kirk-Lawlor, in order to stay below the threshold that triggers a Site Location of Development permit, a time-consuming and rigorous process. Those workarounds are "not a good outcome for meeting Maine’s renewable energy goals and getting the most efficient power generation from each solar development project," she said.

A slide from Thursday's presentation. If you're curious and want to watch, the passcode is: 1Uy%EKLY.

The new rules, which are still being crafted, would allow solar developments between 20 and 50 acres that meet certain criteria to eligible for permit-by-rule, a much faster regulatory process reserved for projects that have “no significant impact on the environment” as determined by DEP, Kirk-Lawlor said Thursday.

Only projects located in certain areas would be eligible, said Kirk-Lawlor. To that end, DEP staff, with help from the Nature Conservancy, are drawing up a map of core habitat blocks (large undeveloped areas ranging in size from 250 to 500 acres) and connector areas between them, which Kirk-Lawlor described as "kind of like stepping stones" for animals to get from block to block.

For a developer to take advantage of the faster permitting process, no more than 25% of the project could be in core or connector habitat blocks, and none of it could encroach on "key bridge areas," where animals are most likely to traverse. Solar projects would also still need review by other state agencies to ensure there's no significant impact on threatened or endangered species or unusual natural areas. They would also have to meet a higher bar for erosion and sedimentation control.

The DEP does not have jurisdiction over agricultural land, said Livesay, but other state agencies are in the midst of figuring out how to optimally site solar while preserving Maine's limited viable farmland.

These rules, if they're eventually adopted, wouldn't supercede or have any legal impact on municipalities, said Livesay, nor are they likely to impact how much solar development there is in the state. Staff expect to have a draft to the Board by September.

"I don’t think anything contemplated in this rule is going to attract more or less solar development in Maine," said Livesay, but it might influence where it goes.

In many cases, projects are already organically locating in optimal areas, said Kirk-Lawlor. The goal, she added, is to "streamline permit approval for some projects while assuring that there’s no significant impact on the environment and incentivising the siting of solar development in the right places to protect valuable habitat blocks from fragmentation." All that "can still be done while meeting the state’s renewable energy goals."

In other Maine news:

PFAS:

Three years after state lawmakers passed a ban on certain toxic chemicals in packaging that touches food, the ban has not been put into place, as the state agency in charge of implementing the law has sought more information about how to do it safely and without disrupting the market.

More PFAS:

It could be awhile before farmers whose livelihoods were devastated by forever chemicals receive state funding approved this spring.

Lobsters and whales:

Conservation groups are challenging a seafood watchdog's recertification of the Gulf of Maine lobster fishery as a sustainable resource over danger to right whales.

Electricity:

Maine electricity regulators approve 'non-wire' alternatives for CMP's big transmission upgrades, paving the way for grid-scale battery storage and other efficiency measures in the Brunswick-Topsham area.

Birds:

State agencies are warning bird owners after avian flu was detected in a flock last week.

Seals:

Avian flu appears to be linked to a higher number of stranded and dead seals in Maine in recent weeks. 

Salmon farms:

A Mainer will take the helm of Nordic Aquafarms after longtime company leaders announced they were leaving the Norwegian-owned enterprise.

Floods in Acadia:

Scientists at Acadia and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) want to determine which areas in the park are most vulnerable to erosion and flood damage from heavy rains. 

French fries:

McCain Foods, the world’s largest french fries processor, hopes to make one of America’s favorite guilty pleasures a little more virtuous with a new company-wide push for sustainable production practices.  

Dams:

Camden debates whether to remove its 200-year-old harbor-front dam.

Water:

A new treatment system designed to improve water quality for Eastport and the Passamaquoddy at Pleasant Point is scheduled to arrive this week for a long-awaited upgrade.

Blueberries:

A new research site at the University of Maine will be devoted to the study of wild blueberries.

Emerald ash borers:

Maine further restricts the movement of certain forest products as the invasive emerald ash borer pops up in new areas of the state.

Conserved land:

Conservation interests are scrambling to preserve the Portland region's last big undeveloped spaces before they're gobbled up for housing.

Trails:

The Blue Hill Peninsula is joining a nationwide push to make scenic nature strolls available to people of all abilities. 

Cows:

Maine’s largest dairy farm will soon have Maine’s first natural gas digester fueled solely by cow manure.

Lawn mowers:

Two teenagers are cutting ahead of the competition with their zero-emission solar electric lawn care business.

ICYMI From The Monitor:

Maine’s transition to clean energy hinges on a wholesale transformation of the electrical grid. Last week, columnist Marina Schauffler explored how several laws passed in recent years may improve grid planning, but legislating institutional change in the utility field could prove challenging.

And I wrote about new rules for the New England groundfish industry aimed at helping researchers better understand what's going on under the sea.

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Kate Cough covers energy and the environment for The Maine Monitor. She's a graduate of Columbia University and an 8th generation Mainer born in Portland who's now decamped Downeast. You can reach her at [email protected] or @kaitlincough.

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