Please click the green button above to contact the Alameda County Supervisors and staff today. Please add a subject line, such as Reject the Sunwalker Solar Power Plant, and your name and city of residence to the end of your message.
Here is suggested text you can cut and paste into your email message:
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Dear Board of Supervisors and County Officials:
I respectfully request that you reject the Sunwalker solar project for the following reasons:
1) North Livermore Valley has been an agricultural district for over a century and should remain one. Its scenic vistas, natural habitat and open space of the North Livermore Valley belong to all of us and must be preserved for future generations.
2) The Sunwalker project violates Measure D. Under voter-approved Measure D, the land of North Livermore Valley is restricted to agricultural uses. The County should follow the will of the voters and stop trying to circumvent Measure D by authorizing an industrial use, the large scale commercial generation of electricity, in North Livermore Valley.
3) The Sunwalker solar project will generate only a tiny amount of solar power (6 MW), yet destroy 60 acres of agricultural land and open space. This is a terrible environmental tradeoff. The agricultural land and open space of North Livermore Valley provides a habitat for multiple threatened and endangered species, playing a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of the East Bay.
4) Other, environmentally superior, ways exist to generate greater renewable energy. Alameda County can generate much greater renewable energy than the Sunwalker project while preserving its agricultural land by promoting the installation of solar panels on rooftops of home and businesses, over parking lots and next to freeways.
5) The Sunwalker plant will add to the significant environmental damage that the Aramis plant will inflict. Although smaller than the Aramis industrial power plant approved in March 2021, the Sunwalker plant will be immediately adjacent to the Aramis plant on North Livermore Avenue. If both the Aramis and Sunwalker projects are constructed, the northern portion of North Livermore Valley will be covered with hundreds of thousands of solar panels. The protected scenic corridor of North Livermore Avenue will exist only in our photos and memories.
6) If the Sunwalker project is approved, the floodgates to industrial development in North Livermore Valley and the East County will be fully opened. The precedent for the industrialization of East Alameda County will be firmly established. Nothing will constrain the eventual conversion of the rural areas and open space in East County into industrial solar plants.
7) Before approving any new industrial solar plants, Alameda County should adopt a comprehensive plan, based on public input, that ensures any new solar facilities will be located in areas that pose the least conflict with our open space, agricultural land, wildlife habitat and scenic resources. Other counties, including Santa Clara and Contra Cost Counties, have adopted comprehensive solar policies. Alameda County should do the same.
In conclusion, North Livermore Valley is designated as an agricultural district and should remain one. The Sunwalker project should be rejected.