LIVERMORE FALLS, Maine — Although lawmakers in Maine have set an ambitious goal to abandon the use of fossil fuels and rely heavily on clean, renewable energy by the year 2040, state leaders are sponsoring a new law that they said they believe sets boundaries for new solar and wind energy development projects.
LD 1881 is a bipartisan law that passed in both the House and the Senate. The state law requires renewable energy companies to pay compensation fees to the state to build solar and wind energy development projects on 20 acres or more on land that is considered "high value agriculture land."
The Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry is still working to define what is considered "high value agriculture land." The department and lawmakers are also working to finalize other language in the law.
Jim Britt, a spokesperson for DACF, shared a statement explaining that the law was passed to set parameters and balance for large solar and wind projects.
"The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry has drafted rules that will administer its new permitting program for solar energy projects located on highly valuable agricultural soils. Farmland is a finite resource, and once it's dedicated to a solar project, that land is typically removed from food production for decades. This can have significant implications for our ability to grow food locally and sustainably, especially as the demand for both renewable energy and local food increases. It's crucial to find a balance that supports renewable energy goals while preserving our most productive agricultural land for future generations," Britt wrote in a text to NEWS CENTER Maine.
But farmland owners like Evelyn Norton don't see it that way. Norton said there's 110 years' worth of history at Souther Family Farm, which has always been a part of her family.
"My grandmother moved here raised her family here. My dad was born in the farmhouse. My sister and I were born in the farmhouse," Norton said.
If there's one thing Norton knows about farming, it's that farmers need an additional income, one that is guaranteed.
"Because farming is so iffy," she explained. Norton said with the rainy summers Maine has had the last two years, farmers are lucky if they get one good crop, and if there is a profit, she said it's tiny.
She stressed that last year's crop was disastrous, but luckily, she has 20 acres of her 135-acre farm to fall back on.
"I am grateful and thankful," she said. "Every time I look at it, I feel like we took 20 acres to save 135 acres."
Looking out at the rows of solar panels, Norton thinks of the financial security it provides, reminding her why she and her family decided to lease a portion of their farmland to Revision Energy for about one thousand dollars per acre.
Norton said some companies offer farmland owners thousands of dollars acre to lease their land for solar farm developments.
Norton's farm powers Mt. Blue Regional School District, Camden Rockland School District, Spruce Mountain School District, Camden Hills High School, Hope Elementary School, and Farmington Water District.
The move to build a solar farm development on her farmland is a move Norton said she is afraid many farmers won't have the opportunity to make now that the new state law has passed.
State Representative Scott Landy, who sponsored the law, said solar farms seem to be popping up everywhere.
"People hate to see this prime farmland being used for solar farms that are there for at least twenty years," Landry said.
Gov. Janet Mills, who signed the legislation into law, has been very vocal about her support of clean energy projects, but her team shared in a statement that she believes solar and wind project developments should be reasonable in preserving Maines economic cornerstones like farming.
Representative Bill Plueker shared in an email respnse that Maine's land mass is comprised of roughly 13 to 14 percent of agricultural soils which he believes are not being used for farming, many of which are inhabited by trees.
He shared that the burden of this law, does not fall primarily on farmers. Plueker also shared that the law has exclusions for building solar in conjunction with farming, so that if a farm runs livestock with the panels, or grows crops in the same field with panels, there is no penalty on a farmer.
Norton's farmland includes 115 acres that are still actively used for farming. On one side of the street there is a hay farm, and the solar farm sits on the other side of the street. There are also livestock on the land that the solar farm sits on.
Both Plueker and Britt noted that DACF is still working define what is considered as "dual use" that would exclude a project developer from paying compensation fees.
Plueker shared that all fees associated with solar development on "high value agriculture land" that is not being farmed would be paid by the developers, not farmers.
Because there is a requirement for developers to pay a compensation amount on land that is considered high value it would be cheaper for a developer to build a solar or wind farm on non-agriculture land.
For that reason, Plueker admitted that developers would likely opt not to build clean energy projects on land that is deemed as high value.
ReVision Energy's Director of Policy and Government Affairs Lindsay Bourgoine said the bill is restrictive and the compensation amounts suggested are high.
"Unfortunately, the devil is in the details as they say, and I think for this proposal it is really restrictive, and I think it will impact where solar energy can go," Bourgoine said.
Bourgoine explained that she believe the proposed definition of "high value agriculture land" is extremely broad. She further shared that Maine has lost 82,000 acres of farmland since 2017 and that solar projects have not been the primary driver of those losses.
Bourgoine explained that ReVison Energy lets farmland owners drive, following their lead to determine where a solar farm development should be placed.
She said before the law was put in place, ReVision Energy and farmland owners would work together to determine and negotiate compensation amounts. Now with the new law, renewable energy companies will have to make additional payouts that were not present before.
Although those fees are the developer's responsibility, the impact of the high fees will likely trickle down to farmland owners who are looking for ways to supplement their income. Using their land for solar developments might now be an option for them if renewable energy companies opt not to use their land to avoid high compensation penalties.
Farmer like Norton said she believes the law stands in the way of a good thing.
"It's a roadblock," she said.