Adams County farmer calls solar panel project near his land ‘a bunch of crap’
MELROSE TWP., Ill. — Farmer Kenneth Pettyjohn says none of the decision makers involved in a solar panel project near his farmland ever spoke to him to get his opinion.
But he had plenty to tell Muddy River News just hours before the Adams County Board is scheduled to take a vote on the project along Ghost Hollow Road near 36th Street.
“It’s a bunch of crap,” he told MRN. “It’s good farmland. If they want to put it in, I can’t see anything wrong with the solar. But if they want to put it in, find something that you’re not tearing up good farm ground.”
As MRN reported in July, the Adams County Board denied a special use permit for the 34-megawatt solar farm south of Quincy, but will take up the issue again at tonight’s Adams County Board meeting at 7 p.m. at the Courthouse.
Pivot Energy, which is proposing the project, has met all state requirements. In 2023, Governor JB Pritzker signed P.A. 102-1123 into law, which preempts county authority to enact local ordinances that prohibit wind and solar projects.
“There wasn’t really a reason given by any of the board members to deny,” Pivot Energy’s Brittney Krebsbach told the Board back then. “There’s not a ton of ground to stand on, but I see where you all are coming from. At the end of the day, Pivot Energy is a business, and we are going to protect our assets.”
The board already approved one solar farm just outside of Ursa and has two more that will each be given their own public hearing.
“There ain’t a farmer around here that wants it,” insists Pettyjohn. “They’ll tell you to go jump in the river and never come up. End of story.”
Although he recalls a visit to his property by someone who appeared to be a surveyor, he says nobody from the company or the government ever asked his opinion. Even though his property is right up against one of the proposed solar farm’s borders.
“They just don’t want to hear from the people,” Pettyjohn said. “Even though that (the land) is not mine, I don’t want it because it’s tearing up farm ground. It’s just dumb.”
Muddy River News will be at tonight’s board meeting to provide continuing coverage.