Harrisburg residents continue to speak out against planned solar farm
The Muddy Creek Energy Park has raised concerns for residents in Linn County since its public inception in 2023.
LINN COUNTY, Ore. — Tuesday evening saw a town hall meeting at Harrisburg High School to discuss the proposed Muddy Creek Energy Park. The proposal would build a large solar panel farm on some existing wetlands, but neighbors are strongly against it.
David Roger is one of the main members of the Friends of Gap Road, which works to spread awareness about the planned solar panel farm in their area. Roger claimed that in essence, the solar farm would completely destroy the established wetland areas which takes up around 1,600 acres of land.
“It’s a 1,588-acre project, a huge project, and they hired a group called Tetra Tech, an engineering group, to do the wetland study which was required on their application, and I should say they have still not filed their application,” Roger said. “Our aim is to not have them industrialize farmland and ruin a wetland.”
The proposed solar farm would be built on existing wetlands that have been used by the numerous animal species found there.
Hanwa QCELL is the South Korean company that initially requested permits to use the land. Seeing other solar farms across the country, immediate concerns were raised by locals regarding the animals and habitat of the wetlands. Monty Jelden has lived on his property for over 60 years and can see the wetlands from his home. Jelden said he wonders why this location was chosen for the site when there are far better options out there.
“We’re not against solar power, we want to make that clear, but this is just the wrong area and you take like today… it’s overcast and there’s better places,” Jelden said. “We have a lot of wildlife, elk and deer that use up the property down there. Those solar panels are going to do is disrupt that habitat.”
There are some major deadlines coming up for the proposal, deadlines the people of Gap Road are hoping aren’t met in order to save their wetlands. Roger said QCELL had already done multiple studies to the land but had not yet submitted them to proceed with heir permits.
“I believe it’s May 18 if I’m not mistaken, if their time runs out they do have the option of filing an extension of a year,” Roger said. “Just to even file their application, their time is running out to even file.”
Neighbors added that should the project get approved, the landscape would forever be changed even if the farm were to close down.
Should it be approved, Roger said it’s important for locals to join together to express their thoughts on the project.
“The power of the people involved is really important,” Roger said. “It’s going to be really important for the Friends of Gap Road to give written comments to the citing council.”
Noah Chavez joined the KEZI 9 News team in January 2023 as a news reporter. If you have any story ideas for Noah, you can email him at noahchavez@kezi.com.