Van Zandt County residents push back against renewable energy after environmental, fire concerns

BEN WHEELER, Texas (KLTV) — While Texas leads the country in renewable energy generation, some rural East Texans are pushing back against renewable energy farms due to environmental concerns and a history of fires.

Van Zandt County is where many of these concerns centralize. Last week, the county’s 294th Judicial Court filed a restraining order against a lithium battery storage facility, postponing the project. Now, some residents and county leaders are working to postpone or cancel more projects, but they face legal limitations in doing so.

As a county with less than 250,000 residents, county commissioners are unable to enact their own fire code. Instead, they must use the state’s fire code, which some residents argue makes their community vulnerable to fires.

“If we are given the same voice as the larger counties to enact international fire code, they don’t build these here because the systems can’t be protected,” said David Dunagan, a resident who organizes the group “Save Van Zandt County” that advocates for more regulations against renewable energy farms.

Dunagan argues that because of the fewer regulations of smaller counties compared to larger ones, renewable energy producers are incentivized to build in rural counties, as they have cheaper options for where to build. While he believes that these energy sources can be helpful, Dungan believes more regulations need to be made.

“We’re all for wind and solar and all those things, as long as they’re sited in the right place where they can be maintained properly and the citizenry can be safe,” Dunagan stressed. “The only reason they’re being built out here is for the convenience of the people building them, not the citizens here.”

For the past few years, Dunagan has been tracking down new projects that try to appear across the county, and has been pushing to postpone them. He’s also been keeping track of reported fires or other safety hazards that occur on existing farms.

“They have legitimate concerns,” explained Van Zandt Fire Marshal Kevin Palmer. “They have legitimate reasons as to why they don’t necessarily want it in their county.”

Palmer, who recently began working as the county’s fire marshal in January, said he’s been learning about the history of renewable energy farm fires in Van Zandt County. In 2023, a solar farm in the area caught fire after previous hailstorms damaged some solar panels, causing the grass beneath them to catch fire.

“There were a significant amount of fires, I think that’s fair to say,” said Palmer. “There were a significant amount after that hailstorm.”

In rural counties like Van Zandt County, their resources to fight fires are limited. Most of the county’s fire departments are solely volunteers, and use tanker trucks to carry water to a fire instead of using fire hydrants. Both of those factors combined, fighting a fire takes longer and can be riskier, elevating the damage risk of energy farm fires.

“These volunteer fire departments in Van Zandt County, they do a great job with what they have,” Palmer said. “But there’s only so much that a small department can do.”

Both Palmer and Dunagan are encouraging local residents to reach out to state legislators to push for new state laws and zoning laws regarding renewable energy farms. But above all else, Dunagan hopes that Van Zandt County can get the ability to enact their own fire code soon.

“Until rural Texans are given the same voice completely as the rest of Texas, there’s not going to be a perfect bill out there,” said Dunagan. “That’s all we really need.”

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