"How Do We Get Rid Of This Stupid Thing?"

Although some in the crowd stayed silent, the majority of the near-capacity crowd were at least skeptical and at times hostile during the Public Scoping meeting for the Fairview 1 Solar project held Thursday, July 11 at the Senior Citizen Center, Fairview.

The Fairview 1 is a 74.5 MW solar project complimented by a 25MW 4-Hour battery storage initiative. It is strategically situated for interconnection at the MDU/WAPA Fairview West 115kV substation, offering the flexibility for regional Transmission Organization interconnections. The point of interconnection is just across MT Highway 201 from the site. The project will re-purpose approximately 700 acres of grazing land within a total of 1100 acres and is anticipated to generate approximately 350,000 Mwh annually over its estimated 35-year lifespan.

Stellar Renewable Power has full site control as an option to lease agreement with one landowner in Richland County.

If there is available transmission capacity on the federal transmission system, WAPA provides open transmission access to transmission services so that energy producers can transmit power to their customers. Brian Pauly, Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) explained the process the project must go through to get approval since WAPA is a federal agency. The Scoping meeting was just the first step to be completed in the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process. The purpose is to gather written comments from the public, government agencies such as Fish & Wildlife, tribal governments and others to identify issues and alternatives that will help WAPA define the scope of the Environmental Assessment (EA). He explained that WAPA will be working with other state and federal entities during the scoping process and have boots on the ground evaluating the site, environmental resources, etc. Pauly stressed that local input concerning wildlife and cultural impacts is super helpful and encouraged everyone to submit their written comments before the Aug. 10 deadline.

The EA will be prepared to evaluate the environmental effects of the project. If WAPA finds there are no significant environmental or cultural impacts, they will prepare a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and issue a decision. If significant impacts are identified, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) would be initiated. An EIS provides a more thorough evaluation of impacts and alternatives, as well as a more formal public involvement process.

Liam Gildea, senior manager with Stellar, outlined the scope of the project and provided information about the company which was formed in 2021 as an offshoot of KKR Global Atlantic. He stressed that they had strong funding as well as experience with utility scale solar projects.

After the initial presentation, the plan was to break into groups to discuss the project. However, the crowd insisted on an open discussion. Six families live in the middle of the horseshoe shaped project. The health of people and animals was a top priority. Concerns also included whether property values would decrease, and property taxes increase. Gildea responded that Stellar wants to be a good community partner, providing setbacks from property boundaries and vegetation screening and talking to landowners.

The potential risk of fire was discussed, including access to Highway 201 for those landowners next to the project and the risk to the town of Fairview since the project is only a couple of miles away. It is windy in northeastern Montana and the risk of solar panels being blown away by high winds and ending up going through someone's windows was brought up. Stellar responded by saying a weather station has been installed on the property which will give them wind speeds and allow them to build accordingly. Oliver Chua, Stellar director of construction, informed the crowd that the pile foundations for the panels will be designed specifically for the site. He added that the foundations run deep saying that if you see 5 feet above ground, that means there's 10 feet of support below ground.

Other concerns included the potential impact on electronics to which Stellar responded that they have not seen any, and whether there would be any impact on the airport. Stellar said they would follow FAA regulations including conducting a glint/glare study.

Questions were asked about whether the solar panels attract tornadoes and hail, and possible snow build-up. Cleanup after the project was decommissioned was also discussed. Stellar responded that the project is not permanent, with a life span of 20-35 years. They said there is no lead or cadmium in the panels, that the steel would be removed and recycled and the entire site would be reclaimed back to its original state. The company will be bonded with the landowner and lenders for the value of decommissioning which would be millions of dollars.

There are four major reasons that the location of the solar project makes sense: a willing land owner; 260 days of sunshine per year; close access to the transmission gathering site and capacity in the transmission grid. Stellar also referred to the need for more power in the area, especially with the crypto currency facilities being built in North Dakota.

Many questions were left unanswered partly because testing is yet to come for some issues. In the end, the crowd was definitely not satisfied and requested another meeting after the EA is completed. Pauly explained that the results of the EA would be posted on the WAPA website and that anyone requesting a hard copy could receive that by providing their address on the comment form. Comments can also be anonymous. The draft of the EA should be available in March according to Pauly.

Comments may be mailed to UCP NEPA Coordinator, Western Area Power Administration, 2900 4th Ave. N, Box 35800, Billings, MT 59101-1266 or emailed to [email protected] with Fairview/Solar Comment in the subject line. Deadline to comment is August 10th. Comment forms are available on line at wapa.gov.

Richland County Public Works Director Josh Johnson also offered to be a clearing house for the comments and keep a binder to present to the county commissioners. Comments can be dropped off at his office, or emailed to joshua.johnson@richland,org. County Planner Rachel Laqua also offered to receive copies of the comments at [email protected].