Clearfield County residents hold meeting to discuss potential solar farm project

CLEARFIELD COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)– Concerned residents of Girard Township in Clearfield County met at the LeContes Mills Fire Hall to discuss plans for a potential solar project that might be coming to the area.

Many of the residents spoke out saying that they just recently heard about the proposal.

Brian Riley was one of many in attendance who expressed their disdain for the project.

“We really didn’t have a say in it,” Riley said. “We live here and pay taxes and there’s a lot of us folks that are here that just found out about it, and we’re against it.”

Many in attendance found out about the project two weeks ago from social media and flyers, shocked to hear that the project has been going through the planning stages for the past two years. Lisa Leete also lives in the township and started doing research.

“I just wanted to know more information,” Leete said. “I don’t want to say that I’m for or against, but I just didn’t know any information myself. I just started researching what we could do and who knew what.”

Lisa shared what she had learned along with several others who helped to organize the meeting. One thing that she says she did learn is that almost all of the energy from the solar farm would be going to New York.

“A portion of it is federally funded and the other portion is owned by Swift Current Energy,” Leete said. “Then also we learned that it was going to be on private coal mining ground which is in our backyard.”

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Lisa and others are planning on holding other meetings in the future and are working to set up a meeting with Swift Current Energy to get more information about the project. They are also exploring ways to have the township draft an ordinance that could regulate the project.

“2,700 acres is a little less than 4 square miles so that’s a lot of ground to be developing in an area that is very rural,” Leete said.

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