To the editor:
In my 30 years as a Great Bend resident, I have volunteered many hours to community improvement and involvement, and I treasure Barton County and our surrounding communities. In the past, I have been involved in educational programs for our native creatures and have been on countless raptor rescues with my dad. Upon rescuing raptor chicks, it was my duty to help with feeding, caring, and rehabilitation. Being a champion for wildlife is in my blood, and I am convinced the solar farm complex we are considering bringing to our towns will be detrimental to Cheyenne Bottoms and our surrounding communities.
Cheyenne Bottoms is a delicate ecosystem that we need to protect from big companies searching for land grabs. It is known as the Central Flyway, where millions of birds travel throughout their migration. It is the largest inland marsh and wetland in the United States, and a crucial stopping point for many species. Birds such as the endangered Whooping Crane use Cheyenne Bottoms during their migration, along with several species of other birds of prey. Birds such as pelicans, herons, cranes, and all types of shore birds call the Bottoms home. In the winter you are likely to spot Bald Eagles, and Snowy Owls have been photographed on several occasions.
It’s not just birds that make Cheyenne Bottoms home. The newly endangered Monarch Butterfly uses their host plant, milkweed, found scattered in the grasslands across the Bottoms area. It is rich with invertebrate life, teaming with several different species of mice, minks, lemmings, and muskrats, not to mention rabbits and hares, it’s no wonder Birds of Prey, native reptiles and our declining amphibian population rely on Cheyenne Bottoms to stay intact and protected.
Based out of Spain, the Acciona company does not have what’s best for our communities in mind and it would be foolish to trust them. Since 2018, the Acciona company has been quietly buying up land making our friends and neighbors sign nondisclosure agreements, and keeping leases secret. To make matters even worse, the Acciona Company didn’t even know what Cheyenne Bottoms was! How can we expect them to have any of our best interests in mind when they don’t even know the area in which they are building?
Alarmingly, one of the chemicals used inside the solar panel, Silicone Tetrachloride, is dangerously reactive with water. When the water reacts with the chemical it releases HYDROCHLORIC ACID! Another disturbing fact is that solar panel farms are easily susceptible to catching fire. Our native grassland dries out severely in the dead of summer and early autumn seasons. With as little as 10 miles between our homes, livelihoods, and Cheyenne Bottoms, we would be in grave danger if this complex caught fire and the wind was right to spread the flames. Did you know that solar farms are susceptible to wind damage? How about hail damage? And once these panels are broken they leak hazardous chemicals into the land and groundwater. This is not clean energy. These companies have no means to recycle the panels due to outrageous recycling costs. Will we allow the Acciona Company to dump these unsafe panels in our landfill to leak out and poison our towns and loved ones?
Acciona is a million-dollar company. They chose a dot on a map, with little care or consideration for the surrounding area. This isn’t in a faraway land where we have no control. This is in our hometowns. We must protect our communities and Cheyenne Bottoms so that we can continue living in harmony with the Central Flyway for many years to come.
Tiffany Lawson
Great Bend
