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A group of Livermore residents plans to appeal the county’s approval of a second proposed solar plant in recent weeks by taking the matter to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.
“As we appealed the decision on the massive Aramis industrial solar power plant, we will appeal the decision of the Board of Zoning Adjustments on the Sunwalker solar project to the Board of Supervisors,” said the group called Save North Livermore Valley in a statement on Friday.
The Livermore Community Solar Energy Facility, as the project is called, was approved 2-0 by the East County Board of Zoning Adjustment at the Dec. 10 online meeting.
Board Commissioners Derek Eddy and Frank Imhof voted for the facility while Commissioner Scott Beyer was absent.
Save North Livermore Valley opposes construction of the planned 59-acre, six-megawatt solar electric facility at 4871 N. Livermore Ave, as well as the much larger planned Aramis solar plant roughly two miles north of the Livermore city limits.
“In none of the applicant conceptual images is the public provided an actual depiction of how large and how much agricultural land and open space” will be occupied by the project, Save North Livermore Valley told the Weekly.
In a statement, the group called it “disappointing” that the board met again “without present the member who previously questioned the propriety of constructing industrial solar facilities in North Livermore Valley.”
They said it was “most disappointing,” however, that Eddy and Imhof voted for the project after hearing from more than 20 residents and local environmentalists at the hearing — all opposed — and nobody besides the applicant, Sunwalker Energy, spoke in favor.
“The commissioners who voted in favor of the project should have explained why in their independent judgment the project complies with the law and serves the public interest. The public was owed this duty,” the group said.
Determined to preserve local agricultural land and open space, Save North Livermore Valley added, “We will not allow in a matter of mere weeks the destruction of land that has for centuries been used for farming and ranching and today is restricted under Measure D and other laws for agricultural uses only.”
Sunwalker Energy did not reply to request for comment from the Weekly, as of Monday afternoon.
This is Green Billionaires Big $$$ “Pay -to- Play”. Solar Panel farms are NOT “green”!
Watch “Planet of the Humans”. Livermore must fight this. We all must.
Is Thorium Our Energy Future? Once More The Voters Are Ignored
https://youtu.be/XMuxjHLLk0E
Los Alamos National Lab is building a demonstration small modular reactor (SMR) on site. They are focused on modularity in reactor design. I suspect the focus will change as designs are tested for lifecycle costs. In any event the public is learning important concepts: (1) modularity means offsite reactor construction meaning quality control and scaling potential. (2) unexpected realization that we can do on 20 acres (including safety zone) what solar + battery backup does on 40,000 acres. And SMR’s are reliable 24/7/365 with “passive walkaway safety,” another new term we’re quickly learning.
Locally in Livermore, people are unset with PG&E gas and electric company in Northern California for a host of reasons. The most resent squabble with PG&E is they have focused all their behind-the-scenes political mussel to cause Alameda County Board of Supervisors to start allowing a solar farm + Battery Vault consuming our local Ag Open Space that has been carefully protected over the past 50 years by mutual agreement voted on by everyone.
In urban areas and their surrounding suburbs, open space is not considered the spot to place intensive 100% ground cover of service lanes and intensive equipment. The general idea is, that sort of intensive use belongs inside the city not using up our precious Ag open-space next to our cities. So we are now mad and looking at alternatives. Los Alamos’s SMR has started coming into focus as we understand the corruptive power-meme the solar industry + battery Back-up plants push (lobby in secret) on county supervisors. Once more the voters are betrayed. The solar industry and battery back-up vault people obviously plan to cover all our valley floor Ag Open Space and who’s going to stop them?
When it’s realized how we can do on 20 acres what solar + battery does on 40,000 acres, the 20 acre solutions start getting our attention. SMR’s window of opportunity is here.