PENELOPE, Texas — Johnny Hanzlicek and his spouse stay on the household farm in Penelope.
“My grandparents have been farmers, my father was a farmer, I’ve many uncles,” he mentioned. 25 Information. “Now they’re all useless, however I grew up with a farmer’s background as you possibly can see.”
Persevering with the household legacy, the Hanzliceks nonetheless develop cotton, corn and wheat.
“Hill County has been a serious farming group for many years and a long time,” he mentioned.
Hanzlicek mentioned he’s now watching the group slowly disappear as extra farms are misplaced to get replaced by acres and acres of photo voltaic panels.
Ash Creek Photo voltaic not too long ago began building about two miles from Hanzlicek’s farm and now they’re seeking to get even nearer.
“It could be a waste to see our treasured farmland go to photo voltaic panels,” he mentioned of the challenge. “The most important challenge is the lead and all the opposite toxins which can be in it, the rainwater that leaches it into our soil and it turns into poisonous over time.”
In response to a paper by the Stuttgart Institute in Germany, “contaminants comparable to lead or carcinogenic cadmium might be nearly fully washed away inside just a few months by rainwater.”
They went on to say that the chemical compounds may “dissolve into the water and soil” round them.
A press release from the corporate behind the Ash Creek challenge, Primergy, argued that the photo voltaic panels “is not going to leach chemical compounds or pollute groundwater.”
The corporate declined an interview, however of their assertion mentioned they’re “dedicated to creating tasks that shield the surroundings and don’t pose further dangers to the surroundings whereas offering low-cost, carbon-free, clear, renewable or vitality.”
With the panels doubtlessly coming inside two-tenths of a mile of his property, Hanzlicek mentioned he is actually apprehensive.
“That may have an effect on my crops if I used to be surrounded by all these panels,” he mentioned.
The lack of farmland may imply the lack of native crops that many depend on.
“If all of those tasks go forward, it may lose as much as 20,000 acres of farmland in Hill County alone,” Hanzlicek mentioned. “In the event that they put in photo voltaic panels, there is no means they will rebuild the terraces over time. They should be rebuilt each three to 4 years.”
Hanzlicek just isn’t alone in his considerations, greater than 200 residents of Penelope have signed a petition to forestall extra photo voltaic panels from coming into.
Whereas the harm could have been completed, farmers say the battle is way from over.
