by Shannon Heckt, Louisiana Illuminator
Although the solar industry has been operating in Louisiana for years, state lawmakers took their first stab at making uniform rules and regulations, only to kill the effort.
Some parishes have had to make their own rules for the installation and construction of household solar panels and larger arrays or “farms.” Local officials have asked the state to create a guidebook to guide their decisions.
However, House Bill 615, by Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Lake Charles, failed to pass the balancing act of granting local regulatory power and giving the solar industry what it says they need to operate. It failed in a 47-52 House floor vote.
Geymann’s testimony in committee and on the House floor focused on projects across the state that did not have a local ordinance in place and have become what he called eyesores.
Driving over the Mississippi River Bridge from Baton Rouge into Port Allen, the remnants of an old solar farm – one of the first built in the state – are still visible. Rep. Jeremy LaCombe, R-Livonia, said in a House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment hearing his constituents who live nearby still have to deal with the unsightly defunct farm.
Other projects in Franklinton, Springfield, and Monroe were scrutinized in the hearing as poorly maintained and supposedly bringing down surrounding property values.
Committee member Rep. Shane Mack, R-Livingston, recalled his time on the Livingston Parish Council, where members struggled to find a solution for a proposed solar farm. Constituents were largely concerned with having to look at the solar panels from their residential properties.
“I wish we could go back in time, and this legislation [would have been] in place. Because if it had been, I think a lot of the complaints I received then and that I still receive today probably could have been avoided,” Mack said.
“We’re not here today because everything is going great in the solar industry, because it’s not,” Geymann said.
His bill would have set requirements for the distance between any solar project and the closest residential property, keeping them a mile apart in its initial version. Industry interests said the standard would be impossible to meet.
Geymann said he plans to bring a different version of his bill next year. He voiced frustrations around industry leaders allegedly not assisting him in giving direct solutions or amendments.
“We have worked on this for an entire year … We have sought input from people all over, and right now we believe we are in a good spot [with the bill],” Geymann said before the floor vote.
Norby Chabert, a lobbyist for the Southern Renewable Energy Association, said group members met with Geymann before the committee hearing on his bill, outlining parts that would make it extremely difficult on solar projects in Louisiana. He said he would work with Geymann to help craft next year’s proposal.
Some lawmakers struggled with the bill because it would have overtaken some local ordinances and replaced them with the new state rules. It did allow for local governments to work with solar project developers to ask the state for permission to soften some state rules, but they could not fully opt out of them.
“I just want to make sure this doesn’t supersede what is already in place and somehow lets these facilities off the hook to drop their financial assurance,” LaCombe said.
Solar projects would have had to get clearance from the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, as they already do for their decommissioning plans.
Geymann had made changes to his bill in response to industry criticisms and modeled it after ordinances in Tangipahoa Parish, which are considered the most restrictive in the state. Still, his measure drew opposition from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Greater New Orleans Inc., the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber.
State Rep. Matthew Willard, D-New Orleans, said that if Geyman’s bill had passed, it would have made Louisiana one of the most restrictive states for solar projects.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected].
