Fearing Hill solar farm protested at Planning Board meeting

A group of concerned residents protested the Fearing Hill solar farm during the Planning Board meeting on Monday, Sept. 14.

The protesters gathered at the Multi Service Center before the Planning Board held an information session about the status of the project. 

Planning Board member Sam Corbitt said the meeting was “standing room only,” as all the seats were taken up by the large number of activists. He said that all the protests were peaceful and not disruptive, with people holding signs in the parking lot before the meeting and maintaining order during the meeting.

Many of the people who showed up only learned about the project recently, even though this project has been debated for eight years, Corbitt said. He said that nothing can change about the plan, though.

The project will still move ahead. The developers, Wareham MA 3, LLC., sued the town earlier this year over the project, and the court ruled in favor of the developers. Corbitt said the town was able to get a long list of concessions, which include fewer solar panels and reforestation efforts by the developers.

The protesters who spoke at the meeting knew that the Planning Board understood that the board members did what they could to stop the project, Corbitt said. But he said the state government has pushed for more solar energy infrastructure. “We’re hemmed in by laws from Boston,” he said.

Fearing Hill residents have pushed back against this project for years. They have cited concerns about the potential for chemical runoff coming off the solar panels and the large amount of trees that would be cut down during construction. “People are upset with all the land that’s being cleared,” Corbitt said.

The project site is near the town’s lone aquifer. Corbitt himself worried that the battery energy storage facility, which was originally proposed with the project, could contaminate the water if it caught fire or was damaged. That part of the plan has since been removed.