To the Editor:

I grabbed my mittens when I went out in early spring 2021, to collect signatures for a Citizens Petition to change the town's old solar by-law written in 2014. That by-law, with no restrictions, has made Wareham a target for industrial solar subsidized with our tax money by the state. Now, on Saturday, June 12, at 11 a.m. at the Decas School, we can finally change that by-law by voting Yes on Article 17. 

Wareham has already seen large swaths of living earth clear-cut and strip-mined for industrial solar, each project killing thousands of trees that both filter carbon pollution and store it in their roots. Thousands of animals are killed or displaced.

These lands that border our homes have been our walking and restorative spaces; our childhood wilderness playgrounds. Our water and air filtration are damaged. The air temperature is raised. Solar tracts do not cool our surroundings. They do not attract visitors. To compare, Marion has 3 solar developed acres, Bourne 7.

Sadly, from that signature collecting day to now, the following projects have been allowed to submit plans locking them into projects unaffected by the new by-law. Your yes vote will STOP the next projects that will CONTINUE to be approved if Article 17 fails.  

• 70 ACRES: Rocky Maple Co. Off North Carver Rd.
• 60 ACRES: LSE Tucana 1-13 North Carver Rd.
• 60 ACRES: Entero Energy LLC 370 County Road
• 435 ACRES: AD Makepeace 0 Maple Springs
• 169 ACRES: AD Makepeace 27 Charge Pond Rd.
• 296 ACRES: AD Makepeace 150 Tihonet Rd.
• 217 ACRES: AD Makepeace 140 Tihonet Rd.
• 46 ACRES: LSE Hydra LLC 36, 44, 48N. Carver Rd.
• 44 ACRES: Wareham MA3 LLC 91, 101 Fearing Hill Rd.
• 44 ACRES: David Fletcher 0 Rte. 25
• 22 ACRES: Canning Realty LLC 31 Charlotte Furnace Rd.

TOTAL: 1470 more acres of Industrial Solar in Wareham.

Annie Hayes