Late last year, Rockingham County supervisors tabled the Special Use Permit application for the Endless Caverns utility-scale solar project and decided to form a committee to study utility scale solar projects and related issues .
Members representing a broad swath of experience were appointed on October 28, 2020. The Alliance is glad to have a seat at the table in Kim Sandum, our Rockingham County Coordinator. Other members of the committee are Brent Trumbo – Citizen Representative/Chair, Supervisor Sallie Wolfe-Garrison – Board Representative, Kevin Flint – Planning Commission Representative, Bob Threewitts – Agricultural Representative, Frank Noland, Jr. from Shenandoah Valley Electric Coop – Engineering Representative, and Todd Rhea – Legal Representative.
The group has met several times over the last several months to wrestle with the issues to consider for citing a good solar project AND balancing the interests of the county’s primary economies of agriculture and tourism. Although the work is not yet complete, the conversations have been detailed and productive. We applaud Rockingham County for taking the time to study this complex and important emerging issue before taking action.
We’ll be sure to let folks know when there is an update on the committee’s work. A recommendation will likely go to the supervisors in March.