Congressman Andy Harris (MD-01) applauds U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for ending the use of taxpayer dollars to fund solar projects on farmable land and for banning solar panels made by foreign adversaries in USDA-funded projects.
Announced yesterday, the new policy addresses the growing strain on farmland across the country. According to USDA, solar panels on farmland nationwide have increased by nearly 50% since 2012. Maryland state mandates pressured counties into accepting large-scale solar projects on productive farmland, resulting in reduced land available for agriculture and driving up costs for the next generation of farmers.
Many rural leaders have strongly opposed recent Maryland legislation, which stripped counties of their authority to regulate large-scale solar projects, forcing local farmers to upend their livelihoods for costly and inefficient solar energy farmland. This is yet another example by the Democrat controlled Maryland legislature of another bad decision in a series of deeply flawed energy policy choices.
Maryland farmers and local leaders alike have warned that implementing solar panels on the farmland will render it unusable for future agricultural endeavors due to the lack of decommissioning standards. Of the current solar “farms,” they also cite their concerns about the environmental and public safety risks from foreign-manufactured panels and battery systems.