To All Residents of Lamar County

Dear Fellow Residents of Lamar County,

We cannot help but to feel that you have somehow been mislead. Because if you were fully aware of the threat that is awaiting our community, then you would be up in arms over the theft of your property value and the risks to health that your families might endure. The approaching arrival of a power plant threatens the future of all of us. You have been supplied with no research to support the outrageous claims made by those who will profit off your loss. Is someone else’s word worth risking your homes for? Is not reviewing the research that has been performed for you not worth the time involved if it meant saving your homes and way of life?

After continually appealing the County Board of Commissioners and the owner of the property to stop the installation of a toxic facility that will ruin the value of our land and place all of our lives at risk. Both parties seem intent to jeopardize all that we have worked for regardless of the solid foundation of research backing our prediction for a disastrous outcome resulting in a certain environmental disaster.

To quote the writings of Renate Zapf-Worwick:

Leaching of hazardous substances from photo-voltaic modules is real. In particular, our investigations raise serious questions about the leaching of normal, neutral rain water or in landfills… Photo-voltaic modules have a high risk potential by releasing hazardous substances to the environment if they are not properly (legally or illegally) disposed of in domestic waste landfills, in building rubble dumps, or on wild waste dumps as might be the case in developing countries. Toxic materials, such as cadmium and lead will be leached out completely. It is only a question of time!

After four months of appealing and researching, we have never been presented with a shred of documentation that states otherwise. Instead, what we have uncovered is the exact opposite. As far back as 2011, the US Dept of Energy has held workshops discussing the unreliability of solar modules and the health risks they pose to citizens. After an extremely small amount of research, we discovered the financial figures presented to the county were nothing more than a complete and utter farce. It became a matter of fact that the same set of numbers were presented to every county Beltline Energy has mislead into allowing one of their toxic creations to occupy. Not a single claim made by Beltline Energy has ever been backed by references, and any reference lending a sign of factualness to their claims has never been discovered. Since the risks facing our community are so great, don’t you think a little research would be the least that should be performed before partaking of such a damaging action? If the technology was so utterly fantastic and free from risk, then why have the invested parties not installed it on their own homes privately first, instead of risking the property value of the entire neighbourhood first? If what they were doing was so beneficial, then why has the US court system continually ruled that they are, in fact, not? If what they were doing was free from all risk and completely free of all negative impacts, then why have they remained silent during all these appeals to stop? It is this resounding silence during periods of accusation that deliver the affirmation that there are great risks involved. That our property value will be diminished by their actions, and there will be a lasting negative impact placed on our community that they intend on exploiting for profit. If you plan on risking your homes over such a facility, don’t you think a little research should be performed first? There will be no community benefit from the construction of a heavy industrial facility in our area, and truthfully there were none promised. According to their website even Southern Rivers Energy charges an extra four dollars for its use, so it will only increase the cost of utilities for which you already pay. Considering that regardless of the baseless and false claims of the facility being clean, the mere fact that it is an industrial complex, will devalue all of our properties. So what we implore you to do is perform the research for yourselves before risking your financial futures over simple hearsay, and if you find anything that disprove our claims, share it with us. This way regardless of what is discovered, let the truth be known to all, and not kept as a secret between privileged parties. If by chance, like us, you find that what has been promised to the county is not the truth, and you feel motivated enough to protect the valuation of your homes, we invite you to join us, as we begin the legal processes necessary to protect the community in which we grew up, the community that we call home. We await your answer.

You can reach us via our website: http://solardump.org

Before fully bringing this letter to a close we wanted to reach out and thank members of our community and members of the Board of Commissioners for their support and Patience. In particular, Nancy Thrash and Robert Hiney who have shown great patience, understanding, and flexibility in this time of misunderstandings. Benny Horton, who has remained a Lamar County institution. Ashley Gilles, Beverly Eskridge, Jeffrey Stephen, Greg Williams and many others who have shown much support to us through this process. Thank you for your kindness.

Sincerely your neighbours,

William Ingram & The Solar Dump Coalition