Dear Neighbors and Officials:
Meeting
Monday, March 30th is the date for the only public hearing for the proposed 6100-acre scattered-site Earthrise mega-solar facility in the rural Townships of Green Garden, Manhattan, and Wilton. The hearing before the Will County Planning & Zoning Committee (PZC) will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Center, 214 North Ottawa Street, Joliet, Illinois 60432. Should the meeting need to be continued for a second evening, it is anticipated this date would be March 31, 2026, at 5:30 PM at the Renaissance Center, located at 214 N Ottawa St, Joliet, IL 60432.
Please note: Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Recently, trade unions have begun taking over public hearing seating to support County construction projects, no matter how ill-advised. Local residents have often been left without seats, forced into standing-room-only conditions. As a result, please try to arrive early and save a few seats around you for your neighbors.
Introduction
Green Garden Township is nestled along the headwaters of Forked Creek and Prairie Creek, two tributaries of the Kankakee River. With almost twenty varieties of fish spawning in its headwaters, Forked Creek is Will County’s largest stream, and its expansive network of brooks and ancient prairie wetlands define the landscape. Along with our sister Townships of Manhattan, Wilton, Peotone, Florence, and Wesley, our iconic landscape of farms, quaint Churches, estates, and subdivisions comprise the largest remaining rural district in Will County.
Despite solar utilities offering only 4% of Illinois power, new Illinois laws and Will County ordinances grant the solar industry sweeping control over local land use that violate our established zoning standards, shred our rural comprehensive plans, and erase the decision-making authority of Township and County officials. As a result, every cornfield and hay pasture in Will County is now vulnerable to industrial solar sprawl.
Project Scope
The predatory corporation Earthrise, a Washington DC beltway entity of the global equity firm Vision Ridge, is proposing a scattered-site solar utility of 6100 acres, with 96 parcels in a 45 square-mile footprint that sprawls across Green Garden, Manhattan and Wilton Townships (ZC-125-29). Over 1.5 million solar panels will be installed. Utility-scale solar batteries are part of every lease agreement. 2/3rds of the Earthrise partners, mainly land investors, do not live in the Township where land is being leased.
Lift the hood on Earthrise to find Accelerate Infrastructure Opportunities (AIO), a Texas-based industrial developer. More than 10% of the parcels in the Earthrise project are now owned by Accelerate Infrastructure. Earthrise continues to target inexpensive farmland along Route 45, Green Garden’s future commercial corridor. Earthrise has stated its objective to attract corporations and companies to locate near its rural solar project. This mega-site will destabilize our rural communities, end rural-residential growth and accelerate industrial sprawl. As of this date, 1600 acres of active Earthrise leases and transmission easements remain outside the present zoning case, strategically located to immediately expand the project upon approval.
Solar Shortfalls
Illinois ranks as the 49th worst State in America for solar panel utilities, averaging only 2.47 hours of peak sun in the Winter (https://thegreenwatt.com/average-peak-sun-hours-by-state/ [1]). Given the inferior solar conditions of northern Illinois, it is a poor bargain to exchange our prime top soils for solar panels.
Also, the solar industry continues to misrepresent project “nameplate capacity” with actual “capacity factor.” Nameplate capacity is the total solar energy possible in optimal conditions that occur only a few hours on sunny Summer days. But, according to ComEd, the annual “capacity factor” of solar projects in Illinois is only 10-12%, because panels may only function optimally for a few hours a day. In contrast, reliable, on-demand energy sources like natural gas and nuclear have capacity factors of 99%, as they can produce energy 24 hours-a-day. The power from this project is not its advertised 600 MW of nameplate capacity. It’s average annual grid contribution may be as low as 60 MW per 24-hour period. In other words, Earthrise will consume 200 times more farmland to produce only 10% of the power available from the nearby natural gas plant, which can produce 600 MW of reliable energy per day on a 30-acre footprint.
Solar Harms
Despite the green energy label, solar facilities are, in fact, industrial uses. Solar panels, solar storage batteries and solar frame arrays can contain toxic heavy metals. Solar fields are no match for violent Illinois weather that fold panels like cardboard and shear billions of shards of glass that are then embedded into neighboring farm fields. Solar batteries are notorious for chemical fires that spew airborne contaminants that can pollute miles of surrounding land.
Soils and groundwater are likewise at risk from the millions of zinc-galvanized steel posts driven 8 feet into the ground to support solar panel arrays. Galvanic corrosion, the leaching of zinc from these posts into the soil profile, is a known harm exacerbated in hydric soils like those found in our Forked and Prairie Creek watersheds. Zinc toxicity impairs a plant’s ability to absorb essential trace minerals, rendering prime farmland incapable of sustainable crop production after solar leases expire.
Solar and Streams
The Earthrise application fails to meet any required federal, state or county natural resouce standards. This project is set directly into Forked Creek and Prairie Creek and their adjacent wetlands, which are federally-protected Waters of the US. Determination of what land is buildable or non-buildable must be established prior to application approval. There has been no oversight by the Army Corps of Engineers or wetland delineations for Waters of the US. There are no delineated boundaries of previously farmed, uninventoried wetlands, hydric soil patterns, nor onsite seasonal inspections to determine hydrophytic vegetation.
In addition, while project parcels contain significant Forked Creek and Prairie Creek FEMA Flood Hazard Zones, Earthrise has not submitted any required site development plans for IDNR/OWR review and permit approval. Obviously, solar energy facilities are not appropriate in floodplains, as arrays and fencing will obstruct flow, cause environmental harm, and result in adverse flooding impacts to adjoining properties. In addition, required Natural Resource Information Reports have not been completed for a single property in this project.
Solar Privileges
Illinois law 55 ILCS 5/5-12020 and Will County ordinance 155-9.245 grant the solar industry unprecedented power not afforded any other Illinois business or zoning applicant. Industrial solar is allowed as a special use on farmland on both contiguous (connected) and non-contiguous (separated) scattered sites. A solar developer can choose any unincorporated site, regardless of how incompatible it is to existing or future uses. Privacy berms cannot be required, and rural backyards are only given a 50′ setback from solar panels and storage batteries. Moreover, solar storage batteries used by solar companies will soon be paid for by ComEd customers.
In addition, only one “public hearing” is required for solar industry applicants. The long-established public hearings before our elected representatives of the Will County Board have been erased. This hearing will evaluate 96 properties in a single zoning case. Should the County Board vote to approve this solar sprawl, a public interest lawsuit will be filed to raise constitutional and due process rights of local landowners being trampled upon by this pompous industry and its investor class. The artificial advantages carved out for the solar industry are based on legal fiction.
Incorporation
For some time, there has been a deliberate effort by the State to erode the powers of local government and our zoning standards, meant to transition our Township Board into an advisory body. We have also experienced a marked decline in County response to resolve ordinance violations, flooding concerns, and the intrusion of illegal commercial and industrial operations into our Township. Likewise, the deluge of industrialization directed towards the rural communities of southern Will County can no longer be ignored, whether by warehouse districts, solar sprawl or data centers. As a result, the creation of a rural Green Garden incorporated district, which protects our quality of life and lifestyles, preserves 22,000 acres for compatible rural growth, restricts industrial use to one sector, maintains services, and reduces taxes, has become a potential option. Should Will County officials continue to ignore our grievances, our iconic rural landscape and quality of life will disappear unless we take proactive measures to preserve it.
Thank you for your continued kindness and help. We hope you can attend this important meeting.
Sincerely,
Thomas Becker, Chairman
The Watershed Committee