By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Mammoth Cave National Park shared its concern regarding the proposed Wood Duck Solar project.
Superintendent of the park, Barclay Trimble, recently wrote a letter to the Sitting Board for Electric Generation and Transmission expressing his, and the National Park Service’s apprehension, noting that parts of the 2,300-acre facility, which, according to prior reporting, will span 28 tracts of land and multiple landowners, will be located in Mammoth Cave’s “watershed basin.”
“The [National Park Service] is taking this opportunity to raise awareness that a lack of communication from [Geenex] Solar has not satisfied concerns that this project may lead to irreversible harm to the…basin,” the letter stated. “Since these questions remain unanswered after multiple attempts to have [a] dialogue with Geenex over the past several months, the [park service] is choosing to speak out in opposition of this project.”
Citing the Endangered Species Act, the letter stated that the animal “of greatest concern” is the Kentucky Cave Shrimp, which lives in cave streams “fed by surface water from [the basin],” according to the letter. The National Park Service reports that the shrimp are federally endangered and found only in the “immediate vicinity of Mammoth Cave.”
In closing, Trimble asks the board to consider the environmental protection of the species when making their decision.
“The National Park Service…[is] requesting the board to consider environmental protection of these endangered species when debating the merits of this project,” the letter reads.
The Case Management System of the Kentucky Public Service Commission, where the decision regarding the solar farm project will be made, reports no decision has yet been reached.
Barren County Fiscal Court recently approved the first reading of a countywide solar ordinance that adds additional requirements future solar developments must adhere to, like a 1,000-foot setback. The ordinance would not affect the Wood Duck Solar project.
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