FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Wednesday, August 28, 2019 

For more information, contact Director of Marketing and Communications, caroline.brewer@anshome.org, or Director of Conservation Eliza Cava, eliza.cava@anshome.org. 

"We're thrilled with the news from the Maryland Department of the Environment that it has denied two wetlands permits for the Georgetown University proposal to build a solar farm in the Nanjemoy Forest. Georgetown's proposal would have caused irreparable harm to wildlife, streams in the last high quality forest in Southern Maryland. Environmental tragedies are everywhere - the Amazon is burning, entire species are disappearing and being threatened right here in our region, and crops are dying. Today though, Nanjemoy Forest was saved by hundreds of people working together across the DC region, and by Secretary Ben Grumbles and the Maryland Department of the Environment's denial late yesterday of wetlands permits for two proposed solar farms to be built by Origis Energy for Georgetown in Charles County.

We are so grateful to the Maryland Department of the Environment for its careful consideration of the environmental impacts of this project, and to the many partners who worked tirelessly to protect this land. Solar energy has the potential to move us towards a more just and sustainable society, but only if done right. We hope that Georgetown and Origis will be able to find a more suitable site for the solar farm and commend them on working towards climate change mitigation."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Tuesday, August 27, 2019 

For more information, contact Director of Marketing and Communications, caroline.brewer@anshome.org, 240-899-9019, or Director of Conservation Eliza Cava, eliza.cava@anshome.org, 305-310-7149.  

On Friday, August 23, the last day comments could be offered, Audubon Naturalist Society and Earthjustice submitted a hard-hitting letter in opposition to findings in the Origis Energy’s Social and Economic Justification Report for the Georgetown University solar project.

The report came at the request of the Maryland Department of the Environment, which asked for it as part of Maryland’s antidegradation policy under the Clean Water Act. ANS worked with lawyers from Earthjustice to co-author a comment letter addressing this report and its glaring shortcomings. Much of the report and our comments revolve around the fact that the planned location of the solar farm is a property with two Tier II streams running through it- Wards Run I and Wards Run II. A Tier II rating is the highest water quality designation in Maryland. It means that these streams are extremely clean. Water bodies have something of a super-power, called assimilative capacity, which indicates how much more damage can be done to a body before the water quality is significantly impacted. Recently, it was found that Wards Run I has almost no assimilative capacity left, which triggered Maryland’s Antidegradation Policy.

Maryland’s Antidegradation Policy says that if a project is going to degrade water quality of a Tier II stream, there must be enough social and economic need for the project. Origis Energy’s report argues that the solar farm is necessary for residents of Southern Maryland, and that it won’t significantly harm the environment. ANS and Earthjustice identified several key errors in Origis’s arguments, and found it contains nothing that justifies cutting down an intact and irreplaceable forest.

“The Nanjemoy Forest represents the ‘lungs of D.C.,’ much as the Amazon Rainforest represents the ‘lungs of the world,’” said Conservation Director Eliza Cava. “To lose it would be tantamount to an act of violence. We’re asking MDE to protect this land that provides for our region in so many ways.”

Read our entire comment letter at this link. http://conservationblog.anshome.org/blog/ans-and-earthjustice-submit-second-comment-on-georgetown-solar-project/

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Monday, July 22, 2019 

For more information, contact Director of Marketing and Communications, caroline.brewer@anshome.org, 301-652-9188, ext. 23, or Director of Conservation Eliza Cava, eliza.cava@anshome.org, 301-652-9188, ext. 22,  

CHEVY CHASE, MD - Audubon Naturalist Society and dozens of allies submitted a comment letter opposing the siting of the Georgetown Solar Farm project Monday, July 22. We are calling for the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to deny Origis Energy the wetlands permit needed to begin construction of the solar farm on 240 acres of high-value forest habitat in Charles County, MD.  

The comment deadline on the wetlands permit application has been extended indefinitely until Origis produces the necessary documentation to complete the application. 

The land is home to several endangered species of birds and aquatic life and covers part of the ancestral homeland of the Piscataway tribes of Maryland. Neither the University nor the developer has consulted with the tribal community. The University has not released promised environmental review documents to the community despite repeated requests.  

ANS worked through the Chesapeake Legal Alliance and Environmental Action Center pro bono attorney network to find Environmental Action Center (EAC). EAC Attorneys Hannah Brubach and Patrick DeArmey assisted Audubon Naturalist Society in drafting a comment letter in response to the application. The letter outlines regulatory and procedural concerns that call for denial of the permit. 

“...allowing the MD Solar 1 project to move forward would set a dangerous precedent in Maryland for the replacement of forests with solar panels. The value of forests to human and animal life places them on equal ground with renewable energy sources such as solar. It is crucial that when mitigating climate change and making our communities more resilient and adaptable to its impacts, we not promote one best practice at the expense of another,” the letter reads. 

The letter has support from representatives of 17 environmental organizations in the DMV, along with 11 people with close connections to the project. Some of the groups supporting the letter include: City Wildlife, Clean Water Action, Maryland Ornithological Society, Safe Skies Maryland, Audubon Maryland-DC, Mattawoman Watershed Society, Smart Growth Maryland, and Conservancy for Charles County. Individual signatures come from Georgetown students and alumni, members of the Piscataway tribes of Maryland, and Charles County residents. 

Download the comment letter, and submit your own comments, at http://conservationblog.anshome.org/tag/Georgetown-Solar 

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