While I am neither a golfer nor a land/homeowner in this area of Dededo, it seems rather absurd to close a public golf course. It is also dangerous to jeopardize homeowners and endangered species in the area as well as to pace portions of the northern water lens at potential chemical risk by installing a solar farm on this public golf course land.
The following is a list of just a few of the concerns that were provided to me as to why this proposed move should be stopped:
Toxicity of Cadmium Telluride & Cadmium Sulfide in solar panels: Cadmium is listed as one of the top 5 hazardous ingredients known to man. EPA set a minimum of anything over .05 microgram/L as extremely
dangerous.
Solar panels have up to 23,000 milligrams per KW. Think of a cracked or damaged panel that could be akin to pouring a gallon of roundup concentrate into the soil right over the top of our water lens. Worse, Cadmium is not biodegradable and will make it into our water lens.
Endangered species: Three endangered species call the GICC property home (Mariana moorhens, fruit bats and Mariana eight-spot butterfies). EPA has construction and communication companies spending thousands of dollars per day on projects where endangered snails have been discovered, yet the EPA and Department of Agriculture seem to have been told to stop this project from moving forward. Why is that?
Residential home values decline: Numerous studies have shown home and landowner values surrounding commercial solar farms have lost significant value, yet the mayor of Dededo and the mayors' council appear unconcerned for those homeowners, who remain largely uninformed of this known fact. Why does the present mayor not support these homeowners?
GICC management: This company has failed to manage a beautiful municipal golf course for over a decade. It has owed thousands in rent to the CHamoru Land Trust Commission for years. The lease should have been canceled long ago. Instead, senators and the CLTC board now wish to award them a completely new contract to manage an industry for which they have no experience or qualifications.
Investment greed: The investors of this project will supposedly receive a 30 percent rebate of invested funds after the first full year of operation. In many cases, the investors sell the project after the first year, take their profits and leave.
The danger of ruptured panels, panel degradation and other issues are passed on to either the new owners or the real property owners who are often stuck with the liabilities.
Yet these investors want you to believe they are performing a wonderful act for the people of Guam, and they should be thanked when the opposite is potentially true.
Decommissioning cost will be left with CLT: Finally, what’s not being told is that once the solar panels have reached the degradation point of not being profitable and/or damaged beyond repair, the project will be placed into a shell company with no assets. They will in turn, declare bankruptcy or simply disappear, leaving the entire cost of removing and disposing of the panels/batteries and all project-related equipment to the landowner, the CLTC.
It will end up being the single worst investment the CLTC will ever have made. Presently, there is still no outlined procedure for disposal of these solar panels because they are too hazardous.
They cannot just be sent to the landfill and, at a minimum, will have to be shipped off island. Again, this could easily reach into the millions of dollars, resulting in a huge loss to the CLTC and the taxpayers of Guam.
In addition to these concerns, as mentioned earlier, information is also publicly available that surrounding home owners adjacent to a commercial solar farm may likely experience a loss of value in their homes.
Additionally, it is my understanding that the ambient temperature near a commercial solar farm can rise as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit. (Who wants to own a home that’s 9 degrees hotter than your distant neighbors?)
This also doesn’t include the potential for harm and injury to residents in the area due to flying panels when a typhoon hits Guam.
The adage “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is” comes to mind.
This boondoggle needs to stop before the people of Guam get dragged into an inevitable disaster that is waiting to happen.
Let’s make Guam great Again!
Esta!!
Lee Webber is the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News.
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