Eastland Tea Party Patriots welcome Stephanie Alexander and Melissa Bilby to speak on solar farms at our June 11, 2026, meeting. These two ladies have been standing against solar farms coming to Eastland County. Melissa and her husband of 34 years own a family farm passed down through generations in Texas and have crops and cattle.
Stephanie and Melissa believe rural America is being targeted because rural areas are financially weaker; land values are lower; and they think rural areas have less education and it is easier to get contracts on our land. There are options for solar farms like parking garages, big commercial buildings like Amazon or Walmart but they choose rural America because it is cheaper. As a person living in Texas, where the sun beats down us, especially in the summer, I would love to park in the shade so put solar farms over our concrete or asphalt parking lots don’t block the sun from my land where I might have crops or livestock. Places that have solar farms do not get lower utility rates, so explain to me why I should allow a solar farm on my land.
Solar farms can change your property from agricultural to commercial which in turn can change your property tax to a more expensive bracket. Can contracts for solar farms be sold to another company? Who is responsible for infrastructure and damage. I heard when a tornado hit Indiana or Iowa last year, a solar farm was part of the damage. That community was asking who is responsible for cleaning up the solar farm and the shards of glass everywhere.
