Booming Solar Development Faces Local Opposition Throughout Pennsylvania

As a land use attorney familiar with facing local backlash over unpopular developments, I never thought that any industry would provoke the wild-west style public hearings held for natural gas wells, compressor stations and pipelines that started with the unconventional drilling boom in the Appalachian basin more than 15 years ago. But now, local residents are again turning out in force, packing fire halls and middle school gymnasiums to oppose development of the next energy boom: utility scale solar farms.

Solar development has exploded in the Commonwealth over the last five years, even in Western Pennsylvania, where the proliferation of cloudy weather hasn't seemed to deter solar developers. And, as with oil and gas, municipalities are now catching up by adopting stricter ordinances specifically targeting large scale solar development. Many of these ordinances have placed the burden on solar developers to make significant upfront investments in solar projects at