Welcome to a James Exchange Quick Take. I am Nancy Gill, your host. There are two major initiatives are happening in and on the land in Buckingham County.

THE FIRST ISSUE UTILITY SCALE SOLAR PROJECTS:Riverstone Solar: Beginning the permit processTomorrow, June 7 from 6:00-8:00pm, (Buckingham County VFW, located at 14405 W James Anderson Hwy, Buckingham) there is a public meeting with Apex Clean Energy on the Riverstone Solar which is slated to be on 2000+/- acres in Northern Buckingham roughly around Payne’s Pond and Bridgewater Roads. This meeting is the first that is required by the Department of Environmental Control. Commonwealth of Virginia.Review Apex Clean Energy/Riverstone Solar application

There is a 30-day comment period which began on May 21 and ends on June 20.Comment on Riverstone Solar

The Buckingham Board of Supervisors during a joint meeting with the Planning Commission on February 28 approved Riverstone Solar.February 28 meeting video

Tomorrow’s meeting is for Apex Clean Energy/Riverstone Solar to comply with DEQ regulatory process by:

(i) acquaint the public with the technical aspects of the proposed project and how the standards and requirements of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Small Renewable Energy Projects (Solar) Permit by Rule (PBR) regulations will be met, (ii) identify issues of concern, (iii) facilitate communication, and (iv) establish a dialogue with persons who may be affected by the project.

For more information on this project contact:Riverstone Solar, LLCATTN: Jimmy Merrick120 Garrett Street, Suite 700Charlottesville, VA 22902(434) 568-9838[email protected]

And, physical copies of the documentation to be submitted to the DEQ in support of the Permit by Rule application will be available for inspection at the Buckingham County Administration Building, located at 13360 W James Anderson Hwy, Buckingham VA 23921 between the hours of 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Monday through Friday.

The last time I reported on Riverstone Solar DEQ on March 29 issued a memorandum effective immediately that solar panels are an impervious surface which would cause all future projects and those in the planning stages would have to plan for this. They clarified the implementation of this in their April 14 memorandum.

For an understanding of these two memorandums:Virginia Mercury April 18 articleBay Journal April 26 article

Pineside Solar: A second utility scale solar project in BuckinghamDominion Energy has submitted an application for a second utility scale project to the Buckingham Planning Commission.

More general information on solar:https://nebula.wsimg.com/a10892dea54b49https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/murp_capstone/41/https://www.friendsofbuckinghamva.org/

THE SECOND: EXPLORATORY DRILLING UNDERWAYGold Mining: I had a conversation with Mindy Zlotnik and Heidi Dhivya Berthoud with: The Friends of Buckingham and Virginia Community Rights Network. This podcast will be available Wednesday morning.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thejamesriverexchange.substack.com/subscribe