This story was reported with the assistance of a grant from Grist and the Middle for Rural Methods, which helps reporting about rural communities.
NEW IBERIA, La — Into a transparent blue sky, the sweet-smelling smoke billows and spreads. Farmers have been burning and harvesting sugarcane this manner for generations, however the observe creates ash fallout and dangerous air pollution. Yearly, farmers plan and coordinate the fires, to filter out pests like snakes and clear leaves, abandoning solely the stalks the place the sugar lies.
No person in Iberia Parish thinks twice. Sugarcane smoke is part of life.
However locals are cautious of the hazards they believe lurk inside a unique, newer trade. This new trade goes to be the damage of Iberia Parish, they warn, with risks starting from poisonous smoke and cancer-causing chemical compounds to homegrown tornados and flying particles, even poisoned farmland and nugatory homes.
Risks which are virtually totally imagined, say specialists, who now discover themselves as the principle line of protection in opposition to misinformation that might hamstring a significant power subject.
This can be a close-knit neighborhood, a part of the Acadiana area of Louisiana greatest often called Cajun Nation.
However final yr, opposition to photo voltaic farms turned so heated right here that audio system at Iberia Parish Council conferences had been dropped at tears. A whole lot of residents efficiently mounted a marketing campaign opposing a proposed utility-scale photo voltaic venture that might have been sited northeast of city. Opponents voiced fears that photo voltaic panels would destroy farms and poison the soil. They wore anti-solar t-shirts and staked yard indicators. They snubbed and scolded the venture’s supporters.
They feared fires, falling property values and panels that they mentioned would leach chemical compounds into bayous. “I’ve carried out my very own analysis. I don’t want anyone to inform me that it could possibly’t trigger most cancers, or that they don’t crack and issues don’t seep out,” mentioned opponent Cathrine DeGroat throughout a June 2025 council assembly.
After heated debate, the council handed an ordinance requiring utility-scale photo voltaic tasks to be set again at the least half a mile from the closest residential property line. Photo voltaic opponents hailed it as a victory for Iberia Parish.
The ordinance seems to have successfully killed the Acadiana Photo voltaic venture, which might have introduced hundreds of thousands in native tax income to Iberia Parish, a rural space that might sorely use the general public funds. The venture’s builders would have leased land from Andree McAnally’s household farm for a part of the venture, cash that might have helped pay school tuition and different bills in a family funds that has been tighter because the dying of her husband from COVID in 2021, McAnally mentioned. She felt the misplaced alternative extra sharply, she mentioned, because the struggle in opposition to it was not primarily based on info.
After the vote, in July 2025, McAnally informed parish councilmembers that she was disenchanted in them. “I assumed you had been going to name in your individual specialists and determine it out your self,” she mentioned. “Persons are fueled by misinformation.”
McAnally herself had as soon as believed that misinformation, she informed the council. When her mother and father first agreed to place a photo voltaic farm on her household’s land, she was livid — she believed that her household was certain to get most cancers. So she dug deep into analysis. What she realized modified her thoughts. “Now we have three generations proper there on the property. And I’d not put myself or my youngsters in hurt’s manner,” she mentioned.
Misinformation can ‘unfold like wildfire’
Misinformation has turn out to be one of many major hurdles for utility-scale photo voltaic tasks just like the one as soon as deliberate right here. “Generally opposition that develops from misinformation and disinformation tends to unfold like wildfire,” mentioned Matthew Holland, power coverage outreach coordinator on the Blanco Middle, who counsels photo voltaic advocates to counter misinformation by particular info about the advantages of the tasks. And, as photo voltaic tasks turn out to be extra commonplace, some misinformation could lose its grip.
For some who stay in Iberia Parish, the standoff appears extra deep-seated. “I feel you’re seeing the animus of people that really feel like their opinion just isn’t taken significantly,” mentioned Josh Trosclair, a member of the United Houma Nation and native of the small neighborhood of Lydia, simply south of New Iberia, who argued on behalf of photo voltaic in entrance of the council. After one assembly, agitated photo voltaic opponents adopted him to his automotive, he mentioned.
It appears clear that unfounded fears of photo voltaic have discovered fertile floor right here.
The parish is extra conversant in a unique side of the power sector. Iberia Parish employees fabricate components for oil and gasoline infrastructure, like offshore platforms and pipelines. They work for petrochemical firms that, traditionally, are available in, extract assets, and depart behind poverty and air pollution — and loss. Trosclair’s uncle, whom he’s named after, was doing oil and gasoline fieldwork when he was killed by a burst pipe in 1980 at 20 years previous.
Fossil fuels additionally don’t present the roles they as soon as did: a report this summer time from The Information Middle, a Louisiana nonprofit, discovered that oil and gasoline manufacturing and transportation in Louisiana has misplaced over 6,500 jobs between 2004 and 2023, a 47% lower.
Photo voltaic, alternatively, will continue to grow, say analysts, as a result of the expertise has merely gotten so environment friendly and reasonably priced that the low price will maintain driving demand regardless of the hostile federal coverage panorama. Scientists say that the world should transition to renewable power as rapidly as attainable as international local weather change worsens. Vitality generated by photo voltaic within the U.S. not too long ago overtook coal for the primary time. Even Trump allies not too long ago softened their once-hostile tone and started championing photo voltaic outright.
Maybe due to their fraught historical past with oil and gasoline, locals might be cautious of huge new developments on agricultural land. They rallied the council final yr to focus on the dangers of carbon seize and sequestration and weighed instituting a moratorium. For the previous a number of years, the photo voltaic trade has instilled worries, turning longtime pals into enemies.
“This can be a extremely charged, emotional problem, not only for me however for all of my neighbors who’re my pals,” McAnally informed the Council, her voice shaking. “Or — had been my pals.”
Photo voltaic panels don’t leach toxins
Sugarcane has lengthy been the dominant crop in Iberia Parish, the place some farms have been handed down by 4 or 5 generations. The a whole lot of acres of sun-drenched land additionally appealed to Recurrent, a division of Canada Photo voltaic, which chosen about 1,000 acres for his or her proposed photo voltaic venture, initially dubbed “Acadiana Photo voltaic.” It could have been a $175 million funding.
However amid passionate public opposition, Iberia Parish handed its first solar-related ordinance in July 2024 , a one-year moratorium on photo voltaic farms, described as a brief measure till everlasting laws could possibly be agreed upon. A yr later, in July 2025, the council handed the second ordinance, requiring that photo voltaic farms within the parish be sited at the least a half mile from the closest residential zones and occupied constructions.
On the state degree, Louisiana legislators handed their first photo voltaic restrictions final yr, with HB459, which requires that photo voltaic tasks 75 acres or bigger be set 300 toes from the closest residential property line. The regulation additionally permits native governments to set bigger setbacks.
Louisiana’s setback regulation is “one of many bigger distances that you simply’ll see within the nation,” Mark Zappi, government director of the Vitality Institute of Louisiana, informed 1012 Trade Report in April. The Iberia Parish ordinance, with a setback that’s greater than eight occasions bigger, is probably the most restrictive within the state.
The complete results of that setback are unclear: although Recurrent Vitality has by no means formally introduced that its venture was canceled, there’s been no motion on the venture because the ordinance handed, native advocates say.
It’s clear that, for photo voltaic growth in Louisiana, some of the formidable hurdles is misinformation.
Some inaccuracies are unfold amongst pals and neighbors, by mouth or by social media. Generally disdata is unfold intentionally by politically-linked teams or digital entrepreneurs sharing AI-generated posts.
Or, as Terrence Chambers, the recently-retired former Director of UL-Lafayette’s Middle of Effectivity and Sustainable Vitality, testified in entrance of a Louisiana legislative committee in 2021. “I’ve not too long ago heard many issues expressed by members of the general public, a few of that are primarily based on incorrect data, and I want to tackle a few of these issues, in order that public coverage might be primarily based on correct data.”
In his testimony and within the 17-page written testimony that he provided the committee, Chambers set the file straight. “The photo voltaic cell is totally protected against air and water throughout regular operation, and as such, rainwater doesn’t wash any poisonous supplies into the soil,” he mentioned. “Photo voltaic racks can simply be designed to wind speeds of 150 mph or greater,” he wrote, noting that information from 50,000 operational photo voltaic installations exhibits that “photo voltaic crops rise up properly to hurricanes and hail.” Additionally, as a result of photo voltaic panels are largely fabricated from non-flammable supplies like metal, glass and aluminum, they won’t catch fireplace.
A December research from Chambers and different researchers at UL-Lafayette reached an analogous conclusion: “There aren’t any dangerous emissions or runoff from solar energy crops that might negatively have an effect on the soil.”
Some opponents’ issues had been legitimate a long time in the past, however have now been largely addressed. As an example, residents expressed worries that photo voltaic panels would depress property values, turn out to be eyesores amid the panorama, or —just like the “orphan wells” usually left behind by fossil-fuel firms — that the tasks gained’t be correctly decommissioned when the tasks finish, leaving farmland plagued by getting older photo voltaic panels.
Research have drawn differing conclusions about property values, however the UL-Lafayette paper factors to 2 latest ones, by appraisers in North Carolina and Virginia, who discovered that photo voltaic tasks don’t have any impact. Deserted panels are much less of a priority now since Louisiana regulation requires each venture to have a decommissioning plan, which should account for closure in case of catastrophe and be up to date each 5 years, with the prices put aside earlier than building begins. The way in which photo voltaic tasks age has improved as properly, as a result of producers have made dramatic modifications in how panels are constructed, mentioned Stephen Barnes, director of the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Coverage Middle at UL-Lafayette.
At present’s tasks are designed to be much less seen than older ones, partly as a result of it’s turn out to be normal for tasks to incorporate vegetative limitations – tall crops and bushes used to mix photo voltaic arrays with surrounding panorama. “The fact is that most individuals that stay in a parish that does have a photo voltaic farm don’t give it some thought ever,” mentioned Barnes. “You possibly can be driving previous one and by no means even comprehend it.”
Fb teams and AI bots
In Acadiana, photo voltaic opposition seems to have been organized largely by a 1,200-member social-media group often called “NO Industrial/Utility photo voltaic in Iberia Parish” on Fb. “Panels are poisonous, contaminate the soil and water, [and] are an enormous fireplace hazard,” wrote one of many group’s directors in an April 2024 submit.
The group seems to have been first created in 2024 by an area realtor, Angela Scott, who confused issues that the photo voltaic farm would convey down property values. Scott didn’t reply to a number of makes an attempt to achieve her for this story.
Many posts categorical issues that Iberia would now not be a farming neighborhood. “There’s about 500k acres of sugarcane within the state. About 250k of them are leased for potential photo voltaic farms sooner or later,” learn a submit reshared from a bunch for St. James Parish — which additionally noticed an anti-solar marketing campaign. “If we lose 250k acres of farmland on this state, the sugar mills will possible shut.”
Up to now, specialists venture that, at most, Louisiana photo voltaic would require about 87,000 acres over the subsequent 10 years, on websites unfold out throughout the state — not simply on sugarcane fields. Solely about 1% of Louisiana’s whole farmland could be impacted by the best estimates of photo voltaic buildout over the subsequent decade, researchers estimate.
Posts within the group echo the hazards cited by opponents in council debates, together with just a few new alleged hazards, together with “elevated ambient temperatures” and strategies that photo voltaic panels themselves create unstable climate, significantly tornadoes.
Many posts within the group are cross-posted from “Cease Photo voltaic-Wind-BESS-Carbon Seize Scams,” a bigger, 11,000-member Fb group, which has turn out to be a hub for individuals who oppose photo voltaic throughout the nation. It was created in 2020 by Indiana resident Franklin T, Wilke. A pinned submit by Wilke below the identify “David Herman” seeks folks prepared to be educated to unfold anti-solar messages: “We’re on the lookout for volunteers that might be taken with studying the best way to HELP run anti-Photo voltaic or anti-Photo voltaic and Wind web sites. We’re prepared to coach the people if wanted,” reads the submit. “The place will principally contain copying and pasting information hyperlinks from numerous Fb Teams we run, then writing a brief introduction to the information articles.”
Wilke can also be the creator of internet sites together with StopSolarFarms.org, AmericanLegacies.Org, an internet site for Older Bikers Riders Membership, and others. He’s creator or administrator of Fb teams together with Involved Residents of Indiana and Cease Photo voltaic Farms, a lot of which have equally named nonprofits registered to Wilke or his spouse. All of Wilke’s nonprofits report receiving lower than $50,000 in income and subsequently aren’t required to file detailed 990s that might listing contributors.
Some members of the community of anti-solar teams are sharing practically an identical posts of AI-generated anti-solar content material, tailor-made to totally different U.S. states.
“As soon as Louisiana is gone, there’s no approach to get it again,” reads one AI-generated graphic, shared by consumer Sheila Thomson, the phrases showing on an indication with a farm and crimson barn within the distance. “Photo voltaic panels belong on roofs, not on farmland.” In a Fb group for Texans, consumer “Caroline Fitzgerald” has posted near-identical textual content and a near-identical graphic, this time tailor-made to Texas: “As soon as Texas is gone, there’s no approach to get it again,” reads the signal. The identical message and graphic seems in different teams tailor-made to Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee, and elsewhere.
The accounts seem like positioned in South Asia: the URL for Thomson’s profile contains the identify “Maahi Khan,” a South Asian girl’s identify. Fitzgerald follows simply seven accounts, together with the Occasions of India. Each profiles observe a big variety of accounts primarily based in Bangladesh.
Photo voltaic continues to develop, and supply wanted tax income, regardless of hurdles
Throughout Louisiana, 19 photo voltaic tasks are working. 5 started working after Iberia handed its strict ordinance. And from the appears of it, different parishes are starting to reap the advantages of photo voltaic tasks, which may provide large tax income for rural areas which will in any other case see little funding.
The assessed worth of land multiplies massively when a parish re-zones it and its use modifications from agricultural to utility-scale photo voltaic. Parishes get way more property tax income from photo voltaic tasks than farms: even when photo voltaic amenities are granted large tax exemptions, they’ll generate at the least 40 occasions extra native property tax than farmland.
Close to Iberia, in Pointe Coupee Parish, the Oxbow photo voltaic venture — the biggest within the state — is projected to generate $9.7 million in native tax income inside the first three years. Morehouse Parish has already introduced in about $3 million in gross sales tax income due to the 1400 acre Oak Ridge Photo voltaic Farm that started working in 2023, about half of which went to the Faculty Board.
The UL-Lafayette research predicts photo voltaic will herald about half a billion {dollars} in state taxes by 2035. And as soon as constructed, Barnes mentioned, photo voltaic tasks “have a tendency to take a seat quietly with little or no exercise, producing important, regular, predictable stream of tax income,” with out requiring the elevated public providers — like fireplace safety or higher roads — that different massive growth tasks want, mentioned Barnes.
“There can be continued enlargement,” mentioned Monika Gerhart, government director of Gulf States Renewable Vitality Industries Affiliation. “The query is whether or not these tasks can be over the states traces in Texas or Arkansas or Mississippi, or whether or not Louisiana goes to have the ability to avail itself of that income.”
Funding in a photo voltaic facility may draw different companies in, or immediate funding in enhancing the native electrical grid – what Barnes calls “broader spillover financial advantages.” Regardless of its opposition, Iberia Parish, too, has begun to see spillover advantages from investments in photo voltaic panels.
Final yr, First Photo voltaic opened a $1 billion solar-panel manufacturing facility in Iberia Parish. It is going to manufacture 3.5GW of photo voltaic panels yearly, is the biggest funding in Iberia Parish historical past, and one of many largest outside photo voltaic amenities within the Southeast. The plant now employs a whole lot of locals.
Associated
