An Alabama House committee on Tuesday approved a bill allowing south Alabama counties to regulate solar farms but delayed a vote on another bill imposing a one-year moratorium on construction of new solar farms in the state.
HB 618, sponsored by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, would allow county commission located along the state’s coastline in Mobile and Baldwin counties to regulate the construction and operations of solar farms in their jurisdiction.
“We are not trying to impact other areas that have solar farms that are important to their districts and important to their areas,” Simpson told the House Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure committee. “We are not trying to hurt the economic development throughout the state. But what we are trying to do is make sure the environmental impact of these are studied and that there is some type of process to go through, and that there is some type of body of authority that can regulate them.”…