AZALIA, Mich. — Turf battles over commercial-scale renewable energy projects are on the rise across North America as Earth’s climate continues to become more unstable.
It’s a scenario that often pits neighbors against neighbors in rural townships where some landowners need cash from lease payments and others fight to keep their idyllic landscape intact.
For Clara and Leonard Ostrander, the outcome of this sweeping policy debate has deep consequences on a personal level.
The Milan Township couple said it will make or break their ability to pass down to their son, Aaron Ostrander, 21, what’s left of a farm that has been in Ms. Ostrander’s family for 154 years.
“One of the last promises I ever made to my dad was that I would keep it in the family,” Ms. Ostrander said. “He had to sell some of our farm a few years ago before his passing to pay my Mom’s medical bills, and that about killed him.”
Her late parents, Fred and Clara Walker, died in 2013 and 2006, respectively. The collective properties they owned, called Walker Farms, once totaled 330 acres.