This is in response to a group of questions posed on Facebook that dealt largely with environmental issues. Here is the Facebook post:

Please inform us on where you stand with protecting our environment. That would be our water supply, chemical fertilizers that infect the air and seep into the groundwater, air and sound quality, and how windmills and solar panels alter our natural ecology.

Are you willing to sacrifice our health and well being for the sake of bringing revenue into the county? Or are you focused on searching out businesses that are also concerned about balancing economics and ecological health?

First, let me address the topic of chemical fertilizers and pesticides as well. As a county commissioner, there is little that I could do to force our agricultural neighbors to abandon chemical fertilizers and pesticides, but there is much that could be done to encourage them to do so. The USDA has a division called the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) which has done, and continues to do, extensive research into natural products that effectively replace most, if not all, chemical solutions for farmers. The research into microbial solutions by the ARS could be made available to our county’s farmers through university extension services, our soil and water conservation districts and other entities. Non-chemical solutions will often be more expensive to implement than using hazardous chemicals, but I would work with elected officials and government agencies to help find funding to defray the additional costs when they exist.

Our clean air and the peace and quiet, especially compared to the fumes and noises of life in the city, are two of the greatest things about living in Torrance County, and I would do everything that can legally be done to preserve those facets of rural living.  Currently, Torrance County does not have a standalone county-level air quality control ordinance or a general county-wide decibel-based noise ordinance for unincorporated residential areas, but as growth is achieved in the future, that likely will need to change. Looking toward the future, I support county-wide air quality and noise ordinances and until such ordinances could be implemented, I support rigorous enforcement of state and municipal ordinances.

Like them or not, wind and solar farms have become a major feature of Torrance County’s landscape. I support a moratorium on any additional wind farms and, if that moratorium were to be lifted or would be legally impossible to put in place, I support a requirement to begin transitioning to less intrusive and ecologically more friendly Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs). Although VAWTs are currently less efficient than the types of turbines that currently destroy our views, impact migration patterns and upset the ecological balance, VAWT technology is advancing rapidly, and power companies could be required to replace existing turbines with VAWTs as the older turbines reach their end-of-life. Although not as ruinous to our landscapes, solar panel farms also have a serious impact on our environment, especially when they block wildlife migration paths with their miles of fencing. Requirements could be put in place to mandate corridors within large solar farms to allow wildlife to migrate naturally. Also, raising the minimum elevation of the panels themselves would allow migratory wildlife and even livestock to pass underneath the panels and even seek shelter from the sun, rain and hail.

I would NEVER sacrifice the health and well-being of our population for the sake of revenue! My plans for economic development are mostly limited to things like the small business incubator I propose on the economic development page of my website and support of cottage industries that have a negligible impact on our environment. When it comes to larger businesses coming into the county, they would need to adhere to stricter zoning requirements and need to adhere to serious water use restrictions put into place as well.

Although not directly asked in the original Facebook post, there is something else that I’d like to add to this reply. The process for county commissioners making decisions seems to be backwards. First, there is an idea. Then a plan. Next, commissioners make their decision and then there’s a legal requirement for public comment before taking a formal vote, but it appears that the public gets to voice their concerns AFTER the decision has already been made. Public input comes before the vote, but the vote only formalizes the decision that’s already been made. Public comments don’t seem to be taken into consideration at all, with the commissioners only half-listening to them, with their minds already made up. This needs to change!

I’m a big advocate of the idea of commissioners having frequent town halls to let the public know what’s coming up and getting their feedback, and then during the formal “public comments” period, actually paying attention to what the citizens have to say and take their opinions into consideration when it comes time to vote on issues.

Bill Peifer