There’s been some squawking lately about the prospect of some proposed, large scale solar farms, eating up too much farm land in Pennsylvania. One article made reference to one-percent of the farm land in Lawrence County, Pa as being a large amount for a solar farm.
To that, I would reply, what about all the farms, fields and forests gobbled up by Marcellus Shale drilling and fracking, with a road and pipeline running to every well site? Pipeline right-of-way cuts, 50-feet or more wide, that can never grow trees again. Huge excavations resembling those for a big box store.
Pennsylvania counties with shale gas production have definitely lost more than one-percent of their total land mass!
Here’s a short video of what shale gas development looked like in March 2022, flying over and near Washington County, Pa: