- Iberia Parish President M. Larry Richard recaps last week's joint committee meeting, where the parish council placed a moratorium on a solar farming ordinance.
- The council voted to make the moratorium 6 months, instead of 1 year.
Solar farming is known as using large-scale solar panels to generate energy for a community, helping to replace fossil fuels.
During a one-on-one meeting, Iberia Parish President M. Larry Richard recapped last week's joint committee meeting, specifically recalling the discussions about solar farming.
"We want to make sure that we have a real, defined answer when people ask us what it is that we're bringing to Iberia Parish," said President Richard. "We're very used to working with the oil and gas industry...But when you're talking about bringing a solar farm here, we're gonna have to do some exploring."
Richard reiterated that the council's discussion "had absolutely nothing to do with First Solar's manufacturing of the panels," referencing the $1.1 billion project that's currently underway at Acadiana Regional Airport.
Richard said Councilman Brian Napier (District 11) put a one-year time frame in the resolution 'knowing it would take longer,' and that the goal of the meeting was was to figure out what the 'actual' ordinance would be.
However, the council passed a vote, setting the moratorium time frame to six months instead. Richard said the goal is to "gather information that will go in the ordinance, protecting Iberia Parish."
"We want to make sure that when we start doing solar farming in Iberia Parish, we're gonna have a plan on how it's going to be done. We'll have an ordinance that these companies can follow."
