August 29, 2024 – Hopkins County residents have been inundated with the promise (or threat) of green energy projects needing thousands of acres in different parts of the county. Many solar plant projects already have been approved, built, and operating, but more solar companies are leasing land and asking for tax abatements. The green energy projects keep expanding and now include wind (huge windmills), Carbon Capture (C02 gasses pumped underground) and Lithium (brine water extraction). Add to these projects, Hopkins County has already approved a Lithium Battery Storage Facility and has been contacted to approve a CryptoCurrency Mining Facility. Currently, the end seems no where in sight as outside companies want to gobble up Hopkins County real estate, mostly by leasing, to profit off the land that so many families depend upon.
The City of Sulphur Springs has already given their stamp of approval on a Lithium Extraction Project for the old Thermo Mine Land, with one council member, Jay Julian, singing the praises of the company contracted with the city and urging residents to do their own “due diligence” by visiting the company’s website. Jay Julian touts this project as a “done deal” but companies are still visting landowners to try and shore up more leases in the area as the company reportedly wants to pull the water from over 30,000 acres.
The Hopkins County Commissioner’s Court has felt the backlash of neighbors against various projects as they move through the process on each project of defining a reinvestment zone to considering tax abatement levels for each company. Residents still feel that they are not fully informed about the projects ahead of time, nor do they feel that Hopkins County is adequately protecting those neighbors from the project. Hopkins County is now utilizing a consultant, Jeff Snowden, to help the county naviagte the process, even adopting new “Guidelines and Criteria for Granting Tax Abatements” in September of 2023. This 19-page document lays out the requirements for companies wanting a tax abatement including project size, road repair responsibilities, and number of new jobs created as well as many other factors. In the end, for most projects, Hopkins County favors a 100% tax abatement on the improvements (usually the building, machinery, windmills, solar panels, etc.) and defines a set payment for the county to receive over the first 10 years of the project. This is called Payment in Lieu of Taxes or PILOT and attempts to let the county “lock-in” the amount of dollars the county will receive over the taxable period without a variation caused by depreciation or a decreasing tax rate.
Some may argue that these companies would not come to Hopkins County and make any investment unless they get a tax reduction. Others may say that Hopkins County would not have any control over the project without a Reinvestment Zone or Tax Abatement. Either or both may be true but the business of dealing with multi-billion dollar companies tends to be difficult.
These companies are identifying rural areas for two reasons: (1) there is a lot of vacant land, and (2) there is little to no oversight on these projects. This is happening in rural counties all over Texas and across the country, and most, if not all, counties are behind in their planning. Twenty years ago, no one thought to have regulations for solar, wind, carbon, or brine because these industries did not exist. Fast forward to 2020 and the flood gates opened for green energy projects as federal funding and tax credits became available for these companies to pour millions of dollars into huge projects. Unfortunately, rural counties and residents are unsure what the future holds for the life of these projects and what long-term effects they may have on the land and the neighbors.
Future Projects
Carbon Capture
Tenaska (Carbon Capture) is the latest company to address the Hopkins County Commissioner’s Court with an informational presentation describing a 20,000 acre area that they hope to lease and build a pipeline (possibly from Texarkana) to pump liquified CO2 deep into the ground. It would seem that Tenaska needs to sign up every landowner in the 20,000 acre area that they have identified, as they are pumping the CO2 deep into the substructure and are unable to predict exactly where that product will end up. The project is also dependent upon getting the liquified CO2 from the business or factory producing it out to the capture field through a pipeline which would cross literally hundreds of landowners from Hopkins County to Texarkana. The term “eminent domain” comes up for this project, as some landowners reluctant to lease their land for the project could be forced to lease or sell their land at a rate determined by someone else for the “greater public good.” The long term effects for this process, on this scale, are unknown at this time.
Lithium Mining from Brine Extraction
Extracting valuable lithium from water deposits deep underground involves drilling a well, pumping out the water, extracting the lithium from the water and then pumping the residual water back down into the same area from which it came. The leases on the land for this process prove to be complicated as currently the water that they pump out of the ground belongs to the surface landowner (not the mineral rights owner). Also, there are several different lithium extraction methods used once the water gets to the surface, some of which may be damaging to the environment. The companies employed to secure land leases (from the surface owner) are offering a one time payment up front and then a royalty share on the lithium extracted. Anyone receiving an offer on their land for this or any project should consult an attorney before signing anything.
Apex Clean Energy
The term “wind farm” may sound pleasant but these giant windmills which could reach 800 feet tall or higher are massive structures that can be noisy and contain a massive amount of hydraulic oil at the hub. Apex Clean Energy has expressed their desire to lease anywhere between 10,000 to 14,000 acres to erect approximately 100 turbines across the county to connect to either of the two transmission lines that traverse our county. They are seeking mostly contiguous land to line up these windmills in order to easily connect them back to the grid. Representatives of Apex have been busy sigining leases with interested land owners and are committed to coming to Hopkins County with or without a tax abatement. But, Hopkins County officials continue to explore the option of granting Apex a tax abatement to have more control over the project. Apex revealed to KSST News that they offer what they call a “good neighbor lease” to adjoining land owners who may be affected by a windmill on a neighboring property. KSST News research shows that these neighboring leases also allows Apex to build their windmills with fewer restrictions closer to neighboring property.
CryptoCurrency Mining Facility
The Hopkins County Commissioner’s Court received a letter from Harbor Blocktech indicating their intentions of building a cryptocurrencty mining facility in the southwestern portion of the county. Other communities have fought these installations as some feel they are noisy and obtrusive. It is not clear at this time if Harbor Blocktech or their agents will be asking for a tax abatement. KSST News reached out to agents of Harbor Blocktech and did not receive a response.
What’s Next?
It is anyone’s guess as to what the next “big project” to come to Hopkins County may be, but rest assured any company looking for lots of open land and few restrictions will have Hopkins County in their sights. The appeal of any additional tax revenue is very attractive to county officials as these companies promise and quickly agree to PILOT payments for the first 10 years, but simply not enough time has passed from the first project to the last request to know exactly what can happen. Other green energy projects in other counties sit abandonded and damaged with no cleanup in sight. One can only assume that the company has defaulted on their contract and not continuing to pay their reduced taxes or PILOT or whatever agreement they had.
In these past few years since the first solar plant was proposed, Hopkins County has instituted new subdivision rules and restrictions, new “wrecking yard” restrictions, and tougher septic and clearwater rules for county residents, but there are still no restrictions to build a solar plant, battery plant, windmills, or brine extraction plant……unless you want a tax abatement, and even then most restrictions are no different than state minimums. The restrictions for some or lack of restrictions for others do not fit what many say, “a person can do what they want on their own land.”
