How land trusts can engage

The General Assembly drives the big-picture direction by setting solar targets and rules on local control. Land trusts, environmental coalitions, and relevant industry partners must be present in those General Assembly conversations to influence state legislation. They can provide testimony, meet with lawmakers, and share on-the-ground conservation perspectives. (In fact, advocacy groups including businesses and environmental NGOs played a role in shaping the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020.)

Given the short legislative sessions, year-round preparation and relationship-building with key legislators are essential.

Counties must certify project compliance with local ordinances, and many counties are enacting solar siting ordinances to guide development. Some proactive counties have developed maps of preferred areas for utility-scale solar. However, more than 30 counties have adopted restrictive solar rules due to unchecked impacts.

Land trusts can support counties in crafting balanced local policies that protect resources. They can work with county planning commissions and boards to incorporate conservation criteria into comprehensive plans and zoning. Providing data on high-value conservation lands or wildlife corridors to local officials can help them steer developers to less sensitive sites. By engaging in local ordinance development, land trusts can indirectly influence how projects are sited before the state steps in.

When a specific project is proposed, land trusts can also attend county informational meetings or permit hearings (for projects still requiring a local use permit) to voice support for conservation-minded conditions.

Building relationships with solar and wind developers early can lead to win-win outcomes. Many developers prefer to avoid controversy and delays, so they may be open to voluntary siting guidelines or mitigation commitments if approached constructively.

Land trusts in Virginia can collaborate with developers on initiatives like Pollinator Smart, a voluntary state program encouraging native plantings at solar sites. Land trusts can improve a project’s ecological value and community acceptance by offering to help a developer achieve Pollinator Smart certification, which involves creating quality habitat under and around the panels. Similarly, land trusts can promote dual-use solar by connecting developers with agricultural partners or providing technical guidance.

Another area of engagement is suggesting alternative site locations: if a developer is flexible and the land trust knows of a more suitable site in the region, brokering that conversation can relocate a project away from a highly sensitive tract.

Land trusts often have credibility in their communities and can use that trust to facilitate honest conversations about renewable energy.

Land trusts can organize or participate in public forums to educate community members about how renewable energy can be aligned with conservation priorities. By presenting case studies of successful projects and discussing the climate benefits of clean energy, land trusts can help build local understanding and dispel the notion that conserving land and hosting renewables are mutually exclusive.

These forums also allow land trusts to understand local concerns, such as viewshed, drainage, or farmland loss issues, and work toward solutions.

The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Permit by Rule (PBR) process is for 5–150 MW projects. When a specific project enters the PBR process, land trusts should be ready to engage in the administrative proceeding. PBR offers a public comment period on the proposal. Land trusts can submit comments highlighting any wildlife surveys that should be done, pointing out nearby conservation lands that warrant protective buffers, or urging specific mitigation measures. DEQ consults with other agencies like the Department of Wildlife Resources during PBR reviews, so land trust input can also be funneled through those agencies.

While the PBR is not a yes-or-no permit (projects that meet the criteria generally get approved), it can yield additional conditions. For example, if a project will impact prime farmland or forests above certain thresholds, DEQ is developing regulations to require mitigation or fees. Land trusts can support such measures in their comments.

For projects over 150 MW or utility-built that require a State Corporation Commission certificate, land trusts may participate in the SCC’s public comment process or even seek to intervene in the case. The legalistic SCC process historically focused on utility cost and need. Post-VCEA, however, the SCC is increasingly hearing more about environmental justice and land impacts.