April 19, 2021
Sunwalker solar project area is in orange with Aramis solar project in red. North Livermore Avenue
bisects the project areas.
Calendar Alert: Thursday, April 22, 9 a.m.
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors will review the Sunwalker utility scale solar facility at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 22, 2021. The hearing will be conducted online at this link: 


The public will be allowed to make comments on the project. Please speak at the hearing, and use the link at the bottom of this message to email the Supervisors today.

It is never too late to do the right thing.

Save North Livermore Valley has repeatedly requested that the Board of Supervisors direct the Planning Department to complete a comprehensive solar policy for agricultural districts and a General Plan amendment prior to reviewing any utility-scale solar projects on agricultural land.

We need to expand renewable energy to address climate change, but in a thoughtful manner. That means we don't build utility scale solar facilities on productive, environmentally important agricultural land. We should never destroy the environment in order to save it.
Take Action To Save Our Valley
Please click the green button above to contact the Alameda County Supervisors and staff today. Please add a subject line, such as Reject the Sunwalker Solar Power Plant, and your name and city of residence to the end of your message.

Here is suggested text you can cut and paste into your email message:

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Dear Board of Supervisors and County Officials:

I respectfully request that you reject the Sunwalker solar project for the following reasons:

1) North Livermore Valley has been an agricultural district for over a century and should remain one. Its scenic vistas, natural habitat and open space of the North Livermore Valley belong to all of us and must be preserved for future generations.

2) The Sunwalker project violates Measure D. Under voter-approved Measure D, the land of North Livermore Valley is restricted to agricultural uses. The County should follow the will of the voters and stop trying to circumvent Measure D by authorizing an industrial use, the large scale commercial generation of electricity, in North Livermore Valley.

3) The Sunwalker solar project will generate only a tiny amount of solar power (6 MW), yet destroy 60 acres of agricultural land and open space. This is a terrible environmental tradeoff. The agricultural land and open space of North Livermore Valley provides a habitat for multiple threatened and endangered species, playing a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of the East Bay.

4) Other, environmentally superior, ways exist to generate greater renewable energy. Alameda County can generate much greater renewable energy than the Sunwalker project while preserving its agricultural land by promoting the installation of solar panels on rooftops of home and businesses, over parking lots and next to freeways. 

5) The Sunwalker plant will add to the significant environmental damage that the Aramis plant will inflict. Although smaller than the Aramis industrial power plant approved in March 2021, the Sunwalker plant will be immediately adjacent to the Aramis plant on North Livermore Avenue. If both the Aramis and Sunwalker projects are constructed, the northern portion of North Livermore Valley will be covered with hundreds of thousands of solar panels. The protected scenic corridor of North Livermore Avenue will exist only in our photos and memories.

6) If the Sunwalker project is approved, the floodgates to industrial development in North Livermore Valley and the East County will be fully opened. The precedent for the industrialization of East Alameda County will be firmly established. Nothing will constrain the eventual conversion of the rural areas and open space in East County into industrial solar plants.

7) Before approving any new industrial solar plants, Alameda County should adopt a comprehensive plan, based on public input, that ensures any new solar facilities will be located in areas that pose the least conflict with our open space, agricultural land, wildlife habitat and scenic resources. Other counties, including Santa Clara and Contra Cost Counties, have adopted comprehensive solar policies. Alameda County should do the same.
  
In conclusion, North Livermore Valley is designated as an agricultural district and should remain one. The Sunwalker project should be rejected.
Overturning A Legacy Of Conservation
If the Board of Supervisors continues its categorical support of solar power regardless of all other considerations and approves the Sunwalker solar project, it is not just the farms and ranches of North Livermore Valley that could not be cleared of vegetation, graded, excavated and turned into endless rows of solar panels. Private companies could sweep into the East County and build solar facilities on every plot of land in red with black cross hatches in the zoning map below.

In less than two months, the Board of Supervisors will have set the precedent for reversing the work of generations of East County residents and environmentalists who sought to preserve the agricultural land and open space for future generations, not turn the land over to private, for profit energy corporations.
GoFundMe Campaign Update

We are grateful to the 97 donors that have generously donated nearly $29,000 to our litigation fund. 100% of all funds will go to our lawsuit to reverse the County's approval of the Aramis industrial solar power plant.

Litigation, however, is costly and we need to raise additional funds. Please contribute today to our GoFundMe campaign.
About Save North Livermore Valley

We started as a group of farm and ranch families and other members of the North Livermore Valley Rural Community. We have been joined by over 400 concerned residents in the City of Livermore and Tri-Valley area united for the purpose of preserving the open space, agricultural land and wildlife habitat of North Livermore Valley for future generations.