Arkansas County Weighs $600 Million Bond for Driftwood Solar Project Amid Farmland Concerns

STUTTGART/DEWITT, Ark. — Arkansas County residents packed a county court session this week to debate a proposed $600 million industrial development revenue bond that would clear the way for a 200-megawatt solar farm and 100-megawatt battery storage system on roughly 2,000 acres of farmland between St. Charles and DeWitt.

The county judge, Eddie Best,  opened the floor to public comment on the bond ordinance, which would be issued under Arkansas's Act 9 industrial development law for the Driftwood Solar project. Several landowners spoke against the plan, citing lost farmland, uncertain long-term cleanup, and questions about who ultimately profits. County officials and the project's developer, Boston-based Longroad Energy, argued the deal carries no financial risk to the county and would generate millions in new tax revenue.

Sherrie Brewer, a Stuttgart resident whose family has deep roots in the area's farming history, led off public comment with a list of written concerns. She questioned whether nearby property values would fall, whether the project could expand into something larger such as a data center, and whether water use would strain a region already facing drought. She also pressed for clarity on who is underwriting the project, who carries insurance liability, and what would happen if the venture failed. Citing the developer's past corporate ties, she urged the court to reject the bond, warning it could preclude better opportunities for the county down the road.

Other landowners echoed worries that converting productive rice and farm ground to solar use would shrink local agricultural income at a time of tight rice supplies, and that no amount of post-project "cleanup" would fully restore the land to farmable condition. Several also asked how tax revenue would be divided between school districts, since the bulk of the proposed site sits in the county's southern district rather than the north.

Bond counsel Walter McSpadden, representing the developer, told the court that under a revenue bond structure, the county carries no financial obligation. Investors who buy the bonds are betting on the project's profitability, not on any county guarantee, he said, and the company,  not the county, is responsible for insurance and liability. McSpadden also disputed claims that solar installations depress neighboring property values, saying he had not seen documented evidence of that effect across similar projects statewide, and noted the project would use no water.

Arkansas County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Blair, who reviewed the bond documents on the court's behalf, offered a similar explanation. He said the arrangement is essentially a mechanism for reducing the project's personal property tax burden in exchange for locating in the county, and that state statute caps the county's financial exposure at zero. He estimated the project would generate about $750,000 a year in personal property tax payments more than 20 times the roughly $20,000 the land currently generates in real property tax for an estimated total exceeding $20 million over 30 years.

Cliff Scher, Development Director for Longroad Energy, said the company has operated for a decade, has moved about 7,000 megawatts of wind, solar and storage projects into operation, and unlike a pure developer retains ownership and operation of its projects long-term. He said Driftwood would connect to the existing Tarlton 230kV substation, has completed wetland, environmental and cultural resource studies, and would use a single contiguous block of land rather than scattering across multiple parcels. Construction, pending completion of a regional grid interconnection review, could begin as early as 2028 or 2029.

Scher said the company's lease with the landowner requires it to remove equipment at the end of the project's life and to post a decommissioning bond to fund cleanup if it fails to do so. He also addressed a resident's concern linking the project to Pine Gate Renewables, saying Driftwood was originally developed by a company called REZ and acquired by Longroad in 2023, with no Pine Gate affiliation.

Karolyn Owens-Jackson, a  Stuttgart City Council Member asked whether the developer would consider planting pollinator-friendly vegetation, such as native grasses, around the solar arrays. Scher said Longroad routinely incorporates pollinator species into its vegetation management plans. Another resident asked about the safety of battery storage technology; Scher said advances over the past five to ten years have reduced overheating risks and that batteries also help stabilize the grid during outages.

Blair reiterated that the county bears no liability for cleanup, noting any abandoned equipment would remain the landowner's responsibility, not the county's.

Brewer, who had raised concerns earlier in the meeting, also noted that Entergy, the regional utility, is separately investing in the infrastructure needed to convert the project's direct current output into the alternating current used on the grid. She said she had been told by utility representatives that regional electricity demand is projected to grow 20% over the next five years, and that Entergy has an interest in seeing projects like Driftwood succeed rather than fail, given that growing need.

County Judge Eddie Best said he would take everything into consideration before he decided to sign the agreement.