A southwest Georgia couple who argued a massive solar array next door to their property repeatedly sent muddy runoff onto their land has settled with the companies behind the project, resolving the case weeks before it was set to head back to trial.
Attorneys for the couple, Stewart County residents Shaun and Amie Harris, notified the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia last week that they had reached a settlement with Nashville-based solar power developer Silicon Ranch and its contractor, Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc.
Neither the Harrises nor Silicon Ranch revealed terms of the settlement agreement.
The case gained notoriety because of the eye-popping $135 million in damages a jury initially awarded the couple in spring 2023. At the time, the jury found Silicon Ranch and IEA were negligent and acted with “specific intent to cause harm” in constructing a 100-megawatt solar facility outside Columbus.
Credit: Chase Gibson
Credit: Chase Gibson
The panels were installed in Stewart County in 2021 through a partnership between Silicon Ranch and Walton Electric Membership Corp. of Georgia. Electricity from the site powers a data center owned by Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — in Newton County, about an hour east of Atlanta.
In a statement, Silicon Ranch called the settlement a “compromise that is in the best interests of all parties to avoid spending additional time and resources on protracted litigation.”
“Silicon Ranch looks forward to continuing the important work that we do in Stewart County, throughout the state of Georgia, and across the United States to help make communities stronger, healthier, and more resilient, all while investing in energy infrastructure, revitalizing domestic manufacturing, and bolstering new agricultural and conservation opportunities in rural America,” the company said.
James E. Butler, Jr., the lead attorney for the Harrises, said the couple was “pleased to finally have this behind them.”
“It has been a long and miserable three-and-a-half years for them,” he said in a statement.
IEA and its attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Harrises own a 1,630-acre property — including a fishing lake — located downstream from the solar arrays. The lawsuit said the defendants cleared vegetation and graded nearly 1,000 acres of land uphill from the Harrises to install solar panels without placing adequate erosion controls around the project. The plaintiffs said that beginning in 2021, runoff from the project repeatedly had choked their property and fishing lake with mud.
While the jury’s verdict holding the companies liable has remained all along, U.S. District Court Judge Clay D. Land ruled in October 2023 the damages were excessive and pared the award back dramatically, to $5 million. Attorneys for the Harrises fought the reduction; ultimately, the court ordered a new trial solely on damages.
Before the settlement was reached, the second trial was scheduled to begin in April.
Two days before the settlement was announced, attorneys for the Harrises filed a status report with the court, which included evidence from December that they said showed sediment pollution from the site was ongoing.
The settlement comes as solar developers, drawn by relatively cheap land and ample sunshine, continue to target rural South Georgia for large-scale solar installations. But pushback is growing against the projects — and the Harrises’ saga has been among the reasons.
In September, commissioners in Houston County — located south of Macon — rejected a proposal by Silicon Ranch to build a $300 million solar power project next to a wildlife area. The potential impact on the black bear population in the area was one source of opposition, but other residents told county officials they feared the development would create runoff problems. Several cited the Stewart County saga as a prime example.
About the Author
