Community members in Stockton, a small community in northern Baldwin County, are rallying against a proposed 4,500-acre solar panel project that will support a Meta data center in Montgomery, located more than 100 miles away. 

The Alabama Public Service Commission approved the solar panel project in December. The proposed solar panel project would provide energy for the more than 1.3 million square foot data center Meta is building in Montgomery. Under the plan, a 4,500-acre solar panel array will be built in Stockton by solar energy company Silicon Ranch, and energy generated by the panels will be funneled to Alabama Power, off-setting the power used by the Montgomery data center. 

Since the commission’s vote, more than 2,000 people have joined the Facebook group “Stop Solar in Stockton,” and more than 300 people showed up to a meeting at the Stockton Civic Club last week to express their disapproval of the project.

Stockton community members have said they feel blindsided by the project, saying that they were not aware the public service commission would be voting on a project in their community.

“The project went through without anyone knowing, very quickly, and the citizens are outraged,” Meagan Fowler, co-founder of Stop Solar in Stockton, told al.com. 

Residents are also concerned about the environmental impacts of the project. The land for the solar panel project is located on the edge of Mobile-Tensaw River Delta —  an area known as Alabama’s Amazon for its wetland biodiversity. The delta is home to the largest number of turtle species in the world, including several endangered species. 

“What’s particularly concerning is this is going to be a really large project. They’re gonna have to go in there and cut timber. They’re gonna have to do dirt work,” Nick Williams, a board member for Mobile Baykeeper told al.com. 

Silicon Ranch has also violated environmental laws with some of their past projects, including in Georgia and Tennessee. 

The project is slated to be completed by the end of 2028.

Alabama top stories in brief

‘The Alabama Solution’ inmates moved to solitary sue prison officials

• Three Alabama inmates have filed a federal lawsuit against prison officials, alleging that they were moved to solitary confinement in retaliation to their role in Oscar-nominated documentary “The Alabama Solution.” 
• Inmates Melvin Ray, Robert Earl Council and Ricardo “Raoul” Poole were all featured in the documentary, which seeks to show conditions inside of the state’s prisons. All three inmates are also leaders in the Free Alabama Movement, an inmate rights group that has been calling an inmate work strike in recent months.  
• The three men were moved into solitary confinement at Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery on Jan. 12 and 13, where they have not been able to see other prisoners, send mail or make phone calls, according to the inmates’ lawyers. 
• The lawsuit claims that the move was in retaliation to the men’s activist work, which the lawsuit says is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
• “The transfer of inmates is based on intelligence that they are engaged in activity that is detrimental to the safety and security of the facilities and the public,” the Alabama Department of Corrections said in a statement regarding Ray, Council and Poole’s relocation.

Millions in federal funding going towards I-65 Tennessee River Bridge expansion

• Out of the almost $33.4 million in federal funding going towards north Alabama infrastructure projects, $3 million will go towards a feasibility study concerning expanding the Interstate 65 Tennessee River Bridge in Decatur. The bridge is a major thoroughfare between Huntsville and the cities to its south.
• U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, R-Monrovia, confirmed the funding allocation last week, saying, “As more families and businesses choose to call North Alabama home, the need for strategic infrastructure improvements and workforce development has never been greater.”
• The funds come from the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2026, an omnibus funding bill that went into effect in early February. 
• The project seeks to alleviate traffic issues in the Huntsville metro area, as the city’s population has skyrocketed in recent years to make it the state’s largest city. More growth is expected, as the U.S. Space Command headquarters moves to the area alongside a new $6 billion Eli Lilly pharmaceutical manufacturing plant.

Lawmakers expand death penalty to include child rape

• Rape of a child younger than 12 years old is now a capital offense in Alabama, after Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a new bill last week.
• The bill, titled the “Child Predator Death Penalty Act,” makes those found guilty of first-degree sodomy, and first-degree sexual assault of victims younger than 12 eligible for the death penalty.
• “With the signing of the Child Predator Death Penalty Act into law, Alabama has taken decisive action to ensure that the most horrific offenses committed against minors face the maximum punishment our legal system permits,” said one of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne.
• The law goes directly against the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which banned applying the death penalty in non-homicide cases. 
• Tennessee and Florida have passed similar laws in recent years.

Alabama town settles forever chemicals lawsuit

• Centre, a small town on the Alabama-Georgia border, has settled a nine-year-long lawsuit with DuPont, with lawyers representing the town’s water utility board signing a confidential settlement with the chemical manufacturer.  
• Centre’s water board sued 3M and DuPont in 2017, as well as several carpet manufacturers located in Dalton, Georgia, claiming that chemicals used in carpet manufacturing contaminated water in Weiss Lake, a source of Centre’s water, with PFAS.
• PFAS, known as forever chemicals, have been linked to a myriad of health issues, including cancer.

Brookside settles policing-for-pay lawsuits

• The city of Brookside has settled a lawsuit in its policing-for-pay scandal, agreeing to a $1.5 million payout for those who were affected by the city’s aggressive ticketing practices.
• A class action lawsuit was filed in 2022, after the Brookside police’s aggressive ticketing and fining practices as a way to generate revenue for the city were brought to light. The city’s revenue increased by 640% from 2018 to 2022 due to an influx of fines and fees from traffic tickets and other policing. 
• In addition to the payouts, the city has agreed to permanently repeal its fee for towing cars and remove its police from Interstate 22, unless responding to an emergency call. The city is also barred from keeping any revenue generated by its police department for the next five years.
• The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama will now have to approve the settlement.

Our articles you might have missed

• Check out the latest episode of Alabama Spotlight podcast, where Wesley Hyde and Harrison Neville discuss Hyde’s book review of “Alabama Moon,” and discuss their own experiences hiking and exploring Alabama nature. 

• In another Alabama Spotlight, Wesley Hyde covers Fannie Flagg’s latest work, “Something to Look Forward To,” a short story collection full of cozy vignettes and enjoyable moments.

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