Pulaski County looking to put a pause on incoming large-scale projects

PULASKI COUNTY, Ind. -- At Monday night’s Pulaski County Commissioners meeting, a discussion was had on putting moratoriums on large-scale projects like solar, battery energy storage and carbon capture.

“It doesn’t mean things aren’t gonna happen, it just means we need time to look at things and to make the best decisions for our county. Currently, in Pulaski County, we have no ordinances written to protect us from battery energy storage systems, data centers, carbon capture. There’s no language in there,” said District 1 commissioner, Jenny Knebel.

Solar has also created a divide among the local GOP party. One resident, Logan Wuethrich, said the conversation around solar unearthed other issues within the party.

“I always say that solar was the magician’s hands that ripped the tablecloth off and everything went tumbling. Solar, because it’s such a monumental thing, and thing of such scale, showed a lot of incompetencies in the way we run our county and the way our county government operates. When it comes to fiscal responsibility, when it comes to our values, and who's a republican or who's a democrat or who's a conservative and who's a liberal,” said Wuethrich.

The commissioners all agreed to start the process of placing moratoriums on incoming projects, but some locals, like member of the GOP party, Isaiah Tidwell, are worried what the opposing opinions will mean for the future of the GOP party.

“I see the next step just being conversations. I believe that everyone needs to come together when we go to these meetings… I would like to see more policy focused meetings… I hope and pray our country finds it feet and does well in the future,” said Tidwell.