SAVE OUR FARMLAND
Earthrise, a Virginia commercial solar developer, has filed a special use zoning application to cover over 6,000 acres of prime Illinois farmland with 1.5 million solar panels and utility-scale solar storage batteries. The proposed 600 MW Will County facility will span three townships, including Green Garden, Manhattan and Wilton Townships.
Please sign our online petition to save thousands of acres of prime farmland and help stop this reckless Earthrise commercial solar project (ZC-25-129) and opportunistic HW data center (PUD-8-25, A-4-25). Please help us preserve the rural character of our townships and protect the lifestyles and property investments of our residents.
We Sincerely Thank You.
The Watershed Committee [email protected]
---
Read on for more details...
These townships are NOT vacant fields. In a five-mile radius, there are almost 3,200 homes and 9,000 residents, who have invested their fortunes and lifetimes into generational farms, estates, farmettes and custom subdivision homes. Earthrise 20' H solar panels and fire-prone storage batteries will be set back only 50' from backyards, snaking throughout rural neighborhoods with no privacy berms required.
Earthrise is NOT a "community-based" project. Of the 36 landholders involved in this phase, more than 2/3rds are corporations or parties that do not live in the townships where they have leased properties to Earthrise. Just two parties account for 35 of the 100 parcels involved.
Some properties are sale leasebacks to Accelerate Infrastructure Opportunities, a Texas business that manages solar leases and data centers. In the same month that Earthrise held its only public meeting, another Texas corporation, HW/Hillwood Technology Park Development, announced a nearby 24-building data center on 795 acres. Expected to be the largest in Illinois, the proposed data center site is just south of the Chicagoland Speedway Race Track.
Today's rising electric bills are directly caused by enormous power consumption of data centers. Our PJM power grid is currently overloaded with data centers, with 231 in northern Illinois and 667 in Virginia, where Earthrise Corporation is located. PJM is now proposing that new data centers provide an independent power source. This Earthrise solar project will power the HW data center. It is NOT power for the people.
6,000 acres of farmland are needed by Earthrise to generate 600 MW of energy from solar panels. That same energy can be produced on just 30 acres with natural gas turbines or on 80 acres with modular or cold fusion, emerging clean energies that are replacing the fading solar industry.
Earthrise's stranglehold on these townships will convert rural real estate into commercial and industrial zones. Earthrise solicitations continue, and 10,500 acres of farmland with solar lease options span over 20 miles in six townships, from Route 66 to Interstate 57, from Dralle Rd. south of Frankfort to the banks of the Kankakee River.
This Earthrise project will bloat and metastasize under the 2023 solar laws passed by Illinois and Will County that grant the solar industry, above all other commerce, business or citizenry, the ability to erase 75 years of Illinois zoning rights, disregard local comprehensive plans, silence local decision-makers, and so corrupt the “special use” privilege on farmland that 100 parcels scattered in three townships will be included in a single land use case.
This is a zoning abomination, caused by untested solar laws, driven by ideology and not sound energy policy. Utility-scale solar facilities are industrial uses. This mass industrialization of local farmland will destabilize Will County’s largest remaining farming district, devalue area homes, destroy rental farmer incomes, end new home construction and further reduce the declining school district student population. No one will build their dream homes here, ending a 50-year trend of rural residential growth.
For decades, Will County was warned not to over-industrialize, to avoid depleting its drinking water supply. Undeterred, Will County's rampant industrialization will now deplete its own aquifer in five years, with a one billion dollar price tag to pipe in water from Lake Michigan to Joliet and nearby communities.
Please sign our online petition to save thousands of acres of prime farmland and help stop this reckless Earthrise commercial solar project (ZC-25-129) and opportunistic HW data center (PUD-8-25, A-4-25). Please help us preserve the rural character of our townships and protect the lifestyles and property investments of our residents.
We Sincerely Thank You.
The Watershed Committee [email protected]
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 23, 2026
Reached 100 supporters
December 6, 2025
326 Comments
Construction of the solar site and sinking of poles will damage existing farm drain tiles. Regrading of ground will change surface drainage and result in flooding of farm lands. This will result in destruction of our rural and scenic lands.
Joliet is already looking for a water solution. Our aquifers are drying up. Data centers use a ton of water. Make them stop! Put solar panels on warehouse and parking roofs. Not on our farm land!
YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO LOOK AT THIS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, PLEASE DO NOT FORCE US TO! This is also dangerously close to the cleanest river in IL and there isn’t enough real world experience/data with these and ground water, we are all on wells out here.
I have a solar field that was crammed down my throat. It is not pretty and it is not farming and it is commercialization taking advantage of tax dollars that I pay. Stop solar. Stop data centers.
We are wasting food farm land, running out animals, and heating the atmosphere all of which will change this world for the worse. If solar is so great, out those panels on the top of all these ugly warehouses, grocery stores, big box stores. Not on prime farm.land.
We need farmlands for nature plus this is an indigenous issue too.
Stop destroying farmland
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via . Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
By signing, you accept our Terms and Privacy Policy and agree to occasional emails about petitions. Unsubscribe anytime.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
SAVE OUR FARMLAND
Earthrise, a Virginia commercial solar developer, has filed a special use zoning application to cover over 6,000 acres of prime Illinois farmland with 1.5 million solar panels and utility-scale solar storage batteries. The proposed 600 MW Will County facility will span three townships, including Green Garden, Manhattan and Wilton Townships.
Please sign our online petition to save thousands of acres of prime farmland and help stop this reckless Earthrise commercial solar project (ZC-25-129) and opportunistic HW data center (PUD-8-25, A-4-25). Please help us preserve the rural character of our townships and protect the lifestyles and property investments of our residents.
We Sincerely Thank You.
The Watershed Committee [email protected]
---
Read on for more details...
These townships are NOT vacant fields. In a five-mile radius, there are almost 3,200 homes and 9,000 residents, who have invested their fortunes and lifetimes into generational farms, estates, farmettes and custom subdivision homes. Earthrise 20' H solar panels and fire-prone storage batteries will be set back only 50' from backyards, snaking throughout rural neighborhoods with no privacy berms required.
Earthrise is NOT a "community-based" project. Of the 36 landholders involved in this phase, more than 2/3rds are corporations or parties that do not live in the townships where they have leased properties to Earthrise. Just two parties account for 35 of the 100 parcels involved.
Some properties are sale leasebacks to Accelerate Infrastructure Opportunities, a Texas business that manages solar leases and data centers. In the same month that Earthrise held its only public meeting, another Texas corporation, HW/Hillwood Technology Park Development, announced a nearby 24-building data center on 795 acres. Expected to be the largest in Illinois, the proposed data center site is just south of the Chicagoland Speedway Race Track.
Today's rising electric bills are directly caused by enormous power consumption of data centers. Our PJM power grid is currently overloaded with data centers, with 231 in northern Illinois and 667 in Virginia, where Earthrise Corporation is located. PJM is now proposing that new data centers provide an independent power source. This Earthrise solar project will power the HW data center. It is NOT power for the people.
6,000 acres of farmland are needed by Earthrise to generate 600 MW of energy from solar panels. That same energy can be produced on just 30 acres with natural gas turbines or on 80 acres with modular or cold fusion, emerging clean energies that are replacing the fading solar industry.
Earthrise's stranglehold on these townships will convert rural real estate into commercial and industrial zones. Earthrise solicitations continue, and 10,500 acres of farmland with solar lease options span over 20 miles in six townships, from Route 66 to Interstate 57, from Dralle Rd. south of Frankfort to the banks of the Kankakee River.
This Earthrise project will bloat and metastasize under the 2023 solar laws passed by Illinois and Will County that grant the solar industry, above all other commerce, business or citizenry, the ability to erase 75 years of Illinois zoning rights, disregard local comprehensive plans, silence local decision-makers, and so corrupt the “special use” privilege on farmland that 100 parcels scattered in three townships will be included in a single land use case.
This is a zoning abomination, caused by untested solar laws, driven by ideology and not sound energy policy. Utility-scale solar facilities are industrial uses. This mass industrialization of local farmland will destabilize Will County’s largest remaining farming district, devalue area homes, destroy rental farmer incomes, end new home construction and further reduce the declining school district student population. No one will build their dream homes here, ending a 50-year trend of rural residential growth.
For decades, Will County was warned not to over-industrialize, to avoid depleting its drinking water supply. Undeterred, Will County's rampant industrialization will now deplete its own aquifer in five years, with a one billion dollar price tag to pipe in water from Lake Michigan to Joliet and nearby communities.
Please sign our online petition to save thousands of acres of prime farmland and help stop this reckless Earthrise commercial solar project (ZC-25-129) and opportunistic HW data center (PUD-8-25, A-4-25). Please help us preserve the rural character of our townships and protect the lifestyles and property investments of our residents.
We Sincerely Thank You.
The Watershed Committee [email protected]
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
March 23, 2026
Reached 100 supporters
December 6, 2025
326 Comments
If someone out here wants solar then buy the panels and put them on your house. We moved 9 years ago from Orland Par k to get away from the congestion and to live in a rural area with open spaces and farm land.
Construction of the solar site and sinking of poles will damage existing farm drain tiles. Regrading of ground will change surface drainage and result in flooding of farm lands. This will result in destruction of our rural and scenic lands.
Joliet is already looking for a water solution. Our aquifers are drying up. Data centers use a ton of water. Make them stop! Put solar panels on warehouse and parking roofs. Not on our farm land!
YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO LOOK AT THIS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, PLEASE DO NOT FORCE US TO! This is also dangerously close to the cleanest river in IL and there isn’t enough real world experience/data with these and ground water, we are all on wells out here.
I have a solar field that was crammed down my throat. It is not pretty and it is not farming and it is commercialization taking advantage of tax dollars that I pay. Stop solar. Stop data centers.
We are wasting food farm land, running out animals, and heating the atmosphere all of which will change this world for the worse. If solar is so great, out those panels on the top of all these ugly warehouses, grocery stores, big box stores. Not on prime farm.land.
We need farmlands for nature plus this is an indigenous issue too.
Stop destroying farmland
Help this petition grow
Share it with friends to help reach 1,500 signatures.
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via .
Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
Signing with Google or Facebook verifies your signature instantly — no email needed.
By signing, you accept our Terms and Privacy Policy and agree to occasional emails about petitions. Unsubscribe anytime.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
If someone out here wants solar then buy the panels and put them on your house. We moved 9 years ago from Orland Par k to get away from the congestion and to live in a rural area with open spaces and farm land.