Indiana
Solar belongs on rooftops, not Indiana farmland | Opinion
Solar farms depend on subsidies. It is hard to justify this corporate welfare while the state and federal governments take away similar benefits from homeowners.
Solar farms in Ohio: Madison County landowners speak out
Two Madison County landowners speak out about solar farms
While solar farms might not cross your mind as an issue that can decide elections, their development fills town halls in rural Indiana with angry locals. Tippecanoe and Clark counties passed new restrictions on solar farms this month, while more than 70 other counties have temporary bans, for good reason.
“The locations that solar companies want are in the best agricultural grounds in my district,” state Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, told me over the phone. Leising is the chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture. “[Some people are] worried about the valuation of their property. Then you have people that are saying, plus, I just don’t want to look at it in my backyard.”
Leising successfully pushed the state to study the loss of prime farmland last year. Indiana has lost 345,000 acres of farmland and over 3,050 farms since 2010. However, the farmland still in use has become more efficient and the state is producing more crops than ever before.
A bigger concern is that commercial-scale solar farms depend on government subsidies and tax abatements. It is hard to justify this corporate welfare while the state and federal governments take away similar benefits from individuals looking to make their homes more self-sufficient. If the state and federal governments are going to invest in solar somewhere, it should be on rooftops, not on Indiana farmland.
The state recently created the ultimate tax abatement for solar farms. Businesses won’t pay any personal property taxes if they have less than $2 million worth of equipment in 2026, and the personal property taxes paid for new equipment can lower to zero as the equipment fully depreciates in value. Some estimates show Indiana solar farms averaged about $50,000 in personal property per acre, meaning they will likely save hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In the same bill, Indiana eliminated a property tax deduction for homeowners whose home values increase after installing solar panels. A study from Zillow showed that homes that installed solar panels increased in value by 4.1%, and the deduction was originally put in place to make sure they weren’t unfairly punished for making their homes more energy efficient.
Not to mention, the state recently eliminated net metering on behalf of energy companies. Rather than receiving full retail rates for excess electricity sent back to the grid, homeowners are now paid at a much lower rate. Meanwhile, new limits on tax credits for solar energy in the federal budget reconciliation bill are predicted to favor large companies that can pass on development costs and make it much harder for homeowners to invest in solar.
Not only do large solar corporations receive unfair advantages at the expense of homeowners, but also they’re getting these benefits despite being less efficient at producing energy.
“Some people say sun is free and wind is free, but they’re not … because there’s a huge transmission cost,” Leising said. “When you site a solar field in the middle of nowhere … then how are you going to get that power to where it needs to go? Right now, we don’t have enough battery storage to store the energy produced when the sun is shining.”
Solar panels on homes, on the other hand, are right next to where most of the energy produced is used.
If there is any benefit to solar energy, it is the possibility of seeing more self-sufficient homes and a more decentralized energy grid, where people aren’t dependent on government-granted monopolies to live their daily lives.
The benefit is almost entirely lost when it becomes another tool in the belts of those monopolies, because there are more efficient, reliable and cleaner forms of energy out there.
Any issue that involves personal property rights is going to be complicated, but when a community’s tax dollars are being stewarded poorly, it should surprise no one to see them mobilize like they have in rural Indiana.
Contact Jacob Stewart at 317-444-4683 or jacob.stewart@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Instagram.
PLAINFIELD — Light spills from a window above a wooden fixture of the crucifixion at Saint Susanna Catholic Church as parishioners weave through the pews at the close of the 11 a.m. mass on a recent Sunday.
Most leave, but some stick around for coffee and doughnuts, a fundraising effort for the church’s prison ministry, which provides rosaries, Bibles and faith study materials to inmates at the Hendricks County Jail. In the hallway are stacks of letters to U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, Sen. Todd Young and Rep. Jim Baird, urging them to support programs to reduce hunger at home and abroad.
“Cuts to SNAP and international assistance have already put millions at risk,” the letter reads, citing Jesus’ refusal to turn a hungry crowd away in the Bible verse Matthew 14:16. “We can and must do better.”
Those cuts have been hallmarks of President Donald Trump’s administration, which has taken a less generous, and at times adversarial, approach to those in need globally as it looks to reduce spending. The strategy has contributed to a larger tension between Catholicism and the president; at the helm of this opposition is Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, whose criticisms of the war in Iran have increasingly landed him in Trump’s crosshairs.
But Catholics across the nation, including at Saint Susanna, told USAToday and IndyStar that they favor the pope’s approach.
“He has done it elegantly, but yet very stern,” Eloisa Garza, who helps run the prison ministry, said of Pope Leo after mass at Saint Susanna on April 26. “Being an American, which we are Americans, that’s what sometimes other countries look at us to do as leaders.”
Garza, 70, said she appreciates that Pope Leo has the courage to speak when the world needs a powerful voice rooted in faith. His role as the first American-born pope only adds to the impact, she said.
She runs the prison ministry along with Harla Lyle, 84, who also commended the pope for his “quiet, serene composure.”
Even when in conflict with some world leaders, Lyle said, Pope Leo sticks to faith.
“I think that he really is a symbol,” she said.
The trust in Pope Leo comes as the pontiff fields blistering attacks from Trump. After the pope called Trump’s threat of annihilation in Iran “unacceptable,” the president fired back that Pope Leo was “weak on crime.”
The tension between the two men is sometimes amplified by Vice President J.D. Vance, a Catholic himself who has openly disagreed with the pope and warned him to be “be careful” when discussing theology.
American Catholics have largely backed the pope in the past, and the broader public has continued to view the pope favorably. More than two-thirds of U.S. voters who are Catholic said they view the pope favorably, according to a November 2025 poll. Three-fifths of Americans in general view the pope in a positive light, too, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found in April.
Chicago native John Paloma, who now lives in Camby, Indiana, said he used to live “down the road” from where the pope grew up. Paloma said he appreciated that the pope has not engaged in extended battles with those who criticize him.
“There might be some controversy, but as long as he keeps to the faith, what could you say?” he said, sitting at a table after mass with fellow parishioners. “My hope is still high.”
Bob Duty, an 84-year-old man sitting with Paloma, shared a similarly positive view.
“I like the pope,” Duty told IndyStar. “He’s from America.”
Contact breaking politics reporter Marissa Meador at mmeador@indystar.com or find her on X at @marissa_meador.
A man is dead following a May 4 collision on westbound Interstate 64 west of Corydon, Indiana, according to a news release from the Indiana State Police.
ISP Sgt. Carey Huls said the two-vehicle crash occurred around 5:45 a.m. when Zachary Burdin, 31, was traveling westbound on I-64, and his vehicle collided with the back of a truck with a trailer full of paving equipment.
Burdin was pronounced dead at the scene by the Harrison County Coroner. There were no other injuries reported. Officials do not attribute the crash to any weather conditions.
Huls said the crash was cleared from the highway by about 9 a.m., and there are no current issues.
POV: Spend a summer day kayaking Sugar Creek outside of Indianapolis
Pack a picnic lunch and head out on the water for a day of nature, exercise and Indiana’s iconic covered bridges.
A new nature preserve in Zionsville will open later this month after years of work converting an old golf course into publicly accessible greenspace.
The Carpenter Nature Preserve is located on the site of the former Wolf Run Club. The club, which closed in 2017, sat at the northwest corner of south Michigan Road and State Road 32 where Eagle Creek runs through the town. Once the 215-acre nature preserve opens, soft and hard-paved trails will lead visitors through woods, prairies and wetlands.
Jarod Logsdon, superintendent of parks and recreation for the Town of Zionsville, said the town is excited to get people out to the property.
“I think it’s a great example of how people and greenspace can be side by side,” Logsdon said. “[Greenspaces] obviously enhance the quality of life for residents, but they’re people’s front door to nature.”
Handshake agreement keeps land undeveloped
The town purchased the land from residents Nancy and Jim Carpenter, who bought it from developers after it hit the market in 2017. The couple held onto the property after then-Mayor Emily Styron asked the couple to keep it free from development, Logsdon said.
Once the town had shored up the money in 2021, it purchased the property from the Carpenters. The town leveraged state and federal grants to acquire the land for $5.5 million and reserve money for the initial construction and mitigation phase.
Nancy Carpenter, in a 2023 news release, said Styron invited them to the property for a visit. The couple immediately recognized how appealing it would be to a developer.
“We couldn’t let that happen,” Nancy said in the release. “You cannot find anything like this in central Indiana that will ever be available again.”
The Carpenters, who cofounded Wild Birds Unlimited and have been involved with Zionsville parks for years, maintained the property prior to selling it to the town. They mowed down old golf cart trails, set up bird boxes and planted gardens to attract pollinators. The couple worked with the town to create the master plan that eventually led to the creation of the preserve.
Education and amenities at Zionsville preserve
The preserve currently is in phase one of construction and planning, Logsdon said, and when it opens it will have more than just trails.
The department built a pavilion with nearby restrooms as well as a nature playground with a nearby seating shelter. The playground isn’t the typical steel jungle gym, Logsdon said, but is built using wood from the Pacific Northwest.
The natural building material in the playground is meant to give visitors “a taste of nature play before they go out into the preserve,” Logsdon said.
A small amphitheater also sits on the grounds, which will host campfires and other events.
These amenities will be complete when the preserve opens to the public. The department plans to build a regional nature center in the future to provide more in-depth environmental education to visitors.
While visitors will be able to visit most of the preserve, about a third of the property will be closed to the public as the Indiana Department of Natural Resources works to rehabilitate wetlands. The state will spend about $4 million to restore and maintain Eagle Creek and its tributaries in the park.
Once the preserve opens, visitors can access the entrance off 900 East, just south of SR32.
Karl Schneider is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach him at karl.schneider@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @karlstartswithk or BlueSky @karlstartswithk.bsky.social.
IndyStar’s environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
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