Laserfiche WebLink
Sale at fair market value. It is not unreasonable to expect a site with GOB -restricted land to be of <br />interest to a solar developer, utility, or local unit of government. Interest may be high enough to make <br />purchase of a GOB restricted site or portion of a GOB restricted site an option to consider. However, <br />MPCA has statutory responsibilities for these sites which may limit sale is a feasible option. <br />Retiring GOB debt. The remaining debt and time left on the obligation are important datapoints if <br />attempting to retire the debt early. Appendix D includes MPCA's records regarding expenditures and <br />timeframes by landfill but does not indicate the amount of the remaining debt for each site. MMB reports <br />it is challenging to identify remaining debt for a specific landfill site because when the State sells bonds it <br />is not for specifically identified projects but rather for particular enacted bonding bills. Any assessment of <br />outstanding debt will require a careful analysis of past accounting records. It is unlikely that remaining <br />debt could be determined at the individual parcel level. Because parcel -by -parcel debt accounting is so <br />complex MMB has indicated all GOB debt for a site would need to be retired at a site for solar <br />development to occur. <br />MMB has indicated retiring a bond obligation early would require legislative action. At this time, it is <br />difficult to gauge the legislature's interest in or ability to pay off this debt to promote or enable solar <br />development on closed landfills. <br />The following are questions summarized from the discussion above that may serve as future lines of <br />inquiry: <br />• How much is the outstanding bond obligation for a given CLP site? <br />• What is the legislative process for retiring the obligation early? <br />The existence of GOB restrictions presents a significant challenge to development of solar on bond - <br />restricted parcels at 55 sites. Given the potential for solar development at non -GOB restricted sites it <br />might be prudent to first focus on the sites where there are no such restrictions, and non -bond restricted <br />parcels on landfill sites where bond -restricted parcels exist. However, the state is interested in <br />understanding the barrier imposed by GOBs and identifying options to addressing it. <br />To address this barrier, we might suggest using the top five sites with bond obligations (identified in <br />Section 3) to develop a process and report identifying options for addressing the existing general bond <br />obligation and allow solar development on these five sites. This would supply options and valuable <br />information regarding the legal actions and associated time -frames necessary to proceed with potential <br />development. Furthermore, a successful process could perhaps be replicated for other sites as interest in <br />those sites is identified. <br />21 <br />