Lonoke County Judge Doug Erwin has postponed a decision on whether the county will sign a deal with a solar company that wants to build a 300 megawatt project near Keo that could supply enough clean electricity to power up to 70,000 homes. Invernegy, the privately held energy company behind the project, is asking Lonoke County to issue a $700 million bond to finance its construction coupled with a tax abatement deal to lower the solar project’s property tax burden for the first 30 years.

At a Lonoke County Quorum Court meeting hosted near the county courthouse on Tuesday, around 50 residents gathered in a small, stuffy room to hear a plan from Invernegy representatives. Under Arkansas law, Erwin, the county’s chief executive, has sole authority on signing the deal the company is seeking i

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