The hillside where the proposed Shaftsbury solar project would be located. The Public Utility Commission gave the green light Monday to an 80-acre industrial solar field development on a sloping hillside of sprawling meadows, thick forests and agricultural fields in Shaftsbury. Forests sequester carbon, so tree clearing partially counteracts the greenhouse gas benefits associated with the addition to the renewable energy grid, Cheney wrote. Bennington Regional Planning Commission Planner Callie Fishburn wrote in a Thursday statement that the Shaftsbury solar project’s approval will further the region’s renewable energy goals. Judith Schwartz, a Bennington resident and environmental journalist who wrote a commentary on the Shaftsbury Solar Project, opposes the idea that deforestation is necessary for renewable energy development.