<
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1154867064/solar-power-misinformation-activists-rural-america>
'Roger Houser's ranching business was getting squeezed. The calves he raises in
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley were selling for about the same price they had a
few years earlier, while costs for essentials like fuel and fertilizer kept
going up. But Houser found another use for his 500 acres.
An energy company offered to lease Houser's property in rural Page County to
build a solar plant that could power about 25,000 homes. It was a good offer,
Houser says. More money than he could make growing hay and selling cattle.
"The idea of being able to keep the land as one parcel and not have it split up
was very attractive," Houser says. "To have some passive income for retirement
was good. And then the main thing was the electricity it would generate and the
good it would do made it feel good all the way around."
But soon after he got the offer, organized opposition began a four-year battle
against solar development in the county. A group of locals eventually joined
forces with a nonprofit called Citizens for Responsible Solar to stop the
project on Houser's land and pass restrictions effectively banning big solar
plants from being built in the area.
Citizens for Responsible Solar is part of a growing backlash against renewable
energy in rural communities across the United States. The group, which was
started in 2019 and appears to use strategies honed by other activists in
campaigns against the wind industry, has helped local groups fighting solar
projects in at least 10 states including Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania,
according to its website.'
Via Paul Ferguson.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
