Republican Senators Andrew Brock and Bill Cook have out done themselves. They’ve written a bill designed to kill the solar energy industry in North Carolina using big government regulations to take away property rights. Brock and Cook propose a mile-and-a-half setback for any solar field. That would make almost every project impossible, limiting how people use their property and killing jobs.
I’ve got a dog in this fight. My family owns property outside of Lilesville, NC. My grandfather and great-grandfather farmed it, growing cotton and then peaches. By the time I was growing up, the land was being dug up for rock by a company called Bonsal. After they finished mining all the rock, the land wasn’t good for much. The topsoil and nutrients were gone and anything that grew on it, grew slowly.
For years, we’ve tried to make enough money from it to pay the taxes and any upkeep. It’s been for sale for years with no takers. Not a lot of companies are looking to relocate to the outskirts of Lilesville these days.
Then, a year or so ago, a solar company approached us about putting in solar panels. They wanted thirty acres. In exchange, they would give us a nice lease and provide income that could support the land while providing a little money for the family. The panels were installed this winter and spring.
To get to the solar field, you leave the highway and drive a mile down a country road. Then, you turn onto a dirt road surrounded by a scrub pine forest. A half mile or so down that road, you come to the rows of solar panels. The only other way to see the field is from the air.
If Brock and Cook have their way, fields like this would be illegal. They would deny families like mine the ability to use their property to make money. They would deprive counties of revenue. And they would kill an industry that provides jobs and clean energy to North Carolina.
These Republicans aren’t conservative. They’re promoting big government regulations. They’re killing an emerging industry. And they are stepping on property rights. No, they’re authoritarians hell-bent on protecting a status quo that’s not working for too many Americans. They’re wrong for North Carolina and, in Andrew Brock’s case, they’re wrong for the United States Congress.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
They are focused on getting jobs–their jobs in the GA–and either keeping them or moving to a higher office courtesy of big companies and their big campaign contributions. They don’t give a rat’s ass about whether this will help or hurt the mass of their constituents–after all, we only vote (those of us who manage to do so under current anti-suffrage laws): it’s the people who buy the votes in the GA who matter, especially to the berks and crooks who receive their rewards.
Great, another bid from the NCGA to destroy another business. What is with these idiots? Can they focus on GETTING jobs rather than destroying whole industries at once!
Reality: Solar energy = affordable, non-polluting, non-intrusive, non-depletable, safe, accessible to all … and a threat to fossil fuel corporations’ monopoly and control
GOP political view: Solar energy = threat to fossil fuel corporations’ profits
GOP talking points: Solar energy = hippie/ gubmint-subsidy/ socialism/ choosing winners and losers/ dangerous socialism/ Vermont/ marijuana junkies/ sandals and tie-dye/ liberal media
GOP voters: duh, okay.
I live in Perquimans County, so Bill Cook (theoretically) represents me: based on what I’ve seen of/heard from him, I think I can say with confidence that Bill Cook is an ass. I’ve seen several solar arrays in our area: they aren’t visually intrusive, they don’t make any sound, and they create value for land that otherwise would be a financial burden (via property taxes) to its owners. We’ll also be getting a wind farm in the foreseeable future–in an area locally known as “the desert”, presumably because it’s not usable for much else: the components were delivered in the last week or so, but they won’t be in operation for several months at the earliest. Given that our area is low in population, jobs and money, I don’t think local people will be coming out with pitchforks and torches anytime soon. (There is some concern about danger to birds from the wind towers: but given the number of carcasses–both avian and mammalian–I see regularly on/by our highways, I don’t anticipate a lot of opposition, since the Desert population of humans is pretty small and the area doesn’t tend to attract many tourists).
Great comments!
Thanks!
You know the rule handed down from the (Art) Pope arc angel of KochCO says
“Thou shall have no other Power that Pat McCrony’s Duke Power” as it was call in his day that he worked for them.
North Carolina citizens are not getting solar power unless it is going through a Duke energy meter. It’s in the GOP crony capitalism rule book .
This bill should never get out of committee as it is a clear violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment…..and it would likely not stand a court challenge….
I agree that the proposed legislation is wrong headed, but did you forget that it is “property rights” and “doing what I want with MY property” that is the mantra of those who opposed so many environmental rules and/or regulations? It does not appear that any environmental issue is at stake here. Just would prefer clarity on that point, and a caveat re “property rights.” The latter is not sacred; important, very, but not absolute.
It seems to me that concern about “property rights” applies primarily to the rights of those whose property will be used (or affected) by either solar or wind power. While I can see some valid concerns re wind farms in terms of danger to birds, the solar arrays I’ve seen make no noise, are surprisingly unobtrusive visually, and provide income to local people who own land not being farmed or populated (or likely to be either in the foreseeable future). No one is being forced to sell their land for energy development. If the wind turbines on the Outer Banks haven’t harmed that area (and I’ve seen no signs of such), what harm are they likely to do to rural areas (other than acreage actively being farmed)? I’ll take solar or wind over polluting the ocean and killing its animals via the oil industry any day and twice on Sunday.
The sweep of closed-minded authoritarianism displayed by the NCGOP since 2010–but especially in the last 6 weeks–has been stunning. I am embarrassed for my state.
And no, I’ll not leave NC. I will stay and do whatever I can to either remove them from power or castrate their ability to wreak more damage to our state.