Monday, December 21, 2015

Startling discovery of a town even more insanely opposed to green energy than Charlestown

Scientific Ignorance Rules the Day in Batsh*t  Crazy Town Rejecting Deadly Solar Panels


EDITOR’S NOTE: In Charlestown, the most common forms of alternative energy are gas-powered backup generators and wood stoves. Charlestown has effectively banned any and all devices that convert wind into electricity and is none too keen on other types of green energy. But it could be worse, as this article shows.

As the son of a scientist, I can’t even tell you what it does to me to have to write this, but here goes.

A town in North Carolina whose citizens apparently have no access to the modern technology you and I take for granted — the internet, television, or books — has rejected a proposal for a solar farm off Highway 258 in Woodland, N.C.

The area around Woodland is a popular choice because it has an electrical substation nearby, allowing the panels to be hooked up to the national grid to supplementing the existing power — thereby making it cheaper and more ecologically friendly.

The company, Strata, told townspeople during a meeting that, “There are no negative impacts. A solar farm is a wonderful use for a property like this.”

The spokesperson for the company also added that “The panels don’t draw additional sunlight,” which would seem like a pretty idiotic and unnecessary statement to make, until you spoke to some of the town folk.

Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, said she was concerned the panels would prevent plants in the area from photosynthesizing, stopping them from growing. A science teacher said that.


Mann said she had seen areas near solar panels where plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

Are you getting this? A science teacher is worried that the solar panels will suck sun light away from the plants around them and that they will die.

Mann also said she was concerned about the rising risk of cancer deaths in the area – despite the fact that recent reports show the area’s cancer rate is actually falling – saying that no one could tell her that solar panels were not causing the cancer.

“I want to know what’s going to happen,” she said. “I want information. Enough is enough. I don’t see the profit for the town.

“People come with hidden agendas,” she said. “Until we can find if anything is going to damage this community, we shouldn’t sign any paper.”

It gets better. A lot better.

During the Woodland Town Council meeting, Bobby Mann (possibly related to Jane) said solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not go to Woodland, according to the “Roanoke-Chowan News Herald.”

During the hearing, Strata representative Brent Niemann, actually felt compelled — in the 21st century — to say, “The panels don’t draw additional sunlight.”

As a result, When Mayor Kenneth Manual called for the vote, it was 3-1 against rezoning the land. That wasn’t enough however, the council later voted for a moratorium on future solar farms.

Richard Zombeck is a freelance writer & featured blogger at Huffington Post. He's much older and angrier than he looks.