Editor, The Era-Leader:
Well, the solar ordinance is in the hands of the parish council. They are reviewing it and with input from the WPCC group, revising some parts and it will be sent back to the attorneys retained by the council to write it. I heard also that Big Solar was there too.
Why is this ordinance so important?
It will govern this new industry in our parish in the years ahead. It will require certain specific things from these companies who come here and certain behaviors on how they conduct their business in our parish.
This is our home. These are the homes for our children and grandchildren. How we leave it to them will influence their decisions to stay here and have families of their own. If we do not leave it hospitable to them, they will leave and go elsewhere.
In a recent article in Forbes magazine, (https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/01/27/backlash-against-renewables-surged-in-2021-with-31-big-wind-and-13-big-solar-projects-vetoed-across-us/?sh=119e52b03bb7), contributed by Robert Bryce, climate activist, Bill McKibben asserted that these renewable energy sources, solar and wind, "...won't require very much land." This is one of the many false claims about land intensity made by the renewables. The notion that there are plenty of rural towns and counties/parishes who just can't wait to have forests of wind turbines and oceans of solar panels inflicted upon them is "nothing more than rank propaganda." Ironically, Mr McKibben's home state of Vermont won't allow wind turbines to be built there. Hmmmm...
There were 13 large scale solar projects that were rejected in 2021. Solar projects in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Montana were rejected or withdrawn after meeting fierce local opposition. The objections to solar projects is because communities want to protect valuable farmland from being taken out of production, property value concerns and the ugly views of all those panels.
Nearly half of the world's polysilicon, the key ingredient for solar panels, comes from Xinjiang province in China where the Chinese government has a program of systematic repression and forced labor.
Jesse Ausubel, Director of the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University says: "Wind and Solar may be renewable, but they are not "green.'" They are, also, not morally or environmentally superior.
So, where does this leave us, the citizens of Washington Parish, in all this. We aren't going to be receiving any benefit from the Iris Solar project on Hwy 16. The power generated is going south to Orleans parish. They have been granted ITEP status and are absolved of paying any property taxes for the next 10 years to our parish. And, they won't be bringing any significant jobs to our area.
We all need to be very involved in this ordinance. We all need to show up at the parish council meetings and voice our concerns as a properly represented constituency with the freedom to speak our minds. We need to let our representatives know what our desires are for where we live. Big solar doesn't live here. They will set up their money-making machine and go back home and reap the profits.
Ben M Sarro
Franklinton, Washington Parish, Louisiana
