Landfill, hog farms would be better than solar project

Published 12:36 pm Tuesday, May 11, 2021

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To the Editor:

Please take time to attend the Lunenburg County supervisor’s regular meeting on this coming Thursday, May 13, to be held at the Lunenburg County Circuit Court.

Keep in mind that the Lunenburg Planning Commission voted down just one of the many industrial mega sites called “Red Brick.”  Now, the proper denial of the “Red Brick” project here in Lunenburg is being appealed.  This is just one of SolUnesco’s many projects proposed for this area.

So, my question for you is, why is the full court press on here?  We all know North Carolina is completely built out with these solar industrial mega-sites, so the carpetbaggers have descended upon us.  The promises are grand, but the reality is bleak, just as with the promise of riches from landfills for out-of-state garbage and intensive hog farming that almost passed here until a hurricane or two made clear that what those carpetbaggers were peddling was the same as what escaped from their washed-out lagoons and hog-corpse-saturated rivers.

Now, “Red Brick” is put forth as a simple and humble, little green energy site.  The reality is far from that.  SolUnesco is hiding behind different project names to infest this county and our neighboring counties with these solar industrial mega-sites.

Last week I wrote a letter explaining that the total area proposed for this project here in Lunenburg County was larger than the area of the 5,000-acre Raleigh Durham Airport.  I was wrong.

The response from my letter has educated me.  If we include Mecklenburg, Charlotte and Brunswick counties, we are looking at proposed solar industrial mega-site areas that, if approved, will be more than twice the 15,000-acre size of the island of Manhattan. In four quiet, rural counties.  Think about that, as it will forever destroy our landscapes, our history, our community, our environment, and it will turn us against each other in a fashion that makes the Civil War look like amateur hour.

I will remind you that everyone who sings a song so sweet is passing by.  The entire world looks at the price of $24 for the island of Manhattan as one of the great thefts of history.  I will put forth to all of you that we are about to replace that as the worst real estate deal in the world if we let SolUnesco buy us out for promises and destroy our counties because a few wealthy landowners are willing to deal with them and sell us all out.  I must remind you that proper planning and zoning is designed to prevent just that and that you all insist those laws are followed.

In closing, I put forth to you that we would be better off with the out-of-state landfills or intensive hog farms, because at least we know what we are dealing with.  Along those lines, we would be better off doing nothing at all and seeing what the next hurricane brings, just as we did with the hog farms.

We need not sleep with or marry the first woman we meet at the dance.

 

John Janson

South Hill