Carroll County united against solar farms on agland
Carroll County is no stranger to the energetic and aggressive attempts of Big Solar energy companies, and misguided property owners to construct “solar farms” on our cherished and valuable agricultural land.
Carroll’s citizens and residents fought the placement of six Community Solar Energy Generating Facilities for more than two grueling years from 2021 to July 13, 2023.
On this date at a public hearing, the Carroll County Commissioners enacted Ordinance No.2023-04, which clearly states “Section 1. The Code of Public Local Laws and Ordinances of Carroll County Title XV, Land Use Chapter 158, Zoning Regulations 158.153 (E) ‘Community solar energy generating systems (CSEGS), in agricultural zones,’ is hereby repealed and deleted in its entirety.”
Thanks, Carroll County Times for your expertise in printing coverage of those two years, many articles on the front page. It was big news! But now the State of Maryland, through the Public Service Commission (PSC) has chosen to accept the “Application for a certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity” for authority to construct three of the very same solar projects that were denied by the revised ordinance!
The State of Maryland, using The Public Service Commission (PSC), does not have the right to supersede Carroll County law.
The residents of Carroll County have spoken clearly and loudly, “NO SOLAR ON AGLAND.” Through commissioner meetings, public meetings, town hall meetings, discussions with solar representatives and volumes of correspondence to our county commissioners, It was unanimous across all communities, “KEEP SOLAR OFF OUR FARMLAND!”
The efforts of the solar companies and the landowners failed completely. Now they are angry and want to “get even” and “get their way.”
None of the PSC proposed project land areas are farmed by the landowners. Local farmers do the planting, care for and harvest the crops on them. These landowners do not care about the land and preserving its “integrity,” only the money it realizes and the outrageous amounts that are promised by the solar companies.
Using prime agland for solar will hurt our farmers, their families and livelihood. Farmland is cheap for solar use. Industrial and business zones cost much more, one of the reasons why the energy companies want to lease it. It is also flat, has no trees, and has been tilled, so is free of large rocks and other obstructive objects. Easy pickings for energy companies.
Carroll County is UNITED in opposition to solar energy generating systems on our precious agricultural land, and adjacent to residential dwellings. They are industrial in nature and belong in industrial and business zones. We will continue making our voices heard! Do not underestimate Carroll County’s farming communities. We will not exchange our beautiful farmland for solar energy.
Carroll County has a proud heritage and tradition in agriculture. We will not allow community solar to destroy this heritage. If allowed in one project, it will effectively chip away our agland, 20 acres at a time.
Carroll County honors its commitment to farmland preservation since 1970, with 79,880 acres preserved; and a goal of 100,00 acres. The county is No. 1 for numbers of acres preserved and No. 5 in the nation. In Carroll County, 50% of land mass is in agriculture, containing approximately 708 farms.
Carroll County is serious about protecting its agricultural land. Solar has been proven to damage and destroy prime farmland. It will destroy the land for future generations.
Just because MD Senate Bill 613, HB 908 ALLOWS community solar in certain circumstances, effective July 1, 2023, DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN USE IT, OR SHOULD USE IT!! Carroll County Code, as cited in paragraph two PROHIBITS IT!
It is egregious what the landowner and soar energy companies have done in bringing this “Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to the Public Services Commission (PSC). There is NO public “convenience” nor “necessity” involved.
Annette Fleishell, Sykesville
The evolution of sexual deviance
In my opinion, homosexuality is a deviation from normal human sexuality. It is persistent through the ages, nevertheless it is a serious deviation. From what I have read, same-sex attraction is not a shade of normal on the rainbow spectrum, but abnormal human psychology.
Physical sexual behavior between two persons of the same sex is also seriously deviant, but the behavior need not follow the attraction. We are all called to exert self control over our sexual urges rather than letting them control us.
Furthermore there is also substantial, replicated, clinical evidence that indicates same-sex attraction often develops as the result of sexual abuse and/or homosexual grooming during one’s childhood.
In November 2012, when same-sex marriage was approved by Maryland voters, it was by the slimmest of margins despite being strategically placed on the ballot with a very popular incumbent president seeking a second term.
Same-sex marriage remains very controversial. It is not the public schools’ function to entangle innocent young children in this controversy. To do so is very much part of an activist agenda.
The insidious element of this agenda is the way it seeks to normalize an ever-increasing scale of deviance. For example, in 1999 President Bill Clinton declared Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared L.G.B.T. Pride Month adding bi-sexual and transgender to the mix.
In 2021, Joe Biden declared L.G.B.T.Q Month which added “queer.” Then earlier this month, one of the speakers at the Carroll County Board of Education meeting, while advocating for an elementary school-level book that addresses same-sex couples’ parenting, referred to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ community.
So what starts with a book, published in 1989, titled “Heather Has Two Mommies,” descends to Drag Queen Story Hour for preschoolers hosted by the local public library and cross-dressers in military command. Sexual deviance is a slippery slope.
Michael Hurley, Eldersburg
We need to be able to disagree, not be attacked for those views
The president was warned — there was a conspiracy to prevent the counting of electoral votes. There was talk of disrupting the inauguration and seizing Washington, D.C., by force. There was even a plot to keep the president from arriving in the capital city at all.
But this wasn’t 2020; it was 1861, and the president-elect wasn’t Joe Biden but rather Abraham Lincoln. Maybe history repeats itself, maybe it only rhymes, but there certainly is much to worry about in 2024.
American democracy continues to be flawed. Our electoral process, government functionality, political participation and civil liberties — in these areas and more — our system needs fixing. For 240 years of American history, a politician caught cheating on his wife with a porn star months after his wife gave birth to his son would have slunk away from public view and never been heard from again.
But now such actions result in a selling point for campaign contributions. Instead of respecting our judicial process and the jury system, major political figures attack anyone who defends the rule of law.
“Malice toward none” has become “let’s get revenge on anyone who does not agree with us.” It is impossible to spread democratic values abroad when a major political party attacks them at home. So much for a commitment to a vision of a “shining city on a hill.”
False claims that elections are rigged, and that our jury system is flawed, hardly help our system function effectively. We seem to be losing our appreciation for the system and the best contributions we have made for the world.
The party that would have wanted to be seen as America’s greatest defender now seems to be more interested in burning down the house. It wasn’t that long ago that praising the effectiveness of repression in China, North Korea, Russia and Eastern Europe would have been a sure recipe for getting voted out of office. Now we have those who see such support as a prerequisite for getting elected.
There is no question that democracy should allow reasonable people the right to disagree. In fact, constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. The issues of the day should not be presented to make our citizens comfortable.
We should instead strive to make the populace think. But that is hardly possible when one side continues to repeat falsehoods and repudiates respect for the rule of law.
Gary Foote, Westminster
Political parties destroying themselves from within
After a careful reading of the dueling opinions that appeared in the June 9 edition, I think the pair, Dean Minnich (“Republicans are losing credibility over Trump”), and Chris Roemer (“Biden, progressives are sinking democracy to unimaginable lows”), are arguing the same point, except from different perspectives.
Minnich uses his usual, more reasonable tone in chastising the Republicans for their blind allegiance to Donald Trump’s MAGA cult. Roemer, in is his usual somewhat more bombastic voice, blames everything that in his eyes is a government failure, on the evil Democrats.
My personal take on this is that the so-called leadership of both parties, in their infinite stupidity, have aligned themselves with the radical factions at the far ends of the political spectrum. As the old adage goes, “it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.”
Those groups do squeak — loudly — so they get all of the attention from the media, mainstream and otherwise. No matter what the issue is, those factions seem to suck the air out of every discussion and turn it into a personal or personality attack.
As I see it, the parties are destroying themselves from within. The Democrats are too willing to fall in line behind the Ocasio, Sanders and Warren faction who have yet to find a social program that they aren’t in love with, no matter the financial ramifications.
The Republicans appear to have lost all sense of reason, and their collective backbones. They act as if they fear the wrath of a possibly victorious Trump if they don’t vow absolute fealty to his brand, and to him personally. This is not how the Founding Fathers designed our unique form of governament to work.
Former Gov. Larry Hogan states in a TV ad for his Senate campaign, “We can’t fix Washington without independent, common sense leaders.” My reaction to that statement is a resounding, “when you find one, let me know.”
There might be a couple of Democrats, Jamie Raskin, for one. But as for the Republicans, no one seems willing to stand up and openly disagree with their standard bearer for fear he will campaign against them and hurt their chances of re-election. Self preservation is a strong force.
A couple of decades ago there was a term for those who made up the bulk of the electorate. We were called “the silent majority.” Now, I think that the great majority of the electorate is more than just simply silent.
We’re tired of, turned off by and totally disgusted with what passes as leadership from both parties, and that doesn’t just apply to Washington, but in the 50 state houses and every local county or city hall in America.
Those who hold elective office, or aspire to, would do well to spend more of their time listening to the great unwashed middle, and way less time pontificating and pandering to the extremists. They might simply learn a thing or two and realize that we’re not as dumb as they think we are.
Bill Kennedy, Taneytown
