Over the last few months, Ive sat through incredible amounts of testimony put forward in my own state legislature in Kansas regarding why we should abandon all solar and wind energy, why tax credit programs and federal initiatives are wrong, and why putting a break on everything is the right answer.
In one piece of legislation brought forward in my own state house, state Sen. Mike Thompson had a unique proposal: If 10% of your neighbors protested your right to sign a contract with a solar or wind company, a vote would be commissioned and your neighbors could vote on your right to have a windmill.
Now, think about it in relation to anything else. It would be laughable to have a community vote on whether you wanted to farm chickens or cattle. Most of the area surrounding these installations are empty as farmers can have hundreds or thousands of acres waiting for use.
Thompson did not give up. What if these companies wanted to build a windmill and had timelines that required them to complete the survey and construction within certain timeframes? Even conservative Republicans started to question what was going on at one point.:
Thompson stated that he would limit Olsons comment time, and Olson expressed frustration at the days-long anti-wind testimony.
We had people all week saying what they wanted for an hour. I sat here for a while, Olson said.
This came after a one-sentence response from state Sen. Robert Olson that he had enough and had already decided he wasnt going to support those who wanted to quash land owner rights.
These are the moments that you realize how often the way we tackle the most pressing issues of our age can be improved. Green new jobs are a fantastic case in point. To go along with it, we have to realize that there are farmers and farm land all across the midwest that are waiting, just waiting, biting their nails, for the placement of a windmill, a solar field, or a 5G tower. They want to receive the monthly lease payments and the placements.
The renewable energy sector is an important component of saving many homes and farms across America. Thats a fact people dont want to tell you, but it is absolutely true.
Conservatives are, however, once again on disinformation train. Donald TrumpRemember the guy who claimed windmills cause cancer (no proof).. The Farm Bureau, though normally a pretty conservative organization, will tell you windmills are the key to future success in several farmsThey can also provide new industries and opportunities that will benefit farm communities.
These are simple facts the Republicans in most rural states want to avoid. They want to avoid the reality that rural areas will die without these opportunities. This is not about the environment. It’s about the loss in a way of life. Rural communities will disappear without any income. It is about economic opportunity to allow farmers the freedom to choose the crop that they want, including solar or wind.
Instead, Republicans who decry big government use big government to run vilification campaigns against industries or spread disinformation to decimate rural communities.
It is nice that these communities have a choice, as someone who grew-up in them. P.S. P.S. : What is the sound of a windmill? That’s fine by me. If anyone tells you the sound of a windmill is louder than the sound of cows, horses, or pigs in the morning (and at all hours at times), they have no idea what rural life is like.
