The single loudest argument that Knox Smart Development [KSD] has repeated over and over again in its effort to shut down the Frasier project has been the claim that solar panels take the land out of agricultural use. Yet that claim was no longer valid after March 9, when Open Road Renewables signed an agreement to make 800 of the 840 acres available for sheep grazing.
So the very key question that emerges is to ask why KSD would persist in its opposition even when the developer has adopted the very position which KSD says it advocates? The answer requires a look into the background of KSD and its connection to a very wealthy industry that extends far beyond Knox County.
There is both a supreme irony and breathtaking hypocrisy in the blatant attempt made by KSD at the April 4 public hearing to silence any pro-solar voices from “outside the county.” Though this motion was immediately rejected by the presiding judge, it reveals some of this “larger picture.”
KSD is directly connected to The Empowerment Alliance – a far flung network funded by untraceable “dark money” that lobbies on behalf of the gas industry in several states. Not only does this network extend far beyond the boundaries of Knox County, but KSD brought in a featured speaker all the way from the Chicago-based Heartland Institute – infamous for “blurring” the dangers of smoking – for its Nov. 30 event at the Knox Theater in order to negate a climate consensus signed by 195 countries. And then we see that the two anti-solar attorneys do not even reside in Knox County.
Natural gas – also known as methane – is not only usually obtained by a destructive and toxic process called “fracking,” but it is becoming an increasingly severe culprit in the release of greenhouse gases. The claim that it contains 50% less carbon than coal is being used to disguise the fact that methane is a whopping 80 times more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in its first 20 years. This strikingly potent greenhouse gas is being released to the atmosphere in massive leaks all around the world.
Yet this same gas industry applied its lobbying power to induce the state legislature to re-define methane gas as “green energy.” Any industry that traffics in such distortions will not hesitate to do the same in regard to solar farms.
A concern about loss of agricultural land is legitimate, but solar advocates around the world have already resolved this conflict by incorporating “dual use agrivoltaics” into the design of solar projects. If KSD was genuinely seeking such agricultural use, it would hail the decision by Open Road to follow this path. But its insistence on continuing to oppose Frasier leads to unsettling questions that must necessarily be asked.
When is the last time anyone has seen a fossil fuel industry apply its high powered lobbying machine on behalf of maintaining access to food for hungry people? Was this issue seized because it resonated with some people, and therefore served to camouflage a much different ulterior motive?
Does the continued opposition reveal a “bottom line” that is driven by an industry uncompromisingly opposed to solar farms because they are seen as cutting into profit margins? In this scenario, if the gas industry loses one rationale for opposing solar, will it not simply manufacture another one?
“Any further delay in global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future for all.” – IPCC
This consensus statement approved by the science communities in 195 countries is arguably the most important single sentence on the condition of the world today. Human civilization faces a climate “tipping point” beyond which the ecosystems supporting life will falter. It is stunningly immoral that those who profit from the very source of this threat against life – fossil fuels – have decided to “dig in” to protect those profits rather than join the necessary transition.
When this writer saw this industry bringing people all the way from Chicago to distort climate science, there was a moral compulsion to act. But when the [out of town] opposition attorneys not only tried to shut down my democratic right to testify but also grilled me severely under cross examination, they achieved an unexpected consequence.
I happen to be a documentary producer. And what KSD is doing in Knox County is a casebook example of a wealthy industry abusing its power and engaging in the manipulation of local opinion – all in a cynical pursuit of protecting profit margins. It is a ripe topic to be exposed in a video commentary, and this program is now being announced here to the community through this letter to Knox Pages.
Gary Houser
Glouster, Ohio
EDITOR’S NOTE: Gary Houser is a Franciscan brother who sees a moral obligation to protect God’s Creation, and therefore dedicates time to assist the transition to clean renewable energy from the fossil fuels disrupting earth’s climate balance.
He volunteers with a network based in central Ohio called Agrivoltaics Solutions that seeks a WIN-WIN by integrating continued agricultural use with solar panels.