Isn't it amazing that if you want to build a dam or farm your own land then if there is an endangered species anywhere near the place the enviro weenies say you can not do it. But let it be one of their pet projects then all systems go and they simply say the endangered species can MOVE.
And of course the loss or jobs is never a consideration for any of these environmentalist projects.
You could say this project is one for the cuckoo's nest.
Amplify’d from www.latimes.com
San Benito County officials support a proposed Solargen facility just south of San Francisco Bay, but local farmers and ranchers say it will ruin their livelihoods and further endanger some species.
Both sides of the dispute insist they are fighting for the same things — protecting the environment and growing the local economy.
County officials — some of them farmers themselves — believe Solargen Energy Inc.'s proposed 400-megawatt solar farm on 5,000 acres just south of San Francisco Bay will be a key part of a new future based, in part, on green technology.
But the small-scale ranchers, farmers and horse trainers who live and work in the misty pastures and furrowed slopes of Panoche Valley believe the old connotation of "green" is worth more.
"They are selling us and a unique landscape out for a measly 50 long-term jobs and $24 million spread out over 20 years," said Kim Williams, who raises grass-fed pastured chickens in the valley. "That's pathetic."
Many county officials suggested that the valley's land was of marginal agricultural value, and that concerns about the solar panels' effect on habitat crucial to the survival of three federally endangered species —the giant kangaroo rat, the San Joaquin kit fox and the blunt-nosed leopard lizard — were overstated.
"The photovoltaic plant looks like nothing more than a vineyard, so the risk to the creatures is insignificant," said Greg Swett, president of the San Benito County Farm Bureau. "If the blunt-nosed leopard lizard is a standard lizard, it will get out of the way."
"I believe we will be a benefit to these endangered species," Peterson said. As for Panoche Valley ranchers and farmers, Peterson said, "I understand their concerns. The sacrifice for them is that the valley will have a change. Truth is, they may have to go out of business."Read more at www.latimes.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/eh0u
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