US town reject solar panel installation,says causes cancer and sucks towns light

[mariush]

Like the title says :

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-town-rejects-solar-panels-amid-fears-they-suck-up-all-the-energy-from-the-sun-a6771526.html

During the Woodland Town Council meeting, one local man, Bobby Mann, said solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not go to Woodland, the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald reported.

Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, said she was concerned the panels would prevent plants in the area from photosynthesizing, stopping them from growing.

Ms Mann said she had seen areas near solar panels where plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her solar panels didn't cause cancer.

[dr.diesel]

Further proof society is getting dumber by the minute.

A science teacher,     

[amyk]

I thought I was reading The Onion for a moment. As a small ray of hope, "retired" may sometimes actually mean "fired".

[Ian.M]

Either that or a Machiavellian NIMBY who knows exactly how to appeal to the council members prejudices, having terrorised them in grade school for long enough to have the goods on them.

[SeanB]

Sucks up the sunlight - er yes, that is what they do, otherwise the panels are just a very expensive rooftop.

Businesses would not go there - iffy, but they would still have an income from the generation of power bringing in income with very low maintenance cost, and no expensive roads and infrastructure like sewage works and water lines are needed throughout the solar farm.

The panels prevent plants from growing - plants tend not to grow in full shade, but there are a lot of plants that prefer low light conditions to grow, so might actually like growing there.

Brown and dead plants- you do know they tend to spray a herbicide around the panels so they do not get shaded by trees.

High cancer rate - no idea of the area, but they could simply be things like naturally occurring arsenic in the ground water, radon gas from the ground, contaminated water from old coal mining activity, old copper mines, etc.

Retired science teacher - bet she taught as she was taught, that the earth is 6000 years old, the Bible was written in English only, electricity is the Devil's work, a car needs a man walking in front with a red flag so as not to spook the horses, those furriners should be railroaded out of town....

[tszaboo]

In other news, cars are good for the plants. They create CO2, and that is what the plants are drinking. They get all shiny and happy.

[babysitter]

It's what plants crave.

[edpalmer42]

"Businesses would not go there"

Of course not!  Businesses require employees with a functioning brain.  Obviously, that's not the case in Woodland!

[nctnico]

A science teacher,     

Remember... those who can't... teach!

[continuo]

But it's a good thing, if they suck up all the energy of the sun it counteracts global warming 

[nctnico]

Brains are awesome i wish everybody has one.

Fortunately many can get a refill at their supermarket:

[Habropoda]

Meh, that link is pretty much clickbait for a poorly written article.  Here is an article with more info:
http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/

I'll cherry pick a few quotes:

The town would not benefit from the solar farms because they are not located within the town limits, but only in the extraterritorial sections.

The only funding the town would get is about $7,000 per year to train the fire department in case something goes wrong.

Three other solar farms had previously been accepted by the town council, with one of the now putting solar panels up.

The solar farm companies seek placement around Woodland because it has an electrical substation the solar power generated by the panels can be hooked up to the electrical grid.

Mary Hobbs has been living in Woodland for 50 years and said she has watched it slowly becoming a ghost town with no job opportunities for young people.

She said her home is surrounded by solar farms and is no longer worth its value because of those facilities.

She added that the only people profiting are the landowners who sell their land, the solar companies, and the electrical companies.

edit: grammar

[firewalker]

What does "science teacher" mean? What is the academic training of a science teacher? A physicist, a chemist?

Alexander.

[dave_k]

It's what plants crave.

Yes!
 

[tom66]

What does "science teacher" mean? What is the academic training of a science teacher? A physicist, a chemist?

At my high school, one physics teacher had a degree in biology, and another had a degree in history.

[v8dave]

What did she teach? The Science of Stupid?

That is a real *faceplam* moment for sure.

[Cubdriver]

It's what plants crave.

Yes!
 

It's got electrolytes!

[GreyWoolfe]

Brains are awesome i wish everybody has one.

Everyone does have one.  However, not all are connected and used.

[DimitriP]

The council later voted for a moratorium on future solar farms

Hey...whatever she said worked.

[sleemanj]

Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, said she was concerned the panels would prevent plants in the area from photosynthesizing, stopping them from growing.

Ms Mann said she had seen areas near solar panels where plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her solar panels didn't cause cancer.

How on earth does that sort of reasoning even happen.  Just doesn't make any sense.  On any level.

If Ms Mann was indeed a science teacher, and those quotes are accurate, I can only surmise she must have suffered some sort of terrible brain injury, mental illness or cognitive degradation either after or as a cause of her retirement. 

[miguelvp]

Probably biology and natural science, obviously not physics.

In any event as someone linked the roanoke decision, it wasn't because of those facts. It was explained that no cancer and no attraction of sunlight will happen, but for just a measly $7000 year to train the fire department, the town wouldn't get a thing on a town that already agreed to 3 other installations.

So the article was just written as a clickbait as someone already pointed out.

Although the roanoke article link is full of misspellings and hard to read.

[coppice]

Meh, that link is pretty much clickbait for a poorly written article.  Here is an article with more info:
http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/

I get "Access to website blocked" on the URL, so I guess the bait has been widely taken.

[miguelvp]

Here is what the article linked by Habropoda says regarding the science teacher.
http://www.roanoke-chowannewsherald.com/2015/12/08/woodland-rejects-solar-farm/

Jane Mann said she is a local native and is concerned about the plants that make the community beautiful.

She is a retired Northampton science teacher and is concerned that photosynthesis, which depends upon sunlight, would not happen and would keep the plants from growing. She said she has observed areas near solar panels where the plants are brown and dead because they did not get enough sunlight.

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn’t cause cancer.

“I want to know what’s going to happen,” she said. “I want information. Enough is enough. I don’t see the profit for the town.

“People come with hidden agendas,” she said. “Until we can find if anything is going to damage this community, we shouldn’t sign any paper.”

She is only saying that in the near by plants, we don't know the type of plants she mentions that are beautiful and need more sun.

Without chemicals or sheep to eat the grass or vegetation barriers they will end up with something like this:


Cancer links? probably not, but we don't know the details of what she was referring to.

But the quote "People come with hidden agendas" you can bet she is right about that as well as seeing no profit for the town.

Edit: maybe it's linked to the unproper disposal of damaged panels. But she got no answers, but without knowing where she got the cancer numbers its all speculation.

There has been links to cancer and High Voltage power lines, maybe there is harmful RF, or EMF? near those facilities?

Don't know, just trying to partially defend some old lady that people are picking on.

[crispy_tofu]

What the actual         ?

[vk6zgo]

It's probably a hoax article---the 'Net is full of them!