ProPublica

Critics claim large solar farms are a public health threat.

Despite little reputable evidence for this, their fears have helped undercut efforts across the U.S. to broaden energy sources, slowing installations even as customer costs are rising.
https://www.propublica.org/article/michigan-solar-farms-health-concerns-st-clair-county?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Solar #Energy #Health #Michigan #Local #Law #PublicHealth

Unfounded Health Concerns Are Powering a Solar Backlash

Across the U.S., critics are pressuring public officials to stop or stall new solar projects, often citing unfounded health concerns.

ProPublica
Apr 24 at 1:30pmWeb
Show threadMrs.Malice ❤️‍🔥✨Apr 24
@ProPublica sounds like class warfare from dark money, as usual
Show threadOlle GladsøApr 24
@ProPublica The US is becoming more and more of a backwater society.
The rest of the world moves on......
Show threadJosh GApr 24
@ProPublica If the protesting locals were given cheap energy by matching their demand to the local panel production, I imagine opposition being easily overcome. Same model as Energy4All in the UK: https://energy4all.co.uk/what-is-community-energy/
What is Community Energy

What is community energy? The projects that Energy4All support all generate their own renewable energy to bring benefit to the community.

Energy4All
Show threadjmhtApr 24
@ProPublica Any lie to serve the "team"
Show threadRichard W. Woodley 🇨🇦🌹🚴‍♂️Apr 24

@ProPublica

"Any detectable tonal noise, he added, must be considered an unreasonable threat to public health. He recommended new regulations."

Well there go outdoor concert venues.

Show threadKaitoApr 24
@ProPublica "woke left agenda"
Show threadScale TheoryApr 24

@ProPublica

WTF!
"Critics claim large solar farms are a public health threat."

Wifi is good for you too, it doesn't make people weird as those affected have been defying laws of the land, lying out their asses, creating an alternative reality they thought of for years to overthrow the world.

Oil "should be" subsidized so it can f up the climate more costing us less.

Love the smell of mercury in the morning, looming in the air from the coal power plant... and in all our "organic" food.

Show threadScale TheoryApr 24

@ProPublica

If it's in the fish it's in the soil, it's everywhere!

Nothing to see here...

WTF kind of people print that solar is bad but doesn't mention everything society accepts about fossil fuels?

Show threadConny NaschApr 24
@SCALETHEORY Idiots, very simple!
Show threadNumber6 Apr 24

@ProPublica

In Michigan, where companies were allowed to discharge PFAS compounds into the waterways. Where the paper manufacturer would spray effluent into the back woods, so that it could filter cleanly into the well water system.

Surprisingly, MI has (or at least had), oil wells on private land. You don't associate MI with oil, but apparently there is some.

Show threadNumber6 Apr 24

@ProPublica

Hmm. Do they hire people to scrape snow off solar panels?

Just thinking that communities are more receptive to projects if local jobs are created.

Show threadtribactamApr 24
@ProPublica in what way are these things a threat to health? Ok, if one fell on your foot while you were installing it, but trace amounts of elements sealed in silicon panels (compared to abandoned oil wells and PFAS etc in fields) WTAF?
Show threadjoriki Apr 24

@ProPublica

let's see some news crews visit Washington County, Kansas or the folks in Memphis downwind of Musk's gas powered data center to ask about the health threats of solar

Show threadquixoteApr 24

@ProPublica What people object to is PV panels paving over landscapes. Like the image from China below. Even worse when it used to be a landscape they walked through and saw birds and badgers and mosses in. But when it's somebody else's environment getting ruined, it's just whingeing to complain. So people come up with downright silly "health" reasons.

Well done agrivoltaics wouldn't have this evironmental destruction problem. Rooftop solar is _welcomed_. But some giant electric corporation or authority can't be bothered with all the fussy detail work involved. Just pave it in panels! And keep all the money, of course.

Personally, I'm not surprised people object.