As a webmaster of multiple ANTI-Solar Websites and the admin of a large number of ANTI-Solar Social Media Pages, that is a question that I get asked on a regular basis.
While the statistics are NOT in your favor yet in the early part of 1924, there are some communities that have been able to block them.
The answer to that question depends on where you are geographically and chronologically.
The green energy industry has grown VERY strong due to very big corporations such as Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and others supporting them with big $$$$$$.
As such, lobbyists have convinced several states like New York, to take the legal decision away from local communities and let the bureaucrats on a state level control the decisions, which normally means the citizens and local governing boards have their hands tied and any developer with enough money and connections, can build anything they want.
However, if you happen to have any endangered wildlife that is protected by the Federal Government, in the vicinity of the area where the project wants to build, that can be a tool that you can use.
Unfortunately, Florida and Texas are two other states where the states have allowed the green energy to run rampant.
If you live in a state where the local government is in control, you have a better chance of stopping a project. Especially one that is close to residential homes, schools, wells, protected wildlife or flood zones.
Local governing boards “should be” willing to listen to the voters in town halls instead of being swayed by a never ending list of lies and empty promises of the flim flam men or women representing the solar or wind developers.
If you fall into the later category where your local government is in control, I will give you a list of steps you can take, depending on how long ago the solar developers approached the town or county for tax abatement or zoning permissions.
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Go to your local courthouse and meet with the local zoning administrator to find out if your local officials have either a solar or wind ordinance in place, or a moratorium. If either one of these articles are in place, ask for a copy and read them. I would also encourage you to have someone scan them or ask your zoning administrator if they have a digital copy online. Once you have a digital copy, I would suggest that you go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stopsolarfarms and make a post asking one of the admins, such as me, to review the documents. If the document is in a pdf format, you might not be able to post a link to it in the group, however you can post is in a private message. So once any of the admins respond to you, they will send you a private message where you can post the pdf file.
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If your town does NOT have a solar ordinance or moratorium, I would suggest that you ask the zoning administrator which board creates the zoning ordinances? It may be the commissioners, town boards, zoning board, etc.
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Once you find out who creates the ordinances, I would find out which members are elected, vs any members that are appointed. This will assist you in discovering which members may be influenced by having a large number of local voters encouraging them to research the negative effects of solar and wind projects on farmland and residential areas or near water, such as wells, creeks and rivers.
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The next step should be filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asking for a list of all properties that have been leased to the solar or wind developer, as well as any documents provided to the local court house such as maps of the entire potential project, statements made in their request for a tax abatement.
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At this point, depending on how much time you have, before the local board votes on approving or denying a local green energy project, I would suggest that you hire a GOOD attorney that has experience fighting against solar and wind projects AND begin rounding up as many local citizens as you can, so that you can begin organizing fund raising events such as dinners, bake sales, car washes, etc., to raise enough money to pay the attorney.
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Now it is time to educate yourself. Read as many posts and news articles as you can, on the Facebook Group listed above. There are thousands of warriors in that group, that will answer direct questions as well as post a variety of links per day, to news articles for you to read and learn from. You can also find news stories at several of my websites, located at: https://StopSolarFarms.org and https://NoSolarWind.com.
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Be prepared for a long drawn out fight that may take years, if you NEVER give up. Remember that even if some type of local board draws up a good ordinance, that can be changed by future board members. If you get involved in court cases, like many of us have, that too, may take years to resolve and cost tens of thousands of dollars. BUT, if you recruit other warriors, you will also create new friends and associates that you can meet with on a regular basis to share ideas, information and even bolster the resolve in each other when needed. Plus, the larger the number of individuals you can get united in this fight, the easier it will be to have an impact on the voting board members as well as come up with ideas for fundraisers to help pay the attorney fees.
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Tools that will assist you in your fight include the following.
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Hundreds and hundreds of anti-solar or wind yard signs place along major highways, county roads and in towns.
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4 foot by 8 foot banners and even full size billboards, promoting your fight.
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Business cards for your local group of fighters, displaying a link to your Social Media account, or our Facebook group or even one of my or other anti-solar and wind websites.
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Tri-fold brochures that you can hand out to every neighbor you talk with, that will display multiple anti-solar talking points. A FREE template is available at: https://nosolarwind.com/news/28/free-anti-solar-brochures-available
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You can save the template and have copies of them printed in color at any office supply store or copy shop.
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A bi-fold booklet, (currently being written but should be available within 30 days,) that will go deeper in depth on listing the negative effects of solar and wind, that can be presented to voting board members as well as leaders of your group. These will also be in a free digital format that can be downloaded from the websites listed in this article.