Energy going to grid from solar projects not equal to investment

Letter to the Orillia Packet and Times – September 28 2010
Re: “Those wanting to preserve farmland should purchase it,” Adrian Kooger, letter to the editor
The issue here is that so-called solar “farms” are industrial use of agricultural land. The Ontario Government’s Green Energy Act has taken away our rights as landowners to oppose these renewable-energy projects at the municipal level. That is unconstitutional. These projects should be subject to the bylaws of the approval process for all industry.
I am a single mom with four children and I own farmland. I pay taxes. Financially, I struggle. I, too, was approached by this California Company, Recurrent Energy. I chose not to pursue the offer.
Corporations have manipulated governmental policies, making it almost impossible for small-scale farmers to survive. Through media, they have promoted a consumer mindset that has exploited and devastated the planet. And, they have set us up in an unending loop, so that somehow, we end up fighting against the very people we elect to help us in our government.
I say thank-you to people like Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop, Bernard Pope, of Ontario Farmland Preservation, and Nancy Robinson, from Aware Simcoe, for standing up for our rights and fighting for us to be heard in a growing toxic governmental environment. Small-scale projects of any sort are the way of the future. Decisions can be made locally at a grassroots level, where people have connection with the land.
The situation is complicated. The government has taken the fastest and easiest route, and we the taxpayers, will pay for it in the end.
The amount of energy returning to the grid from these projects does not provide the services for the money we will be paying for them.
Groups like Ontario Farmland Preservation, Aware Simcoe and Transition Town Orillia are here to help local farmers keep farming. We are here to support our local governments and encourage them to make a stand and have all our voices heard. We need local farmland intact to feed future generations within local communities.
So please, farmers, don’t give up. Everyone, get out there and vote. The earth will provide the inspiration needed to make the change.
Cindy Hillard, Coldwater