Driving through the rural Ogle County village of Forreston, it’s very noticeable that the ghostly downtown is void of people and businesses.
Also noticeable are signs opposing a plan for a solar farm. One would think a dying small town would welcome the activity of constructing a solar farm and the extra taxes that come with such a development. It’s really obvious that not much grows in Forreston except a lot of corn and soybeans.
There’s an article online about rural Woodland, Virginia, and the people there taking around a petition against a solar farm. When officials from the solar company attended a town hall meeting, Woodland residents showed up for a fight.
According to the Roanoke-Chowan News Herald, one resident said property values would go down. Another said the solar farm would cause cancer rates to rise. Finally, another citizen said new businesses would stay away because the solar farm would capture too much of the sun.
Whatever the reasons Forreston residents might have, the myths that are being spread on the net concerning solar farms are full of dozens of untruths.
Forreston should embrace the solar development because of the extra tax revenue certain to help Ogle County residents, and because solar power is environmentally friendly in that it creates no noise, no emissions, no odor, and no pollutants.
Forreston seems to showcase why rural communities are stereotyped as backwards, anti-technology; and resisting of change based on beliefs rather than facts. A solar farm in Forreston would be a positive, exciting development in an otherwise dreary economic landscape.
I’m Phillip LeFevre, and that’s my perspective.
