How many square miles of oak trees need to be clear cut for this solar farm?

Photo above - I'm only axing you this once - do you want trees, or solar panels? You can't have both.

When California began rezoning its forests to turn them into solar farms, apparently the conversation went something like this:

(Sacramento County Board of Supervisors) – “you need to get to net zero carbon emissions immediately, giant utility company”.

(Utility monopoly). “Can do. But this will require clear-cutting 2 square miles of old growth oak trees. Can you prevent the public from finding out?”

(Board of Supervisors) “Done and done. We just won’t hold public hearings on this. Do you have enough chainsaws to act fast? We can’t keep a lid on wanton deforestation forever.”

(All dialogue above is imaginary but probably close enough to the mark).

But this story of government malfeasance appears to be headed to happy ending. The public DID find out, and now the county and utility are backpedaling furiously. 3,000 California oak trees have been spared for now. Well, at least until they turn up dead in the next wildfire, because of sparks from high voltage lines.

What moron thinks we can save the planet buy chopping down old growth forests – with trees over 250 years old – to install solar panels with a useful lifespan of 20-25 years at best?

Kudos to the Sacramento Bee (link below) for uncovering this plot and taking an axe to it. The only party which hasn’t been heard from here – or even identified – is the manufacturer of the (now cancelled) 2 square miles of solar panels. I tried to find out who was getting rich from these, but it’s apparently a secret. If someone paid a kickback to be named the supplier of choice, nobody’s talking. I’m not even willing to assume it was even a US solar company. Most of America’s solar panels – 70 gigawatts last year alone – come from Asia (see 2nd link below).

“All your trees are belong to us. Treasure what little time you have left to live . . ." (copyright 1991 Sega® Corporation. All rights reserved).

I’m just sayin’ . . .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-sacramento-supes-approved-the-wrong-solar-project-for-a-phony-reason-opinion/ar-AA1TTyhO?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=69624902ab6242f795ab6faa997adc59&ei=79


https://www.sunhub.com/blog/where-do-u-s-solar-panels-come-from-a-look-at-2024-imports/