VisionRoot
Industrial scale solar farms are not in alignment with Jefferson County WV’s Comprehensive Plan. Furthermore, they are causing environmental damage and ruining fertile farmland. The idea that the under construction Blake solar project and proposed solar farms are providing vital income for struggling farmers is complete BS.
What is behind the push to indoctrinate young public school children to reject their biological sex?
What can we do about this indoctrination?
What is the role of the church in this problem?
See the movie here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/gender-transformation-5280005
Note: A shorter version of this editorial was slated to be published in a column in the Spirit of Jefferson newspaper, but the Editor decided not to publish it after talking with Stolipher.
Recently, there has been an impasse at the Jefferson County Commission. Commissioners Krouse and Jackson have refused to attend the regularly scheduled Jefferson County Commission meetings held after the September 7th meeting.
What is behind this impasse?
The short answer is; conflicts of interest and corruption.
This controversy continues as the new Blake solar farm project is being built outside Charles Town, and at least one other solar farm in Jefferson County, the Wild Hill solar project near Kabletown has received an extension of its conditional use permit.
Jefferson County Commissioner Steve Stolipher, who owns farmland, says that he did not receive any remuneration for his efforts to increase the prevalence of solar farms throughout West Virginia, as evidenced by his lobbying during the 2022 Legislative Session for legislation (not passed) that would allow solar farms as a matter of right in all West Virginia counties. Solar farms would still have to get required permits and meet all regulations under the proposed legislation he advocated, Stolipher points out. He also said that he will not benefit personally through owning properties that might be leased or sold to solar farm developers.
Stolipher, a farmer, a commercial real estate broker and an auctioneer, is from a family of longtime farmers in Jefferson County. The Stolipher family owns over 600 acres in Jefferson County, according to public records. (http://documents.jeffersoncountywv.org/ Search for “Stolipher”).
Stolipher is a big proponent of property rights, stating that an owner can do as they see fit with their property. A member of the Jefferson County Planning Commission since 2012, and the county commission’s current voting member on the planning commission, he recently said he does not believe in land zoning restrictions. Stolipher is also a voting member of the Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee and the Jefferson County Development Authority (JCDA).
Although all Commissioners sit on commissions, they are not all voting members of those commissions. The Planning Commission has approved the four solar projects that were either being built (Blake) or in the works when the solar text amendment was rescinded. Although Stolipher generally recuses himself when votes are taken, the fact that he won’t reveal the exact nature of his conflicts of interest is a serious ethical problem. In my conversation with Stolipher, he said he did not know if his brothers would financially benefit from the development of solar farms in Jefferson County. In yet another assault on transparency, the Jefferson County Planning Commission, on October 10th, voted to eliminate public notice and comments for waiver applications. This is completely unacceptable, and a step away from, not toward, transparency.
Stolipher indicated to me that it is more profitable for farmers to have their land used for solar farms than to grow corn on it. He said that farmers make about $200-per-acre profit growing corn. In comparison, landowners of the proposed Wild Hill solar farm project would make $475 per acre per year over a 39-year lease. This figure is taken by dividing the revenue stated in the article in the Nov. 1 Spirit and dividing it by the number of years and the number of acres.
When I pointed out about environmental concerns, including runoff into and sedimentation of the Shenandoah River, apparently mostly due to the Blake solar project under construction, he took objection to that assessment. Later in our conversation, he indicated that runoff should not occur for any project, not just from solar farms.
Another large point of contention is that, very likely, Stolipher is moving to have a replacement candidate for Clarrie Ath, who resigned as Commissioner put on the council to vote in favor of his agenda. According to Commissioner Krouse, the Republican Executive Committee did not follow established procedures to conduct an on the record and transparent vote for the slate of three candidates that they are presenting. As such, that slate is not valid. A transparent selection process is needed. Furthermore, one of the propose candidates, Keith Lowry, would have an inherent conflict of interest, as the organization that he is executive director of, Jefferson Ministries, has received up to $80,000 of yearly funding from Jefferson County.
Addressing part of the reason for an ongoing dispute among county commissioners, Stolipher said that the reason he did not put Commissioner Jennifer Krouse’s recent solar farm discussion request on the commission’s meeting agenda was because it was submitted late. However, Krouse explained that the item was initially approved but later removed when Stolipher saw exactly what the agenda item was.
When talking about property rights the property rights of all of those affected by solar farm projects have to be considered. Decisions also have to be made transparently, and public discussion and approval is a must. As a real estate broker, Stolipher should reveal if he has received or will receive any commissions from the sale of any of the properties sold to solar farm developers.
This transparency was lacking during the development stage of the Rockwool insulation plant, and we should not repeat that mistake regarding solar farms. Citizen input should be valued, not dismissed
What about the property rights of homeowners in the new King’s Crossing subdivision directly adjacent to the Blake solar project? What about the property rights of those who own riverside lots who are effected by runoff and sedimentation of the Shenandoah River? A complaint regarding this runoff was submitted to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection by the Jefferson County foundation on Sept. 26.
We should also be very wary of the proposed takeover of siting decisions for solar farms by the state government. A similar situation is now playing out in Michigan, where the governor and legislature are moving toward passing legislation that would strip the ability of local communities to decide if they want such projects by placing them on the ballot for local referendums.
In fact, West Virginia needs legislation so local communities can have more say, not less, in solar or other industrial development. It is a good idea to allow local communities to request ballot measures to approve or disapprove solar or wind farm projects. That ability for local communities to have more development control, should be added to state law during the upcoming legislative session.
A better strategy regarding finding appropriate sites for solar farms is to locate them on degraded lands or ‘brownfields’.
According to Kameli and Shen of the Virginia Coastal Policy Center in “Developing Solar Energy in Rural Virginia: An Analysis of Legal, Environmental, and Policy Issues” (2022),
To avoid disturbing prime forested and agricultural lands, solar developers and localities should consider siting new solar projects on degraded lands or ‘brownfields’ such as former industrial sites, landfills, or mined areas, provided appropriate environmental controls are in place to mitigate adverse effects. Additionally, distributed solar is another option that could be explored more in Virginia to ease the pressure to develop large solar facilities in rural communities
The Millville quarry site, where a solar farm is envisioned is an example of an area where it makes sense to install a solar farm.
What long term economic benefit does a solar farm provide, except to those leasing or selling the land that the solar farm is situated on, which is only a handful of people? Land owners’ interests must be balanced against the interests of the whole community. Some of the interests of the whole community are; concerns about the environmental damage that solar farms routinely cause, the decline in property values of nearby properties, and the effect on tourism. Instead of a bucolic rural area, widespread solar farms would turn Jefferson County into an industrial area, and tourism is a major economic engine in Jefferson County.
It is also important to maintain farmland for food production. This is especially true in an unstable world, where food shortages have become a reality.
The FBI is breaking down the doors of pro-life protestors and those who were at or in the US Capitol on January 6th. Police State, Dinesh D’Sousa’s latest film is a must see. Watch to get a better insight into the Police State and to take a clear stand for goodness.
Local government officials, including Jefferson County West Virginia County Commission Chair Steve Stolipher, have conflicts of interest regarding the promotion of Solar Farms. These conflicts of interest are harmful to local citizens.
More broadly, self enrichment by government officials is a serious problem.
Transparency must be demanded, and government officials must realize that they are the servants of their constituents.
What is the solution to a world where wars are killing our children? Why should we continue to sacrifice our children’s lives when there is a solution at hand?
Are we willing to listen to and work toward the solution?
God’s Ideal Family is the Model for World Peace
This Independent Voice column appeared in the Spirit Of Jefferson on September 20, 2023
The Blake Solar Project, adjacent to St. James the Greater Catholic Church and the new Kings Crossing sub- division, is under construction. This 516-acre project fundamentally changes the rural, pastoral atmosphere of the area. Solar farms are an industrial use of property and should be required to be located in areas zoned for either light or heavy industry, such as the Bardane industrial park area. Just because someone owns a property does not mean that they can use it for an industrial type of use.
Another major concern is the environmental impact of solar farms. Formerly fertile farmland is stripped bare to install solar panels. Without proper ground cover, runoff becomes a major concern, with sedimentation of the nearby Shenandoah River, for example, becoming a possibility.
In Louisa County, Virginia, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has fined provider Dominion Power $50,700 for erosion and runoff problems on an 1,100-acre project. In central and southwest Virginia, Energix was fined $97,651 for various violations including erosion problems.
According to Roanoke.com, “At the Appomattox facility, inspectors found that ‘many areas around the site, particularly under the solar arrays, were denuded and stabilization had not been applied,’ the consent order states. Run- off had created gullies and maintenance was needed on silt fences, check dams and other erosion control devices at the Leatherwood operation in Henry County, which in 2021 became Appalachian Power’s first utility-scale solar farm.”
In Essex County, Virginia, a consent order for $9,100 in fines was proposed for the 200-acre Coronal Power solar facility, which also experienced severe erosion and runoff problems.
Also consider that it is cloudy, on average, about 55 percent of the time here in the Eastern Panhandle. Solar panels produce only about 10 percent to 30 percent of their full capacity on cloudy days. This makes West Virginia a questionable location for utility-scale solar projects. For example, in Nevada, there are, on average, 73 per- cent more sunny days than in West Virginia.
Then there is the issue of disposing of the solar panels when their lifecycle ends in 25 to 35 years. The panels may contain arsenic, cadmium, lead and selenium that should not be disposed of at local dumps.
In an Op-Ed in the Aug. 9 issue of The Spirit of Jefferson, Richard Zigler, one of the property owners of the proposed Wild Hill Solar Project argues that, “Commercial solar facilities are passive in their effects on the communities in which they are installed.” Ziegler also claims that “environmental issues are not an issue.” Based on the above observations, this statement is flat out false.
Another factor is that food production is an important necessity for the continuation of society. Eliminating more and more productive farmland or forest land is a bad policy for long-term sustenance of society. Although some farmland will be developed into subdivisions, it is on nowhere near the scale of the proposed or already under construction solar farms.
According to Rexa Kameli and Sun Shen of the Virginia Coastal Policy Center at the College of William & Mary Law School, authors of the report “Developing Solar Energy in Rural Virginia: An Analysis of Legal, Environ- mental and Policy Issues” (2022),
“To avoid disturbing prime forested and agricultural lands, solar developers and localities should consider siting new solar projects on degraded lands or ‘brownfields,’ such as former industrial sites, landfills or mined areas, provided appropriate environmental controls are in place to mitigate adverse effects. Additionally, distributed solar is another option that could be explored more in Virginia to ease the pressure to develop large solar facilities in rural communities.”
The Jefferson County Commission should work to stop the construction of the proposed solar projects that have not yet begun construction, as well as any future utility-scale solar projects that are not located in industrially zoned areas. We should learn from the costly mistakes of other rural counties.
In May of 2021, the White House learned of the deaths and injuries caused by the COVID shots. Instead of informing the public and stopping the shots, they created slides and materials explaining how to respond and cover up the facts.
Joe Biden and all of the staff involved, which includes the heads of top agencies, must resign, and also face criminal prosecution.
#Bidenmustresign
#COVIDjabs
#COVIDshots
The two prophets in Revelation 11:9 were down and out for 3 1/2 “days” (years). Yet, all those who had been partying were terrified when the two prophets resurrected.
This is happening right now. Find out who the two prophets are, and what to expect to happen now.
This Independent Voice column appeared in the Spirit of Jefferson on August 16, 2023. On August 14, a fourth indictment, similar to the third one, was unsealed in Fulton County, GA.
The three indictments of former President Donald Trump represent a new tide of tyranny. If not stopped, this type of tyranny threatens to destroy our nation.
We see a lawless campaign to stop President Trump from running again using any and all methods. Virtually everything about this campaign against Trump is exactly the opposite of what reality actually is.
First, we have the so-called January 6, 2021 “riot” at the United States Capitol. In reality, this was a set up from the beginning. The FBI still will not answer questions about the federal agents who were in the crowd and what they were doing. Why were protesters let into the Capitol building? Why do those on the left and the right, like Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell have such a vendetta against the protestors? The guilty verdict was in before the protestors even arrived at the Capitol.
The third indictment alleges that Trump interfered in the counting of votes on January 6th, 2021, thereby defrauding the rightful choice of the American people. The indictment says that he was told that the election results were legitimate. Somehow, questioning the election results, which is protected by the First Amendment has become a crime, according to this indictment. No court of law or investigation has ever determined the veracity of the 2020 Presidential election. Yet those accusing Trump are the ones who bent election rules, processed hundreds of thousands of supposedly legit mail in ballots in Pennsylvania with no observers allowed, and stuffed drop boxes with thousands of questionable harvested ballots and have failed to investigate or even acknowledge many other instances of election fraud.
These same Trump antagonists say that if Trump is elected he will never relinquish power, when it is they themselves that have used subversion to gain and keep power.
They accused President Trump of interfering in Ukraine for asking for an investigation into Hunter Biden’s dealings at Burisma, and tried to impeach him over that phone call. But in reality President Biden is actually on video bragging about how he got the Ukrainians to stop investigating corruption that we now know was tied directly to his son Hunter. And more and more evidence directly points to President Biden as being compromised by these tens of millions of dollars in payments to his family, and very likely, himself. So, again, we see the strategy of accusing President Trump of the very crimes that the accusers are committing themselves.
This is a dangerous path, indeed. We have a sitting President directly trying to persecute and prosecute, jail and prevent from running his direct opponent. It matters not whether your support President Trump or not. Anyone can be targeted by the Justice Department and be accused of crimes. Whether you are proven guilty or not, it could well ruin your life.
Let’s also look also at the first two indictments of Trump. The first one, based on the raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, claims he mishandled classified documents. In fact, presidents can de-classify documents, and disputes over presidential documents have frequently occurred, including right now with President Biden. It is not hard to see that this is an effort to intimidate and persecute President Trump.
The second indictment by Prosecutor Alan Bragg in New York has to do with fees paid to different people or companies to not publish negative information, including fees paid to Stormy Daniels. This fee was later repaid, and not saying what the repayment was for is considered a misdemeanor altering of business records. However Bragg has elevated this to a felony without saying what the underlying felony charge is. This seems patently unfair, and a “gothcha” scheme, to boot. It is ironic since President Biden and his family have received tens of millions of dollars and Biden has even bragged about his influence in stopping a corruption investigation in Ukraine.
Jack Smith, the prosecutor in two of the three Trump cases, previously prosecuted and gained a bribery conviction of the former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnel. The Supreme Court overturned that conviction in an 8-0 decision. That says a lot about the integrity of Jack Smith’s operation.
Another sinister motive of bringing dubious charges in the January 6th case would be to attempt to have Trump be ineligible to run for office by applying the “insurrection” clause from section 3 of the 14th amendment, which was actually applied to a delegate in Oklahoma to remove him from office. Again, this is the greatest irony. Why didn’t Congress, on January 6, 2021 move to investigate the many credible reports of election fraud? Seeing things from this viewpoint, it is the members of Congress who did not vote to investigate credible allegations of election fraud who committed an insurrection, just the opposite of what Jack Smith is trying to put forward with this dubious case.
Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said “It is un-American for the ruling party to use police power to arrest its chief political rivals. We need to know what Biden told Garland & what Garland told Jack Smith. We should know whose invisible hand is guiding these indictments”
We all should be alarmed at the brazen political persecution and attempted prosecution of President Trump. Those who think that the ends justifies the means would be well advised to look at the legacy of Communism, which claims that dialectical conflict will lead to a future peaceful utopia. Over 100,000,000 have been murdered under Communism and the promised utopia has never arrived.
President Biden should resign immediately over his corruption and the weaponization of law enforcement and the Justice Department against political opponents.