To the Editor:

I write to express my deep gratitude that the N.C. state legislature is protecting me yet again.

I’m not discussing public restrooms, by the way. I’m talking about jobs, and how with Senate Bill 843 the legislature — and especially sponsors Bill Cook and Andrew Brock — are protecting the rural voters of their districts from the jobs that could infest our state if we allow further development of renewable energy projects.

At first I was shocked that the legislators felt that solar farms needed to be kept at least a mile and a half from their neighbors.

But then I realized: they’re trying to keep rural North Carolinians free from the annoying jobs that follow clean energy development. A report last month from RTI says that since passage of the 2007 state Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard there has been $6.3 billion in clean energy investment in the state. You KNOW investment like that will bring jobs — and according to the report, clean energy indeed supports 82,403 annual full-time equivalent jobs.

In rural North Carolina, what do we want with 82,000 jobs? We want to stay on our farms — that we can’t rent for solar or wind development, thanks to SB 843 — and let other states deal with clean energy jobs and their fallout: tax revenue, investment in education and infrastructure and peace of mind.
So thank you, senators, for keeping jobs and revenue out of North Carolina.

Attila Nemecz
Washington