The founding fathers understood that land ownership is the foundation of liberty. John Adams said, “property must be secure or freedom is a fantasy.”
And Ohio is in a crisis. I’m writing to ask my neighbors and community to research and form their own opinion on allowing our county commissioners to make the decision to stop landowners from having the ability to secure small solar and wind projects on their property.
A few years back, a friend of mine whose father is a farmer, took his own life. The bank was closing in; crop prices were falling, and his health insurance cost more than his tractor payment.
He told his wife, “The land is all we have, and it’s not enough anymore.”
He’s not alone. According to the CDC, the suicide rate for agriculture, forestry and the fishing and hunting industry is 47.9 per 100,000 among males. The male farmer has a significantly higher percentage of loss of life due to socioeconomic status than any other profession currently.
Government policies throughout the years have failed them and their families, leaving many feeling like their insurance policy is the only “out” they have.
This is an opportunity to give them options. If we ban solar and wind completely, the only way to meet Ohio’s failing grid demands is more natural gas pipelines, oil and there’s even talk about bringing back coal plants.
Is that what our community would choose? Maybe. Maybe not.
But we should get a choice to decide. Ohio already has some of the highest electricity rates in the Midwest. Families are paying $300 to $500 a month just to keep the lights on in some cases.
Inflation is squeezing every pocketbook at the grocery store. Telling a landowner they can’t use free sunshine and wind is like forcing them to stay in poverty by utilizing systems that have failed all of us in the past … think First Energy criminal charges.
In the end, Ohioans have had to pay higher rates for the mistakes and fraudulent actions of elected officials.
In addition, energy projects and farming can peacefully and profitably co-exist. It’s supplemental, not a sellout. Other communities have proven it works. In the city of Lebanon, sheep graze around solar panels that provide electricity to the municipality. They provide natural vegetation control while the panels provide power.
Our Richland County farmers should have the same kind of option.
Thomas Jefferson preached that land ownership was the foundation of liberty and consent from the governed. He famously said, “the earth belongs to the living” and every generation should have the right to make decisions for their own land and the opportunity for prosperity … not to be taken away by rising property taxes, inflation and bureaucracy of three people.
I implore you to do your own research by reading Ohio Senate Bill 52. Read the text where state representatives pushed the responsibilities they have ignored for years to county government.
Learn about Ohio’s failing energy grid and what options constituents must have to be self-sufficient, they’re getting slimmer and slimmer by each bill passed in our statehouse.
This isn’t about right or left, it’s about process and showing our elected officials that they have a job to do, and it’s to represent the will of the people by giving them a voice AND a choice.
Whatever you choose, exercise the freedom you have to vote and make your voice heard.
Respectfully,
Andrea Mauk
Lucas, Ohio