Save Massachusetts Forests
Save Massachusetts Forests

Protect our Forests, Water and Farmland 

Massachusetts’ energy policies are subsidizing and promoting the destruction of forests and farmland for large, industrial solar projects.  Big corporations are clear-cutting forests, stripping the land, and polluting water calling this “green energy.”  

Over 4,000 acres have been clear-cut for solar. The state is calling for another 100,000 acres.[Forest clear cuts are often in core habitat and critical natural landscapes. We need intact forests, not clear cuts, to protect our water and native biodiversity at a time when plants and animals are going extinct right here in Massachusetts.

 

 https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/advocacy/alternative-energy/solar https://savethepinebarrens.org/resources-2/

 

 

Please sign this petition that calls for a moratorium on solar over five acre in size while we take time for citizesn, scientists and our lawmakers have a chance to study the effects of state subsidies on land use in Massachusetts. 

A MORATORIUM IS A TIME OUT

 

A moratorium is temporary.  It will:

 

  • Temporarily stop the state from using taxpayer and ratepayer money to finance large solar projects; privately financed projects are not affected. A private landowner can build solar and municipalities can issue approvals under their laws. It is only state-financed large solar projects that are under the moratorium.

 

  • Allow municipalities to consider bylaws to best address their residents concerns about solar
     
  • Allow the public and experts time to work with lawmakers and regulators to fix the problems with the state’s energy policy

 

  • Protect our forests, water. wildlife, biodiodiversity, farmland and Native American sacred sites from more reckless solar development

 

  • Allow rooftops or existing infrastructure --  80% of US energy needs can be met by rooftop solar.

 

  • Allow solar on land up to 5 acres -- electricity for 190 homes so long as the land has not been cleared in the last 5 years.