It’s one thing to want to build a 400-acre solar farm in the desert in the Southwest. It’s another to want to build it in a scenic, pastoral area filled with green, healthy woods and fertile farmland.

In the desert, you don’t need to clearcut  acres and acres of trees just so you can see the sun. Wildlife does not have to be displaced and farmland doesn’t suddenly have to become “unfarmable.”

Yet, this is exactly what might happen here in Rowan County.

I have no problem with solar energy and am well-ware of its future importance.

However, it seems to me that this land is totally impractical for such a project as this. And besides, 400 acres is a lot of space. We already have enough urban sprawl invading us. Do we need solar sprawl, too?

I hope our county commissioners don’t blindly jump on the green, politically correct, solar bandwagon and instead consider the long-term ramifications before rendering a decision.

— Allan Gilmour

Salisbury