Former Rick Santorum deputy press secretary Lauren Appell appeared on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday to break down Virginia’s own version of the Green New Deal.
“What they want to do is they want to take this solar power project — that as you said is literally half the size of Manhattan — and they want to dump it on a rural Virginia town,” she said. (RELATED: Reporter Joe Concha Says Ocasio-Cortez Contradicted Herself On Green New Deal)
“You’re sitting in a studio right now in Manhattan. I don’t need to tell you how large Manhattan is. You navigate it every single day, and obviously these people have some concerns. If this goes through, this is going to be the largest solar power project on the east coast and one of the largest in the world. They have a number of different concerns about this.”
WATCH:
Virginia is attempting to set aside thousands of acres of land in Spotsylvania County to house a 500-megawatt solar plant that would consist of 1.8 million solar panels, according to Fox News.
Appell said critics of the solar plant are concerned about erosion and chemical contamination, as well as potential firespro as a result of the project.
“It’s not just electricity prices — they also have other environmental concerns. Already they’ve had thousands of acres of land cleared, trees cut down. They are concerned about erosion happening,” she said.
“They are concerned about toxic chemicals if this gets going. They’re concerned about potential for fires. If this gets — to put it in perspective, if this goes into effect, this is going to be within 50 feet of people’s homes. This is on over 6,000 acres of land, 2,000 of which they can’t even put solar panels on because there are streams and wetlands running through it. Virginia Department of Equality has already said these streams are endangered, so they have a lot of different concerns for the environment.”
Taylor Keeeney, a spokesperson for sPower, provided The Daily Caller News Foundation with a statement about the project:
The Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center is a private economic development project on private land. It is a result of companies in Virginia wanting to power their operations with solar power produced in Virginia, including Microsoft’s data center in Mecklenburg County. The project will result in millions in new tax revenue to Spotsylvania County, create hundreds of jobs, and bring new economic development opportunities to the area. This project will be a catalyst for new investment, innovation and free market competition in the energy arena.
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