Featured Story

Featured Letter: Trees over solar

Cutting down forests for solar is plain and simply wrong. It’s pitting the environment against the environment for no reason.

The people of Long Island have approved at referendum more than $2 billion to protect open space and farmland. These are not appropriate sites for solar arrays. Solar belongs on rooftops, in parking lots and on previously cleared land.

Destroying forests for solar is a false choice. Trees do more than clean our air. They provide essential habitats for birds and animals. They provide recreational opportunities and a peaceful haven from suburban sprawl. They increase property values and improve the quality of our lives.

Finally, public commitment to alternative energy is at risk if solar arrays are sited in residential communities, on land that produces food or at the expense of Long Island’s diminishing woodlands. We’re asking LIPA and town officials across Long Island to oppose trading our God-given natural treasures for man’s latest machines.

— Richard Amper, Long Island Pine Barrens Society executive director