Lexington/Fayette County, Kentucky, was one of the only two, out of 120, counties in the Bluegrass State to cast a majority of their ballots in 2020 for Joe Biden. The good people of Lexington — the city comprises the entire county — gave 90,600 votes, 59.25% of the total, to Sundowner Joe, compared to 58,860, or 38.49%, to President Donald Trump. That was a slightly higher percentage for Mr Biden than the Commonwealth’s largest city/county, Louisville/Jefferson County’s 58.87%.

So, with so many, many people on the liberal side of the political spectrum, you’d think that Lexingtonians would support Mr Biden’s policies, right?

Neighbors address potential solar farm developers in Lexington

By Grason Passmore | Monday, July 8, 2024 | 10:37 PM EDT

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Lexington neighbors addressed the potential developers of two different solar farms Monday night at an information session hosted by the 12th District office.

“Why do you want to do this here? Find land elsewhere. We want you gone. Gone,” exclaimed one upset neighbor.

Two solar farms have been proposed around the Haley Road area off of Winchester Road. Silicon Ranch^[1]Hyperlink not in the original, but added by me., a privately owned company out of Nashville, has an option to purchase close to 800 acres for a solar energy farm. That project would run adjacent to a 384-acre solar project proposed by East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

“You’ve interrupted agricultural production and the food supply, which feeds the world. You can’t eat solar panels or houses.

Fayette County has serious zoning regulations to protect the valuable farmland, and by this they mean thoroughbred horse farmland, for which the Bluegrass is famous. It’s a beautiful area, somewhat strained since Fayette County’s population has metastasized by about fifty percent since the mid 1980s.

There are a few more paragraphs, and the story on WKYT-TV is not hidden behind a paywall, so it’s free; the Lexington Herald-Leader, for which I pay for a subscription, did not cover the story. But there’s one more I have to quote:

“I support solar, but I wonder why now and why here,” said Patrick Mason, who lives near the proposed sites.

I have no idea whether Mr Mason voted for Mr Biden, or even if he voted at all, but that one short sentence tells us all just what we need to know: he supports solar energy generation, as long as it isn’t near him! Not In My Back Yard!

Kentucky is no stranger to solar farm projects: there’s a large one already operating within public view from Interstate 64 between Lexington and Winchester, the next town to the east, in Clark County, not Fayette. The voters in Clark County gave 65.11% of their votes to Mr Trump, which is higher than the 62.08% he earned statewide. Then again, if I exclude Jefferson and Fayette counties from the total, Mr Trump won 69.94% of the votes from the sensible counties, while Mr Biden got only 28.39%.

I admit to being wryly amused. In the Kentucky county which gave the highest percentage of its votes to Joe Biden, the candidate who promised to fight global warming climate change by transforming our economy to renewable and non-carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitting electric generation, and to pushing us all into plug-in electric vehicles, we’re seeing significant opposition to a solar farm, on land very well-suited for such — Fayette County is not in the eastern Kentucky mountains, nor the Daniel Boone National Forest, but the slightly rolling hills, significantly-cleared-of-trees pastures — because it’s too close to their homes. Not In My Back Yard!

Where, I have to ask, would Mr Mason and the other residents expressing their opposition like to see a solar farm placed? My small farm in Estill County has plenty of sun exposure, which ought to be perfect, but the fields are susceptible to floods. When you get away from the Kentucky River bottom land, the mountains and the National Forest begin, which would force much smaller solar developments and the cutting down of an uncounted number of trees.

The counties west of the mountains, many of which have seen a lot of clear-cutting of this once almost entirely forested state, would be better suited to large solar farms. Perhaps Mr Mason would be supportive of such in Anderson or Warren or Edmonson counties, just well out of his sight?

This site has noted, in our four-article series on “How wealthy New Englanders fight #ClimateChange,” that the well-to-do people in the deep-blue northeast love to support the President’s  policies, but also love to go with gas ranges, water heaters, and heating systems for their own homes. We have previously noted how Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) wants to ban the installation of new gas service in future construction in the Empire State, but uses gas ranges in both her personal home in Buffalo and the Governor’s Mansion in Albany.

It should be no surprise to anyone what the left are doing. They support all of these liberal policies, but don’t like it very much when those policies affect them personally. Not In My Back Yard!