Woodland, North Carolina has come forward this week to declare that they don’t want to be solar hogs. The town which is about 100 miles from the capital in Raleigh has turned down a proposal to reallocate land for a solar farm. Residents are afraid that the solar panels would suck up all the sun’s energy, kill plants and also cause cancer. 

The leader of this anti-solar panel group is a retired science teacher named Jane Mann. Mann was quoted in saying, “People come with hidden agendas. . . Until we can find out if anything is going to damage this community, we shouldn't sign any paper.”

Other locals are concerned as well. Bobby Mann (relation to Jane unclear) stated, “You’re killing your town . . . All the young people are going to move away.” Mann is also concerned about the small businesses saying, “the solar farm will suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland.”

Of course, all of this is nonsense, seeing that solar panels only draw on sunlight that directly hits the panel, not absorbing it from surrounding areas. It is very unlikely that a solar panel is going to run around and steal sunlight from the hardworking townspeople, however only time will tell if the citizens of Woodland will get to have another beautiful sunny day at the Urahaw Swamp.