Support community solar in MoCo: Sign this letter of support!

Today, the CCAN Action Fund is joining forces with the Sierra Club in asking the Montgomery County Council to take action on solar power right NOW. With western wildfires creating hazy days in our region and with hurricanes named Alpha and Beta because we’ve run through the alphabet for storm names, it is VITAL that the Montgomery County Council act on solar right now.

Specifically, I am writing to urge you to SIGN THIS LETTER OF SUPPORT for legislation which would bring community solar to Montgomery County. The legislation, Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 20-01, will allow a limited amount of land in our Agricultural Reserve to be used for small solar projects that will provide shared solar power to our community.

Please sign the letter asking the Montgomery County Council to act NOW on solar power. No more delays. Join Sierra Club, CCAN Action Fund and other groups in supporting limited use of solar power on MoCo farmland.

On behalf of CCAN Action Fund’s 5,000 MoCo supporters and Sierra Club’s 6,000 members in the county, we are expressing an overwhelming sense of urgency on the issue of solar in our county.

This ZTA passed the joint committee sessions and will soon be discussed at a full council session. The county has set necessary but ambitious goals for reducing the greenhouse gas pollution we produce. However, as a D.C. Councilmember recently said, “A goal is only as good as what you’re willing to do to achieve it.”

ZTA 20-01 would be a significant step toward helping the county meet its stated greenhouse gas reduction and clean energy goals by allowing for Community Solar development on less than 2 percent of Ag Reserve land. Solar on rooftops and parking garages alone will not help to reach the goals. We also need to consider solar on land to quickly and urgently address climate change.

Please sign this letter asking the Montgomery County Council to act NOW on solar power. No more delays. Join Sierra Club and CCAN Action Fund and other groups in supporting limited use of solar power on MoCo farmland.

This ZTA is also important for creating equity and jobs. The program specifically includes solar access for low- and moderate-income households, who so far have been essentially left out of solar development.

Again, if you or your organization/community group would like to sign on asking the Council to move forward and vote in favor of this ZTA, please enter your organization’s name now.

Please feel free to circulate this sign-on letter to people you know who may be interested in supporting this ZTA.

Best,

Mike Tidwell
Executive Director
CCAN Action Fund