GREENVILLE, Miss.–More than 30 solar generation facilities are now operating in Mississippi, with another ten pending approval. One person who believes Mississippi should not only take a hard look at the potential impacts of having these facilities, but should also develop hard policies, is Mississippi Ad Commissioner Andy Gipson.
“There is a way and a place for alternative energy. But, I don’t think we need to accept this current administration’s false choice between energy and food,” said Gipson, at Thursday’s Solar Summit. hosted by the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
That summit included industry leaders and companies that provide solar energy, including some that have projects pending in Mississippi.
Central District Public Service Commissioner DeKeither Stamps said the purpose of the summit was to being together people who may be involved in setting policy and building out facilities and to make sure Mississippians know their government is taking a hard look at what may be a larger source of energy in the state in the coming years.
While Gipson says he is not against solar energy, he believes the current push to have people give up some of the land on which they may have previously grown food is being pushed by the same people whom he says have made agriculture a difficult prospect in Europe, adding that the U.S. being involved in the Paris Accords has meant much one-time money has been pushed on farmers to create a false economy.
“Of the farmers surveyed in June of this year, 69 percent were offered an annual lease rate of over $1,000 per acre or more,” he said, citing statistics from the Farm Bureau Federation.
Gipson says he worries about what will happen if money runs out or if the U.S. again leaves the Paris agreement, ;leaving Mississippi farmers holding the bag.
