We’ve reached a peculiar place in politics.
Historically, conservatives have opposed excessive regulation and rightfully so. Regulations are like wind resistance when you drive your car. The bigger the car, the harder it has to work to move along at 70 miles per hour and the more it costs to drive.
Cutting foolish regulations is like rounding the corners and cutting the size. For a strong economy and maximum jobs, we want regulations that look more like a sedan than a box truck.
So it was odd when Republicans started hollering that state government should increase regulations on solar farms – some politicians even went so far as to suggest requiring a farmer to obtain a state permit before leasing his land for a solar farm.
It gets worse: In fact, a solar company already needs to get a permit from the Utility Commission to build a solar farm. It’s not a simple process and to further complicate it, when they process that application , the Utility Commission sends out notice to seven state departments, seven divisions and four sections*.
Counting the Commission itself, that’s 19 bureaucracies that get a chance to stop, or at least delay construction of a solar farm.
Now, some say that 19 bureaucracies still isn’t enough.
How is that conservative?
* 1) Dept. of Environmental Quality
– Division of Air Quality
– Division of Water Resources
– Division of Water Quality
– Division of Coastal Management
– Division of Environmental Health
– Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources
– Division of Waste Management
• Solid Waste Section
• Hazardous Waste Section
• Superfund Section
2) NC Wildlife Resources Commission
3) Dept. of Transportation
4) Dept. of Cultural Resources
5) Dept. of Agriculture
6) Dept. of Commerce
7) Dept. of Public Safety
– Emergency Management Section