Montgomery County Council declared a ‘climate emergency’ — then sabotaged a solar program

Talk is cheap. Or, in the case of the Montgomery County Council, declaring a “climate emergency” and then sabotaging affordable clean energy. This week, the council debated a bill to allot 2 percent of rural land for solar energy development under the state’s Community Solar Pilot Program, and then amended it to such an extent as to make it unfeasible. Community Solar, a program approach that incentivizes developers to offer solar-based electric service to low- and middle-income customers, allows individuals, communities, nonprofits and others to buy in to solar energy without having property on which to build a solar installation. The original intent of the county’s bill was to increase the county’s solar resources for this program.