Notes on the hearing on the proposed solar "farm" located in Kidder Township, Carbon County, PA

The hearing was held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in the Jim Thorpe High School.

The site

If an environmental scientist were given an assignment to locate the one place in Carbon County where a a 390 acre solar installation would do the most damage to flora and fauna, that scientist might well pick the proposed site in Kidder Township for the Mora solar installation.  The installation will impact cold water trout streams, the headwaters of the Lehigh River, acres of wetlands, a mature forest, and wildlife habitat.  It will necessitate extensive earth moving, require an upgrade on the electrical grid, and when removed in 30 years leave a scar on the land.  

This project should not have proposed, let alone seriously considered.  We can assume some real estate agents and some investors looked at a map, saw a large parcel devoid of homes or businesses, nodded their heads, and said, “Hey, I’ll bet we could make a profit here.”

The optics of the hearing

The D.E.P. is misnamed.  It stands for the Department of Environmental Protection.  It should be the Department of Expedited Permits.  The preliminary application has already been approved.  At the hearing the two representatives from D.E.P. sat on a stage looking down while the supplicants opposing the project stated their case.  On the stage with the D.E.P., also looking down, were two representatives from the investors of the project.  They said nothing other than their names.  It reminded me of a a group of medieval peasants appearing before their lord to beg a favor.

My impression

In Fen, Bog and Swamp (2022) Annie Proulx wrote about the importance of wetlands to the global environment.  She detailed their continuing disappearance and the effect on climate and hydrology.  And yet, here we are, ignoring science, common sense, and the future of our children.  

What is Mora Solar?  

Do they provide campaign contributions?  Are they concerned about the bottom line?  Do they ever take a walk in the woods?  Have they read Walden?  Do they care?

Finding a treatment for measles

I keep asking myself,”How did we get this dumb?”  We have a vaccine that prevents kids from getting measles.  It has been proven safe, but if you are an anti-vaxxer, you are already saying,” No it’s not.  It causes autism, and cancer, and probably Ebola.”

But there are enough stupid people out there who believe stuff like that, plus we have vaccine denier Robert Kennedy as the head of our Department of Health and Human Services, so we have the most measles cases in the U.S. since 1991.  Biotech companies, seeing a money-maker in the works, are now attempting to produce a medicine that will be helpful for children who catch measles because their parents didn’t have the sense to get their children vaccinated.  And there are enough of those parents to make such a medicine potentially very profitable.  

How did we get this dumb? 

By the way, how do we know that medicine won't cause autism?

Was this election rigged?

Flatland County has only two towns within its boundary.  Smallville has 400 voters, 100 of whom are Democrats and 300 whom are Republicans .  Bigville has 500 voters, 400 of whom are Democrats and 100 are Republicans.  Every voter votes a straight party ticket for his or her party.  The election this year is for county commissioner.

It’s election day. Smallville votes by machines and the votes are tabulated within one hour of the closing of the polls.  Results as of 10 p.m. on election day:

Dem county commissioner candidate–100 votes

Rep. county commissioner candidate–300 votes

Bigville voters vote by mail.  All the votes are mailed in a timely fashion and are received by election day.  The 500 ballots are then opened and counted.  The counting is complete at noon on the day following the election with these results:

Dem. county commissioner candidate–400 votes

Rep. county commissioner candidate–100 votes

The Democratic candidate now pulls ahead.  She has 500 total votes in Flatland County.  The Republican candidate has 400 votes.  

If this is like the mayoral election in Los Angeles or any election which involves Trump, Trump followers, MAGA candidates, or any other observer who lacks rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic, you will hear the cry “the election was rigged.”  They are that stupid. 

Trump Channels Neville Chamberlain

On September 27, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said of  Hitler’s designs on Czechoslovakia that it was “A quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing.”  That policy became known as appeasement.

On June 16, 2026, U.S. President  Donald Trump said of Putin’s designs on Ukraine, “Look, we have nothing to do with it.  It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons.  We’re thousands of miles away.”  That policy is known as moral blindness.

The Trump quote is from Eric Green and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, “Trump Rebuffs Ukraine:  ‘Nothing to Do With It,’” New York Times, (17 June 2026), p. A-8.

Skunks and whippoorwills

About 8:30 this evening I set a “have a heart” trap to catch a squirrel that has been eating the sunflower seeds from our bird feeder.  I then walked to the garden to pull some weeds.  When I came back at 9 a skunk, almost pure white, was in the trap.  I got an old plastic table cloth, covered the trap and the skunk, and put him in the back of the truck.  Our daughter, visiting from California, and I then drove to the upper end of the Wild Creek Reservoir.  She stayed in the cab while I, speaking softly to the skunk, opened the tailgate and the door to the trap.  The plan was if the skunk sprayed me, I would ride in the back and Rachael would drive us home.  The skunk calmly walked out of the trap, hopped down, and ran into the woods.  No smell whatsoever.

And here was the best thing.  I don’t think I have heard a whippoorwill for 20 or 30 years.  Growing up I would hear them every night, but loss of habitat has reduced these shy birds to the point where they are now considered a threatened species, and soon may be endangered, if we still do that.  And there one was, calling and calling.  Rachael and I just sat there listening.  It is such a wonderful sound.

It was a good evening.

The Amish/Muslim connection

In Mohnton, PA, an Amish Halal Butcher caters to Muslims.  For a major Muslim holiday like Eid al-Adha, up to 500 Muslim families may visit the Amish farm to purchase halal meat.  The farm also caters to Hindus, primarily from Nepal, and some Africans and some Jews.  The farm employs two full-time Muslims, one from Syria and one from Ghana.  

Visitors from Philly and Harrisburg often picnic at the farm.  Ephraim Stoltzfus, the owner, has become quite knowledgeable about Muslim religious traditions.  

It makes me proud to be an American.

Info for this post is from Dan Sullivan, “Amish Halal Butchery Caters to Muslim Market,”  Lancaster Farming, (June 6, 2026), pp. A1, A7. 

Bread and circuses

We are imitating the last days of the Roman empire when the Roman citizens were given bread and circuses.  The circus was on Trump’s birthday when the “cage fighters” did an imitation of the gladiators in the arena.  I do not know if Trump, AKA Nero, gave thumbs up or down, or if anyone was actually put to the sword.  Probably not–we can’t do anything right.

My issue is this:  We have had the circus, but where the heck is the bread?  Or does that just go to the Emperor and his cronies?