To the editor: Climate columnist Sammy Roth’s latest look at the conversion of farmland to solar and problems with the Williamson Act points to how California has some of the most productive lawyers in the country (“California needs a little less farmland, a lot more solar power,” July 24). They crafted the Williamson Act, which Roth’s previous article on the subject showed to be largely ineffective and unnecessary. Now, they’re having trouble getting past the negative effects the Williamson Act has on using protected farmland for solar production. What a mess.
Solar, unlike land conversion for housing and other uses, is temporary, and the solar farms can be easily removed and recycled and the land put back into farming. Why not just declare that solar farming is farming so that the Williamson Act isn’t touched?
Robert Buckner, Sierra Madre
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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