A Clash Of Green
Beggars belief, it does. California prosecutors are pursuing charges against a couple on behalf of their aggrieved neighbor. The neighbor alleges that his solar panels are being shaded by the couple's sequoia trees. No, I really am not making this up.
Talk about a clash of cherished green values.
In a case with statewide significance, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is pursuing a Sunnyvale couple under a little-known California law because redwood trees in their backyard cast a shadow over their neighbor's solar panels.
Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett own a Prius and consider themselves environmentalists. But they refuse to cut down any of the trees behind their house on Benton Street, saying they've done nothing wrong.
"We're just living here in peace. We want to be left alone," said Bissett, who with her husband has spent $25,000 defending themselves against criminal charges. "We support solar power, but we thought common sense would prevail."
Their neighbor Mark Vargas considers himself an environmentalist, too. His 10-kilowatt solar system, which he installed in 2001, is so big he pays only about $60 a year in electrical bills. He drives an electric car.
Vargas said he first asked Treanor and Bissett to chop down the eight redwoods, which the couple had planted from 1997 to 1999 along the fence separating their yards. Later, he asked them to trim the trees to about 15 feet.
"I offered to pay for the removal of the trees. I said let's try to work something out," Vargas said. "They said no to everything."
He installed the panels.
After several years of squabbling and failed mediation, Vargas filed a complaint with the Santa Clara County district attorney arguing that the trees reduce the amount of electricity he can generate. In 2005, prosecutors agreed.
They sent Treanor and Bissett a letter informing them that they were in violation of California's Solar Shade Control Act and that if they didn't "abate the violation" within 30 days, they would face fines of up to $1,000 a day.
The law in question was signed into effect by Jerry Brown in 1978. Elsewhere in the state it is widely ignored. This is a nasty little situation. It appears that the solar panels were installed after the trees were planted. This essentially puts the people who have trees at a distinct disadvantage. I could see this being used – intentionally – as a weapon against people, and that makes it a real problem.
Energy, Environment, Insanity, Legal | Gaius January 24, 2008
By McGehee, January 24, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
Hmmm. So the guy wants to have an environmentally friendly energy system, but without actually having to be friendly to the environment?
By Gaius, January 24, 2008 @ 9:46 pm
That about wraps it right up, doesn’t it?
By Mwalimu Daudi, January 24, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
If they don’t cut down the tree, they are committing ecocide by preventing solar power. If the do cut down the tree, they are committing ecocide by tree murder.
Kind of reminds me of the race-baiting blue-on-blue fratricide going on between two certain politicians in the Democrat Party who fancy themselves our moral betters.
By Anthony (Los Angeles), January 24, 2008 @ 10:32 pm
God, but I do love my state.
By Mockinbird, January 25, 2008 @ 3:34 pm
The trees are helping abate Global Warming.
If the solar panel guy would acknowlege that the Sun is very powerful, then he should also acknowledge that the Sun is causing Global warming.
Both of the parties being eco-liberals, why don’t they all take off their hemp underwear and get into the hot tub; and fight it out there with plastic wine bottles.