Trees = Bad

Alleged environmentalists are being told to cut down the trees they planted because they’re blocking a neighbor’s solar panels:

“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.

The trees lost the court battle because of a 1978 law signed by then Governor Jerry Brown that gives solar “precedence” in California. The filthy, criminal, tree planters have until the end of March to cut down the offending trees or face a fine up to $1,000 a day. They may appeal.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Crime, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.