US town rejects solar panels over fear

A US town has rejected a proposal for a solar farm after people expressed fear and mistrust, with one person even saying that "solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun", a media report said.

North Carolina's Woodland town council voted three-to-one against Strata Solar Company's proposal to build a solar farm, the Independent reported on Sunday.

During the public comment period preceding the vote, people expressed fear of the solar panels.

Bobby Mann, a local resident, said: "Solar farms would suck up all the energy from the sun and businesses would not come to Woodland."

Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, said she was concerned about the plants in the area. She said she observed that plants near the solar panels turned brown and dead as they did not get enough sunlight.

She also questioned the high number of cancer deaths in the area, saying no one could tell her that solar panels didn't cause cancer.

Mary Hobbs has been living in Woodland for 50 years. She said she has watched it slowly becoming a ghost town with no job opportunities for young people.

She said her home is surrounded by solar farms and is no longer worth its value because of those facilities.

The solar company chose the area around Woodland to set up the solar farm as it has an electrical substation allowing the panels to be hooked up to the national grid.

Three other solar farms were earlier accepted by the town council.