An activist group is stopping rural US solar farms with lies
An investigation by NPR and Floodlight into a nonprofit group using false propaganda to stop rural solar energy projects across the US is a must-read.
The story, by Floodlight’s Miranda Green and NPR’s Michael Copley, is about Citizens for Responsible Solar, a group that was started in 2019. The group has adopted anti-wind activist strategies, and it’s worked with local groups to fight solar projects in at least nine states, according to its website.
Farmers who want to put solar farms on their land are having that opportunity stolen from them, because Citizens for Responsible Solar is falsely claiming that “large solar projects in rural areas wreck the land and contribute to climate change, despite evidence to the contrary,” writes Green and Copley.
Citizens for Responsible Solar is not a grassroots group – it was founded by Washington insider Susan B. Ralston, a White House aide during the George W. Bush administration who resigned after being entangled in two scandals, according to the New York Times.
Michael Burger, executive director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, says in the NPR/Floodlight story:
I think for years, there has been this sense that this is not all coincidence. That local groups are popping up in different places, saying the same things, using the same online campaign materials.
[It’s a] national effort to foment local opposition to renewable energy.
What that reflects is the unfortunate politicization of climate change, the politicization of energy, and, unfortunately, the political nature of the energy transition, which is really just a necessary response to an environmental reality.
You can read the full investigative article here.
Electrek’s Take
I’ve noticed a lot more anti-solar propaganda popping up in my Google Alerts, which is worrying on two fronts. One, anti-solar lies are being picked up by local media outlets who don’t appear to be fact checking, and two, Google is legitimizing these false articles.
Now I know it’s being coordinated at a national level. When NPR’s media relations manager contacted me today about this investigative piece, I was happy to amplify their findings.
We at Electrek don’t often cover other media coverage, but this story exposes lies that are proving to be deeply impactful. Preventing the adoption of renewables across the US would be potentially devastating on not just a local level, but on a global scale. And to get away with it with lies would be tragic.
Read more: These new vertical solar systems are specially designed for farms
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Japanese equipment giant Komatsu has added a not-so-giant electric excavator to its growing lineup of battery-powered construction equipment. The new Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator promises a full day of work from a single charge.
Komatsu says the design of its latest mini excavator was informed by data sourced from more than 40,000 working days of comparably-sized diesel excavators. The company found that, in 90% of its global customers’ mini excavator deployments, these vehicles are in active use for less than 3.5 hours per day.
“This defined the target for the required, reliable working time with the excavator,” reads the Komatsu web copy. “This result makes it possible for Komatsu to offer an attractively priced machine with a performance that exactly matches the requirements.”
Keeping costs down are relatively conservative specs. Komatsu chose to power the PC20E-6 with a 23.2 kWh battery pack sending electrons to an 11 kW (~15 hp), high-torque electric motors. Not exactly super impressive on paper, but the machine has an operating weight of 2,190 kg and enough juice for up to four (4) hours of continuous operation.
More than enough, in other words, to have completed 90% of of those 40,000 work days the company analyzed.
Getting it done
If, for some reason, that four hours’ runtime isn’t enough, an on-board charging option for 230V and 3kW charging power compatible with various plug adapters is standard, with an external DC quick charger for 400V and 12 kW charging as optional. In either case, it won’t be long before the machine is back at work.
To help the later adopters sleep well about their battery-powered investments, the PC20E-6 ships with Komatsu’s E-Support maintenance program, which includes free scheduled maintenance by a Komatsu-trained technician, a 3 year/2,000 hour warranty on the machine, plus a 5 year/10,000 hour warranty on the electric driveline. The company says the battery should last 10 years.
“The Komatsu E-Support customer program is included free of charge with every market-ready electric mini excavator and offers exclusive machine support,” said Emanuele Viel, Group Manager Utility at Komatsu Europe. “The bottom line is that the risk for the end customer is significantly reduced, especially when it comes to exploring the electrification advances in the industry.”
Komatsu hasn’t released official pricing quite yet, but has revealed that the P20E-6 will begin series production this October.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Komatsu.
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Tesla has unexpectedly terminated a contractor’s contract at Gigafactory Texas, resulting in the layoff of 82 workers who were supporting the automaker’s production at the giant factory in Austin.
MPW Industrial Services Inc., an Ohio-based industrial service provider specializing in cleaning and facility management, has issued a new WARN notice, confirming that it will lay off 82 workers in Texas due to Tesla unexpectedly ending its contract with the company.
Here are the details from the WARN notice:
- State / agency: Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
- Notice date: August 27, 2025.
- Employees affected: 82
- Likely effective date: September 1, 2025
- Context from the filing/letter: layoffs tied to an unexpected termination of a major customer contract (Tesla—Gigafactory Texas, 1 Tesla Road); positions include 61 technicians, 7 team leads, 7 supervisors, 7 managers; no bumping rights; workers not union-represented.
In April 2024, Tesla initiated waves of layoffs at the plant, resulting in the dismissal of more than 2,000 employees in Austin, Texas.
Since then, Tesla’s sales have been in a steady decline. While the automaker is expected to have a strong quarter in the US in Q3 due to the end of the tax credit, sales are expected to decline further in Q4 and the first half of 2026.
Many industry watchers have expected Tesla to initiate further layoffs due to the situation.
Electrek’s Take
We may be seeing the beginnings of a new wave of layoffs at Tesla, as the automaker typically starts with contractors.
To be fair, Tesla could also potentially end the contract unexpectedly for other reasons, but the timing does align with the need to cut costs and staff ahead of an inevitable downturn in US EV sales.
I think it’s inevitable that we start seeing some layoffs. I think Tesla will have to slow down production in the US to avoid creating an oversupply, especially in Q4-Q1.
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