Six Flags Solar Plan Opposed By...Environmentalists
By David Madden
TRENTON, NJ (CBS) -- Environmentalists are lining up in opposition to a proposed solar farm.
Sounds bizarre, but it's the way a New Jersey amusement park wants to go green that has nature groups seeing red.
Six Flags Great Adventure obtained permits from Jackson Township to tear down 15,000 trees in a protected area just outside the theme park. Plans are to make it the first amusement park with totally renewable energy.
Which sounds noble, but not to Jeff Tittel with the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club.
"Taking down 70 acres of forest for solar panels undermines the whole purpose of putting solar up in the first place which is to protect the environment," Tittle told KYW Newsradio.
His group is among several suggesting Jackson Township in Ocean County may be violating its own master plan by allowing the tree cut.
They'd rather see the solar panels go up in already developed areas of the theme park. Tittel points to Lincoln Financial Field as a perfect example of taking an entertainment venue totally solar.
There's talk of reviving a lawsuit to block the project.
Six Flags, noting a pending lawsuit, issued a statement saying they've altered the original to address some concerns and remains "committed to mitigating any impact on the environment."