Solar energy vs. shade - Solar, Wind and Land: Conflicts in Renewable Energy Development - page 117

26 See id. at 193.
27 See id. (quoting United States v. Causby , 328, U.S. 256, 264 (1946), for the
principle that a “landowner owns at least as much of the space above the
ground as he can occupy or use in connection with the land”); see also id. at 194
(asserting that the “right of a property owner to lawful enjoyment of his property
should be vigorously protected”).
28 See Cal. Pub. Res. Code §§ 25980-25986 (2008).
29 Scott Anders, et al., California's Solar Shade Control Act: A Review of the
Statutes and Relevant Cases, University of San Diego School of Law Energy
Policy Initiatives Center (2010) at 1, available at www.sandiego.edu/documents/
epic/100329_SSCA_Final_000.pdf (last visited June 27, 2013) (citing Cal. Rev.
& Tax Code § 23601 (1976).
30 The California legislature amended to § 25983 of the statute in 2008 to remove
its public nuisance provision, limiting liability to civil private nuisance claims.
See Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 25983. For a more detailed discussion of the “public
nuisance” aspect of California's original Act, see Gergacz, supra note 10 at
24-25.
31 See Rule, Sunlight on the Cathedral , supra note 4 at 874 (citing the 1978 version
of Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 25983).
32 See Anders, supra note 29 at 10 (noting that “relatively few cases have examined
the Solar Shade Control Act since its enactment” and citing just four cases citing
the Act between 1978 and 2005).
33 See Douglas Fox, Solar Energy Trumps Shade in California Prosecution of Tree
Owner Across a Backyard Fence: When is the Environmentalism Greener on the
Other Side?, Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 2008 (available at www.
csmonitor.com/2008/0318/p20s01-lihc.html (last visited June 28, 2013).
34 See Felicity Barringer, Trees Block Solar Panels, and a Feud Ends in Court , New
York Times (Apr. 7, 2008), available at www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/science/
earth/07redwood.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (last visited June 28, 2013).
35 Fox, supra note 33.
36 Barringer, supra note 34.
37 Id.
38 See Anders, supra note 29 at 10.
39 See Barringer, supra note 34.
40 See David Dockter, The “Trees vs. Solar” Issue Put to Rest in the Capital ,
California Urban Forests Council, available at http://energycenter.org (last
visited June 28, 2013) (observing that the “national news impressions and fallout
from onlookers” to the Bissett-Vargas dispute “ranged from bewilderment, to
humor to serious polarization”).
41 See, e.g. , Marla Dickerson, Hey, Your Shade Trees Are Blocking My Solar
Panels , Los Angeles Times (Nov. 15, 2008) (describing a similar shading
dispute between neighboring landowners in Culver City, California).
42 2008 Cal. Stat. ch. 176.
43 See Anders, supra note 29 at 6.
44 See id. at 10.
45 See Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 40A, § 9B (Lexis Nexis 2006).
46 Iowa Code Ann. § 564A (West 1992).
47 See id. at § 564.A.4(1).
48 Iowa's statute specifically allows for voluntarily-negotiated solar access easements.
See Iowa Code Ann. § 564.A.7.
49 See Iowa Code Ann. § 564.A.4.2.
50 See Iowa Code Ann. § 564.A.4.3.
51 See Iowa Code Ann. § 564.A.5.1.