Who We Are
We are a nonprofit organization, dedicated to helping rural communities save their community, from energy corporations who want to build large-scale, industrial solar power plants on agricultural-and forestry-zoned land.
We are a 501(c)(4) nonprofit.
Mission
We advocate for responsible solar policies that balance the demand for renewable energy with the interests of counties and their residents. We raise awareness about what is happening in rural communities, and work to save agricultural-forestry zoned land from large, industrial-scale solar developments.
Our Story
Citizens for Responsible Solar was formed by concerned citizens in response to the destruction of the rural landscape in Virginia by industrial-scale solar development. In 2018, three industrial-scale solar projects targeted Culpeper, VA and submitted applications to develop thousands of acres of farmland, woodlands and rural acreage and replace them with hundreds of thousands of solar panels. These projects proposed devastating impact to the environment, threatened historic land, purported questionable economic benefits to the local community and undermined resident property values. Unfortunately, we found that this story was being repeated across the state and all over the U.S. First and foremost, we are working hard to protect Culpeper, VA from the continued onslaught of aggressive solar developers, and we are supporting rural residents across the country in their own challenge to preserve their health, safety, rural lifestyle and property.
Our Core Team
Susan Ralston
Susan is leading the Citizens for Responsible Solar tax-exempt group. Through her own consulting firm, Susan helps organizations with strategic partnership development, public affairs and public relations activities. She was a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and a deputy to Karl Rove, the Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor at The White House. Susan has lived in Culpeper, Virginia for the last 10 years.
Bud Hall
Bud is a founding board member of the Chantilly Battlefield Association, the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the American Battlefield Trust), the Brandy Station Foundation, and has been active in historic preservation for more than 30 years.
Bud has written and lectured widely on cavalry operations and Culpeper County during the American Civil War, and is acknowledged as Culpeper’s Civil War historian. Bud is a Marine combat veteran, who served in Viet Nam. He resides in Culpeper, Virginia.
The People of Culpeper, Virginia
There are hundreds of people of Culpeper united to protect our land, history and homes.
