County Commissioner Raymond Cummings, during a meeting of that board on Monday night, became the vocal point person for a successful effort to deny permits that were needed for the establishment of two solar farms, suggesting that the science was unsettled and that the farms might produce harmful radiation.

No, Mr. Cummings, the available science finds no evidence that solar farms produce harmful radiation — unless you consider what is emitted by a microwave or a cell phone to be dangerous.

But for laughs we will pretend Cummings is sincere with his concern: Then why did he, on the same night, vote in favor of another permit for a third solar farm? Was he unconcerned about an imagined threat that solar farm poses because its neighbors don’t cast ballots in his district?

If our count is correct, Robeson County will soon have two dozen solar farms, among the most in the state if not the most. And Cummings has had a seat on the Board of Commissioners while it has approved permits for these solar farms.

We will tell you what threat concerns Cummings — the one to his re-election chances.

Monday was the fourth time the board considered the permit requests, choosing three times previously to kick the ball down the road, apparently with the false hope that those who opposed them would go poof. But they didn’t and the ball couldn’t be kicked past March 15, which is when the next primary will be held. Cummings was barely elected last time in a primary held just months before the commissioners were exposed as the best paid and benefited in North Carolina, and understands he can’t afford to lose supporters if he is to keep his seat.

So as we predicted in this space, Cummings, recognizing there was ample and determined opposition to a solar farm inside his district, voted for self-preservation.

While it can be argued that Cummings acted in the best interest of constituents, it should be remembered that in doing so, he and fellow commissioners treated this permit request differently from those the board has heard previously, which a court might determine to be spot zoning. We get the aesthetics argument — and would certainly prefer rows of crops to a fence and solar panels, but crops no longer generate the income that can be made with a solar farm.

Cummings spoke of “community harmony,” but jumped the shark for no real reason when he brought up a health threat. In a county with a couple of dozen solar farms, there is now on record a county commissioner wondering aloud if they are dangerous.

Of immediate concern, a court battle is promised that could be costly to the county and is likely to fail.

Cummings isn’t dumb, although he feigned it on Monday night. He is quite aware that these farms don’t pose health risks and we challenge him to provide credible evidence to the contrary. He knows of the temporary jobs they create, the clean energy they provide, the tax revenue they generate and the income they produce for landowners whose once-prized land otherwise is worth very little.

A template has now been provided future opponents of solar farms on how to keep them out of their neighborhood.

We ask Cummings and fellow commissioners who did as they were told, if you indeed believe these farms are a health hazard, should you not have done your due diligence previously, before you flashed a green light for about two dozen of them to be established?

Instead they voted in what they figured was Cummings’ best interest, not this county’s.

It was as predictable as this morning’s sunrise.