To the Editor,
The following passage is found on the Adams County Commissioners’ website and is identified as the commissioners’ vision statement: “To provide the citizens of Adams County the highest quality of life by promoting: economic development; fiscal responsibility; preservation of natural resources; education; culture and diversity; and health and public safety.” \
After reading in the local papers that the commissioners had voted to restrict competition in the development of energy production I went online to see if I had perhaps missed a footnote annotation behind the “economic development” clause. I thought that perhaps a footnote had been added to clarify that economic development in the county’s energy sector would be largely limited to the fossil fuel industry. I could find no such reference but it may be added after the final vote to restrict competition takes place during the commissioner’s meeting February 20.
This restriction on free market competition is part of the final version of the notorious House Bill 6 that was signed into law by Govenor DeWine in 2021. The final draft of the law can be found in Ohio Revised Codes 303.57, 303.58 & 303.59. The amendment to restrict competition was added as Senate Bill 52. It gives Ohio county commissioners the authority to outlaw renewable energy projects within their county. This new county veto power applies only to renewable energy projects. The same veto power does not exist for fossil fuel projects.
It should be noted that the restrictions on free market competition passed both chambers by votes from Republican party members only. This law that gives the government new control over landowner’s private property rights was opposed by a bipartisan coalition. A handful of Republicans voted with Democrats in opposition. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce also opposed the bill as it restricts free market competition in favor of one industry over the other as well as the impact the bill will have on progress and innovation.
As to what this new government restriction might mean to a private landowner in Adams County, consider the following; You own a property that includes five acres of barren hillside. A utility company offers to lease that hillside for five years to produce solar energy for some sort of new business venture. Depending upon what part of the county your property is located in, the local government may forbid you from profiting from your land. The prohibition on the use of your land may continue in perpetuity as there is no provision in the law to modify or rescind the law after the commissioner’s final vote unless a petition for referendum is filed within 30 days of the February 20 vote.
These restrictions may forever have a negative effect on your property’s value. It is left to some conjecture as to who might experience the “economic development” from these new governmental restrictions? I don’t believe that any of us will have to think too hard to answer this question. By restricting alternative energy projects, the fossil fuel industry and their lobbyists will undoubtably profit from the limits on competition. Who else might profit? I would think the fossil fuel lobbyists might find ways to show their gratitude to the Ohio lawmakers that made this perpetual welfare check possible.
Consider that in it’s original version, House Bill 6 was crafted to allow certain Ohio utility companies steal $1.3 billion from Ohio ratepayers in exchange for a $62 million dollar kickback. Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, Republican Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and three lobbyists were charged with bribery and racketeering. Matt Borges and Larry Householder were convicted. Two lobbyists pled guilty and cooperated with the prosecution. A third lobbyist committed suicide. The utility companies also pled guilty and cooperated with the prosecution. The companies divulged that they had also paid then PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo $4.3 million for assistance in preventing alternative energy development.
Why the need to restrict competition? In 2018 the U.S. Department of Energy noted that electricity generated by wind and solar power was cheaper per kilowatt hour than electricity generated by any form of fossil fuel including natural gas. A 2023 article published in Forbes notes that 99% of U.S. coal plants are more expensive to operate than renewable energy facilities. The article goes on to note that transitioning from coal to clean energy would be worth almost $600 billion in increased profits. There is also the consideration of the legacy costs of fossil fuels. Clean up mitigation from the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels often falls to the U.S. citizens who pay federal income taxes. Or, more likely the costs will be added to our ever-expanding national credit card debt.
In 2014 the Adams County Ohio Valley School District entered into a rent-to-own contract for solar arrays to help power the schools. As of 2016 they owned the arrays. As of 2018 the school system was averaging $160 thousand per year in net electricity savings. The use of solar energy also allowed the school system to avoid an additional $20-30 thousand per year in peak usage charges. Had the commissioner’s proposed restrictions on renewable energy been in place in 2014 the school system’s solar arrays would have been forbidden.
In a recent article, Commissioner Barbara Moore noted that the county commissioners had left the decision to restrict competition up to the individual townships. I don’t recall any such vote in my township. Perhaps Commissioner Moore asked the township trustees? In any case, House Bill 6 does not give township trustees any authority to restrict commerce. The right to restrict is given only to county commissioners.
If you would like to see how the proposed restrictions might affect the value of your property, consult the maps that are posted in local libraries. If these restrictions on free market competition don’t seem right to you please consider attending the meeting scheduled for February 20 at 11:30 a.m. Perhaps we can have some discussion as to a referendum petition. In the meantime, I’ll keep checking for that footnote.
Joe Grove
Manchester Ohio
