May 11, 2026

We must change how Ohio decision-makers think about electric generation

For the past decade, the Ohio Environmental Council has supported utility-scale renewable projects at the Ohio Power Siting Board. Whether we’re intervening in groundbreaking energy projects like a proposed offshore wind facility or an 800-megawatt solar project paired with row crop agriculture, we push for clean energy that mitigates the causes of climate change. 

What is the problem we’re facing? 

Since the passage of Senate Bill 52 in 2021, Ohio has seen a significant increase in opposition to renewable energy. Residents are often understandably concerned about how a project will transform their community. Other times, oil and gas interests covertly fund legal opponents to renewables. 

At the OEC, we believe all people should have the opportunity to use their voices to provide important perspectives to decisionmakers, even if we disagree with them. Instead, we’re seeing decisionmakers grant complete deference to local opponents of utility-scale renewable projects, all while ignoring the substance of these concerns and important local and statewide perspectives regarding electric generation in Ohio. 

The Ohio Supreme Court recently rejected this practice in the case called South Branch Solar. The Court found local opposition “informative” to an Ohio Power Siting Board decision, but not determinative. Just weeks later, in legal cases before the Ohio Power Siting Board, we witnessed arguments that continued to push decisions that solely relied on local opposition, without consideration of local or statewide benefits from solar. They essentially ignored the Supreme Court’s guidance. 

The OEC Law Center believes this approach might create a problematic precedent: if local opponents to an electric generation facility can be loud enough to get support from the right politicians, any electric generation facility in Ohio can be killed—whether it’s solar, wind, or any other form of energy. 

And to stop climate change, we need more renewable energy. To decrease electricity costs for Ohioans, we need new, modern forms of electric generation. We need careful, fact-based consideration of power siting, not complete deference to the loudest voices in the room.  

So how do we fix this problem? 

The problem lies at the heart of the Ohio Power Siting Board process: the word “public interest” is not clearly defined. Ohio law requires a project to meet the “public interest.” The Ohio Supreme Court has provided a flexible definition, but some decisionmakers continue to operate on a narrow definition that merely tallies local comments. 

The Ohio General Assembly could pass a bill changing the definition to better reflect the statewide benefits of electric generation. Otherwise, we will continue to see good projects rejected based on disinformation. The OEC Law Center is engaging directly in this effort to ensure Ohio builds the renewable energy it desperately needs to protect the environment and improve the health of our communities.