MOUNT VERNON—The second Ohio Power Siting Board public hearing on the Frasier Solar project, held Thursday at the Memorial Theater, attracted a substantially smaller audience.
Around 800 attended the April 4 hearing, with 140 individuals signing up to testify. By 11:30 p.m., only 63 had done so, and Administrative Law Judge David Hicks halted the proceeding.
ALJ Matthew Sandor ruled on April 19 that individuals unable to testify at the April 4 hearing could testify at one of two additional meetings: May 23 or May 29. Individuals were assigned which meeting they could testify.
Public officials
In addition to the 40 community members scheduled for Thursday, Hicks invited several public officials to speak. The following declined:
•Board of County Commissioners
•Board of Trustees for Miller Township (trustees declined because they are scheduled to speak individually at the May 29 hearing)
•Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr
•Regional Planning Commission
•Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County
The Board of Trustees for Clinton Township also declined. However, trustee Donna Hochstetler submitted petitions from Miller and Clinton Township residents the board received at its May 20 meeting.
Director Rob Clendenning spoke on behalf of the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District.
The SWCD board voted at its May 22 meeting to oppose utility-scale ground-mounted solar at this time.
The board recognizes landowner rights but was concerned with farmland loss. While acknowledging that solar might be appropriate, the board believes there are better places for it than prime farmland.
Additionally, the board said water runoff is more than anticipated.
Clendening said the SWCD would provide unbiased help if the OPSB approves Frasier Solar’s project. The board asked, however, that Frasier Solar work with a local entity to provide a quick response to concerns.
Responding to questions from Frasier Solar/Open Road Renewables legal counsel, attorney Michael Settineri, Clendenning said the board did not consider benefits to the community from the project.
Clendenning noted that SWCD is a resource management group and is not necessarily concerned with solar energy’s financial or other community benefits. He said he is willing to meet with ORR and knows that ORR has a compliance team.
Frasier Solar advocates
Those testifying for and against Frasier Solar cited many of the same reasons as those who testified at the April 4 hearing.
Advocates said renewable energy is needed and that solar panels with sheep grazing is better than losing the land to residential development.
Berlin Township beekeeper Franklin Brown said ORR’s landscaping plan will benefit pollinators, unlike a corn field.
Regarding the loss of food production, he said that 90% of corn grown locally goes for ethanol and livestock feed.
Century Farm owner Tom Whiston lives in Mount Gilead, but his Knox County pasture abuts leased solar land on Butcher Road.
As a member of Morrow County’s OPSB ad hoc committee for the recently approved Blossom Solar, also an ORR project, Whiston said he found ORR to be transparent and easy to work with.
He noted the financial benefits to Morrow County and said that outside of those who had a vested interest in opposing solar, ORR worked with property owners to resolve their issues.
Eric Dilts, a farmer in Berlin Township, said he assumes the risk of farming and should have the final say on how he uses his land.
“Solar is an additional crop. Having a solar crop is another way for me to meet my family’s goal and keep my land,” he said.
He said new homes in his area raised property values, costing him more in property taxes.
“I have to continually find ways to keep my income,” he said.
To those commenting about having to look at solar panels, he said, “It’s not my responsibility to provide you a view. If you want to keep your view, you must purchase the property.”
Both Whiston and Dilts have solar leases, although not with Open Road.
Frasier Solar opponents
Those opposed to Frasier Solar also cited many of the same reasons as previous testifiers. Objections include solar panel leakage, water contamination, food loss in grocery stores due to farmland reduction, lack of sunlight resulting in inefficient electric generation, and noise.
Howard Township resident Hera Shupp’s daughter recently moved to Sycamore Road from Reynoldsburg.
“The view is what sold them. The view that will be ruined,” Shupp said. “Vegetation cover takes years to grow.”
Shupp noted the financial hardship her family would face because no one would buy their home, the concern about interrupted WiFi from the solar panels (her daughter and son-in-law work from home), and unrealistic decommissioning costs.
Gregg McBride, Clinton Township, is concerned about cadmium in the panels.
“If they’re so concerned with lead being in old paint from years ago, why are we allowing them to place cadmium and lead in these solar panels?” he asked.
Nancy Baker lives adjacent to the solar project. She noted the possibility of a fire with underground cables in a field with a natural gas well.
“I don’t want the land degraded or the water table,” she said. “The land will become impossible to sell.
“… If you don’t live in Miller or Clinton township, you have no right to have a say.”
Responding to Brown’s comment about the large amount of corn that goes to livestock feed, Brown said, “You eat the animals that the corn goes to feed.”
Demographics
Of the 40 community members scheduled to speak, 24 did not attend. Four (one in the project area and three outside the area) supported Frasier Solar, and 13 opposed it.
Of the 13 opposed, three lived within the project area, and nine lived outside.
The third hearing will be Wednesday, May 29, at 5 p.m. at the Memorial Theater. Forty-one individuals are scheduled to testify.
The adjudicatory hearing has been rescheduled for Aug. 19 at 10 a.m. It will be held in the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s Columbus office at 180 E. Broad St.
