[Green] S 52 and H 118

[gbanz42 at suddenlink.net]

Green Sanctuary Committee:

     There are two nearly identical bills in the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House. They describe a process whereby a local township can essentially veto a project for a wind-turbine farm or solar farm that has already been approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board. The latter Board is authorized to approve requests for generating power. 

     I would ask if people on GSC can write their senator (Frank Hoagland) and their  representative (Jay Edwards roughly in the western portion of Washington County and Don Jones in the eastern portion). with some version of this wording (altered to some extent by each individual:

        The OPSB is the legitimate state agency that approves requests for such sites. By the reasoning behind these bills, one  could assume that a local township could veto the approval of an injection well for fracking waste that was already approved by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources--or for that matter a project approved by any state agency. Many farmers welcome the steady income provided by wind farms or solar farms as a consistent revenue complement to their commodity products. The Occupational Handbook of the U.S. Department of Labor  shows that jobs in  the fields of wind and solar energy are growing (and will grow) at a faster pace than the U S economy as a whole. By discouraging wind and solar development, Ohio is opting out of a rapidly growing economic opportunity.  Why does the legislature want to wage a "war on renewables" and take the Ohio energy economy back to the 19th and 20th century?

     If have sent a similar message to my two legislators. If more than one person sends this message, it is more likely to have an effect  
--
George Banziger
202 Lawton Road
Marietta, OH 45750-1111
740-434-5685
cell: 740-434-3354