(C) Ohio Capital Journal
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Ohio's solar future on the line? Why the Knox County Frazier project decision could be a bellwether. • Ohio Capital Journal [1]
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Date: 2025-06-26
For those who care about the future of life on earth and the destiny of our children, there is nothing more frightening than watching the fossil fuel greed-induced blindness of Trump and the MAGA cult ruthlessly wiping out every single gain toward preventing a climate collapse and opening the door to a deadly acceleration of carbon emissions.
It is no time to mince words, we are witnessing nothing less than the last chance to prevent the overwhelming suffering of literally hundreds of millions of our own children and future generations as the life support systems of the planet are irreparably crushed.
Here in Ohio we have our own version of this horrendous scenario playing out.
Seemingly blinded by greed to the point where they do not even see the consequences for their very own children, fossil fuel interests in our state — aided and abetted by similarly blinded Republicans in the Ohio Statehouse — have now embarked on an effort to do no less than completely shut down utility scale solar projects.
They are doing so through two primary vehicles. One is to use their exorbitant wealth to spread distortions and misinformation to the public in areas where solar projects are proposed.
The second is to infiltrate their influence directly into the agency that makes solar project siting decisions — the Ohio Power Siting board (OPSB) — and skew the process so radically that pro-solar advocates are left with hardly any chance to ever win.
In this running battle over the green future of Ohio, one area that stands out in importance is the Frasier solar project in Knox County.
It does so because nowhere else in the state have the lines of the conflict been drawn more clearly. It started with the fossil fuel industry blatantly jumping into the fray without even any real attempt to conceal its identity.
As is usually the case, it formed a local “front group” — called “Knox Smart Development” — but it was obvious where the money and propaganda were coming from.
While trying to ban anyone from outside the county to even testify, they invited a speaker all the way from Chicago to attend a so-called “town hall” meeting where the climate crisis was characterized as a complete hoax.
He came from the Heartland Institute — the very same source hired by the tobacco industry to spread lies about smoking not being a danger to health.
In this same “town hall” — the concept known for democratically allowing all points of view — a speaker who came to present a pro-solar view was actually denied entry.
Next was the extreme step of actually purchasing the local newspaper so it could be used as a tool to spread misinformation.
This was exposed by a national group called ProPublica — which has actually won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for the excellence of its investigative work.
All this manipulation was not allowed to hide in the dark. Not only were commentaries published here in the Capital Journal, but a documentary to expose the corruption was produced by this writer and distributed throughout the county.
But the Frasier battle is also notable because it will put to the test two strategies that are now becoming prominent in the effort to shut down utility scale solar.
The first is the manipulative claim that agricultural land is being “taken out of production.”
The solar developer for Frasier — Open Road Renewables — has designed the project so that sheep grazing will be integrated into almost the entire acreage. Continued agricultural use has now been specifically designed into the project.
Yet the opposition continues to hold the signs and yell the same words despite the point now being rendered meaningless. Will they be allowed to get away with this?
Frasier will also crystallize whether the attempt by fossil fuel interests to skew the entire decision process will be successful.
They are doing so by getting the Ohio Power Siting Board to essentially grant “veto power” over projects to a small handful of local officials — despite the fact there’s actually a state statute that prohibits the granting of such local jurisdiction.
Even more unbelievably, these local officials are not even being asked to present *any rationale* whatsoever for *WHY* they oppose a project.
All they do is say no, and the extra power they have been given results in the project being rejected.
It is the antithesis of a democratic process.
Fossil fuel pressure can be applied to just a few select individuals and once they are “locked” into the opposition, not even a majority of the public has any ability to affect the outcome.
The power siting board has objected to calling this a “rigging” of the process. But in all honesty what else can it be called? The legality of this bald-faced power grab is now being deliberated at the Ohio Supreme Court.
Ohio is not just one state among many.
It is the fifth most prolific producer of carbon emissions, placing an immense weight of responsibility on our shoulders related to our children and future generations.
Jake Zuckerman reported for Cleveland.com in March: “Ohioans and their elected representatives have killed enough solar development to roughly power the state’s three largest cities in the three years since state lawmakers passed one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on new solar development.”
The stakes are high, and our planet is currently losing.
The Ohio Power Siting Board cannot claim ignorance of the issues. It has acknowledged that these concerns about skewing the process have been raised. In the name of our collective future, it must change course.
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[1] Url:
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/06/26/ohios-solar-future-on-the-line-why-the-knox-county-frazier-project-decision-could-be-a-bellwether/
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