Ohio

Why Ohio is pushing away millions of dollars in solar energy development

Published

1 year ago

June 13, 2023

Why Ohio is pushing away millions of dollars in solar energy development

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Solar energy developers want to spend millions of dollars investing in Ohio, but the state won’t let them. Now, lawmakers are trying to challenge the anti-solar narrative.

Ohio has become a hot spot for green energy developers, with nearly 10 solar applications pending. Although these companies want to invest multi-millions, they can be blocked in just one meeting.

“They’ve chosen that they want to be able to lease that part of their land for energy production,” Sarah Spence, executive director of Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, said. “Shouldn’t they be allowed to do that?”

Any utility-scale solar project in the state must receive permission from the local government to build. That means that even if the landowner and the energy company agree to use private property for solar panels, county commissioners can veto it and ban all solar projects from the entire area.

“If we’re going to do this, there’s going to have to be more effective partnerships and more voice and more discussion and input on how these happen,” Dale Arnold with the Ohio Farm Bureau said.

Some farmers fear land will be overrun by solar, Arnold added.

Other farmers argue the project will only impact their land, perhaps using solar to save the family farm for generations, Spence responded.

News 5 asked Arnold why shouldn’t the landowner be allowed to have solar panels on it’s on private property. He said he understood the argument. It’s one that is dividing his community.

“We have concerns with regard to soil, water conservation, protection repair, remediation of farm ground after construction is done, use of local roads, taxes, community benefits [and] the ability for local governments and community stakeholders to be involved more fully into the process,” he said. “What’s going to happen beyond your fence line, and the watershed, and the community.”

Arnold isn’t anti-solar and acknowledges the benefits the energy source can provide. However, many farmers and citizens in rural areas are adamantly against it.

Spence understands where Arnold is coming from but argues that local governments should be able to veto project-to-project instead of just a blanket ban.

News 5 reached out to utility-scale facility developers and the state coalition representing them. However, none were available or interested in speaking.

Changing the narrative

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to change Ohio’s anti-solar narrative.

Republican state Reps. Jim Hoops (Defiance) and Sharon Ray (Wadsworth) introduced House Bill 197, joined by another colleague and representatives across the aisle.

H.B. 197 would establish a community solar pilot program, allowing homeowners to use green energy without installing panels.

“The pilot program created under House Bill 197 is really good, equitable energy policy,” Nolan Rutschilling with the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund said.

The bill, in total creates a 1,750 MW program, split up into three categories.

1,000 MW spread across all of Ohio, allocated by customer base for each utility
500 MW spread across Ohio focused on the redevelopment of distressed sites
250 MW for the Appalachian area’s distressed sites in a standalone program

Rutschilling explained this would reduce utility costs and power anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 homes. It could also bring great economic development, he said.
The community solar pilot program would account for roughly 3% of Ohio’s overall generation, he added.

“Solar projects will save folks money, they reduce pollution and they make sure we have less blackouts on our energy grid,” he said.

There is currently a fluorescent nuclear stain on Ohio. Former Ohio House Speaker, and now-convicted-felon, Larry Householder sold out the Statehouse for millions in exchange for bailouts for FirstEnergy’s struggling nuclear power plants and Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) coal plants. The main beneficiaries from this were American Electric Power Company (AEP), Duke Energy and AES Ohio.

Ohio lawmakers going over House Speaker’s head to repeal coal plant subsidies in corruption-linked HB 6

“We’re still bailing out these fossil fuel sources that have had a stranglehold on our economy and our energy system for way too long,” Rutschilling added.

It’s time for a change, he added.

The Farm Bureau has concerns about H.B. 197, mainly that it wants local governments to be able to have more say in the development.

“Many township trustees, zoning, appeals boards, county commissions are saying, ‘we don’t have the zoning to do this, the prerequisite requirement,’ Arnold said. “I need better tools, more management, more ability to talk and discuss more protections for my community stakeholders going forward.”

It would be ideal to have the same ability to veto community projects, he added.

The free market is moving towards renewables like wind and solar, Spence said.

“If we have the ability to produce our own energy within the state, we should be able to do that,” she said.

That bill will likely be heard in the coming months.

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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Ohio

Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

Published

2 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

Slow burn — Ohio recreational marijuana dispensaries on way to sales

COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than 100 dispensaries in Ohio are on their way to selling recreational marijuana. This comes after sales were anticipated to start in June.

The Division of Cannabis Control has given provisional licenses to 110 dispensaries so they can sell both medically and recreationally once they receive final approval.

Of the 110, Northeast Ohio has 36. Southwest Ohio has 29, and Central Ohio has 18. Franklin County has the most with 12, Cuyahoga with 11 and Hamilton with nine.

Click here to learn which facilities have a provisional license.

License applications must be approved or denied by Sept. 7, but the state and policymakers have continued to say that applications could be granted and recreational sales could happen by mid-June.

The passage of Issue 2 allowed adults 21 years of age and older to smoke, vape and ingest weed. Individual Ohioans are able to grow up to six plants with up to 12 per household. Click here to learn more about what the law entails.

High hopes for marijuana to hit store shelves sooner this summer

Ohio Cannabis Coalition’s Tom Haren is staying positive despite the delayed start date.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Haren said. “There is a lot of work that needed to get done.”

Consumers haven’t been able to buy weed legally because there is a process that takes place between getting a provisional license and getting a license with a certificate of operation.

The state has a list of requirements that shops need to meet, such as keeping visitor logs, having curbside and drive-through pickup and utilizing surveillance systems. Dispensaries will also have to demonstrate they can keep inventory aside to make sure medical patients continue having preferred access. Sellers will also have to do a test sale to a medical patient and a recreational consumer, among dozens of other tasks and evaluations.

“We’ve been going on a hiring blitz, of course, making sure that we’re staffed up,” Brandon Nemec with Verilife said.

But Gov. Mike DeWine wants more regulations.

“We have a problem of walking down the street with your five-year-old and there is marijuana smoke,” DeWine said in late June.

He has been asking for lawmakers to deal with his safety concerns for months.

The Senate has passed and proposed various changes to the law — like a restriction or ban on public smoking. However, it would limit home grow, reduce THC levels and ban the vast majority of vapes — among dozens of other restrictions and changes to what the voters chose.

House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) has been blocking it, and dispensaries support him.

“Honoring the will of the voters is very important,” Stephens said in late June. “That part has been done — this was passed in November and it’s still the law of the land.”

The lawmakers in both chambers allegedly agree that they want to put more stringent guidelines on advertising, but they can’t agree on the vehicle. The House wants a clean version of a bill — meaning they don’t want the Senate to “go against the will of the people,” which is what House leaders say the other chamber is doing.

The Senate leaders have argued that the citizens didn’t actually know what they were voting for, and they don’t actually want or need to be able to grow six plants as an individual or up to 12 plants per household.

In their most recent move, the Senate proposed S.B. 278, a bill that would ban all public smoking or vaping, but they didn’t reduce the home grow amount this time. House leaders, specifically marijuana enthusiast state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord), said a public ban would not be happening under his watch.

The House and the Senate both proposed ideas, and their leaders have been arguing about whose policy is better for the state, which in turn has kept marijuana off the shelves despite being passed in Nov. and going into effect in Dec. 2023.

Republican squabbling keeps marijuana off shelves months after legalization

Even though sales didn’t happen as hoped in June, Haren said Cannabis Control is still ahead of schedule. Technically, they have until Sept. to issue the first batch of licenses.

“We’re very encouraged that we are a matter of weeks away from Ohioans being able to purchase legal, regulated, taxed, tested, adult-use marijuana products right here in the Buckeye State,” Haren added.

There will likely be no changes to marijuana policy until the end of the year since the chambers are in summer recess until after the Nov. election.

Here is a list of provisionally licensed facilities in Northeast Ohio:

Cuyahoga Co.

Amplify Bedford: 22803 Rockside Rd, Bedford
Amplify CH: 1782 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Heights
Cannavitz Ventures LLC: 13501 Lakewood Heights Blvd, Cleveland
Green Power OH: 13429 Lakewood Heights Blvd, Cleveland
Good Day Dispensary, LLC: 34480 Vine Street, Lake
GTI Ohio, LLC: 11818 Madison Ave, Lakewood
GTI Ohio, LLC: 1222 Prospect Ave E, Cleveland
GTI Ohio, LLC: 18607 Detroit Ave, Lakewood
Nectar Markets of Ohio, LLC: 1100 Saint Clair Ave, Euclid
OPC Retail II, LLC: 1978 W 3rd St, Cleveland
Twice The Wellness, LLC: 27900 Chagrin Boulevard, Woodmere

Summit

Greenleaf Apothecaries: 46 South Summit St., Akron
FRX Health of Cuyahoga Falls: 1682 State Rd., Cuyahoga Falls
127 OH: 737 East North St., Akron
Culture Retail Partners of Ohio, Inc.: 1568 E Archwood Ave., Akron
Curaleaf Cuyahoga Falls: 1220 Buchholzer Blvd Ste. C, Cuyahoga Falls

Lorain

CREAM Apothecaries Ohio LLC: 914 Cleveland St., Elyria
GTI Ohio: 1920 Cooper Foster Park Rd. W, Lorain
NMG OH 1: 709 Sugar Ln., Elyria
Citizen Real Estate: 5152 Grove Ave., Lorain

Stark

Citizen Real Estate, LLC: 401 Cherry Ave. NE, Canton
Mother Know’s Best, LLC: 3224 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton
The Green Goat Dispensary, LLC: 4016 Greentree Ave. SW, Canton

Erie, Sandusky-area

Ohio Patient Access, LLC: 6019 Milan Rd., Sandusky
OPC Retail, LLC: 2344 University Dr. E, Huron
The Forst Sandusky, LLC: 5020 Milan Rd., Sandusky

Lake

127 OH, LLC: 382 Blackbrook Rd., Painesville
INSA Ohio, LLC: 27751 Chardon Rd., Willoughby Hills

Portage

Next-Level Operators, LLC: 331 E. Main St., Kent
Simple AG Ohio, LLC: 554 N. Chestnut St., Ravenna

Trumbull

B Cubed Operations Ohio, LLC: 437 E Liberty St., Hubbard
Green Leaf Medical of Ohio II, LLC: 2932 Youngstown Rd. SE, Warren

Medina

GreenBud, LLC: 5000 Park Ave. W, Seville

Ashtabula

Italian Herbs LLC: 2712 West Prospect Rd., Ashtabula

Mahoning

Quest Wellness Ohio II, LLC: 4323 Market St., Youngstown

Tuscarawas

Ratio Cannabis LLC: 1145 W. High Ave., New Philadelphia

Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.

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Ohio

Enrollment opens for Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership

Published

8 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

Enrollment opens for Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership

Enrollment has opened for the Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership, a program meant to incentivize “property owners to provide land access to hunters.”

What You Need To Know

Enrollment has opened for the Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership

The program is meant to incentivize “property owners to provide land access to hunters”

ODNR says almost 20,000 acres have enrolled since the program began

Hunters can access these lands from September to June, assuming they have a free daily access permit

According to an Ohio Department of Natural Resources, enrollment for the program, which launched back in 2021, is open through July 15. ODNR said almost 20,000 acres have enrolled since the program began.

“Landowners can receive annual payments ranging from $2 per acre for crop land to $30 per acre for perennial wildlife habitats such as grasslands, wetlands, and forests,” the release reads. “Enrollment contracts are two years, with the possibility of re-enrollment.”

Hunters can access these lands from September to June, assuming they have a free daily access permit. Those permits are given out first-come-first-serve in order to not crowd land according to a press release from ODNR.

The hunters are given rules for the property, and the owner of the land is told when hunters will be on their property.

“All hunting activities except white-tailed deer gun hunting and trapping are permitted by Ohio Landowner-Hunter Access Partnership users,” the release reads. “Permits can be obtained at wildohio.gov or on the free HuntFish OH mobile app.”

Part of the funding for this program comes via the federal Farm Bill. ODNR said a recent survey found more than 80% of responding landowners in the program would recommend it to others.

If you are interested in enrolling your property, click here.

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Ohio

40th NW Ohio Rib Off set for July 26-28

Published

14 hours ago

July 5, 2024

Press Room

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) – The Lucas County Fairgrounds is set to host the 40th NW Ohio Rib Off in the coming weeks.

The weekend of festivities will be held July 26-28, with activities, live music acts, and of course, plenty of pork.

Local and national ribbers will compete to be crowned the 2024 Northwest Ohio Rib Off Champions.

Admission is free to those that arrive before 2 p.m.

The Gin Blossoms and Brett Young will headline concerts on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Van Halen cover band JUMP: America’s Van Halen Experience performs Sunday.

A double elimination cornhole tournament is set for Saturday.

Ticket and event information can be found here.

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