Biden must spend billions on renewable energy before the end of his term
With billions of dollars still available for clean energy, it remains to be seen whether the money will be fully used before the end of Biden’s term.
Straight Arrow News
Licking County Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution Thursday banning the development of large-scale solar and wind power projects in five communities that had requested the ban.
The resolution is set to take effect 30 days after Thursday. It establishes exclusion zones that restrict the construction of “large wind and solar facilities” in the communities of Hanover, Licking, St. Albans, Union and Washington.
Last week, residents and officials from these communities told commissioners at a public hearing that they wanted to ban solar and wind development and preserve farmland in those areas. No one spoke out against the bans at the hearing.
Before Thursday’s vote, Commissioner Tim Bubb said “wind power is not a real option for Licking County” and that the area is “not suitable for industrial solar energy.”
“In some areas, many townships are not suitable for this anyway for a variety of reasons – the type of development, the type of housing and the type of topography,” Bubb said. “We are not the great Southwest.”
The commissioners’ unanimous decision came after they approved exclusion zones for Liberty and Etna communities earlier this year. Bubb said Thursday that the commissioners will offer the remaining communities the opportunity to request exclusion zones for wind, solar or both.
Two solar farms have been approved for Licking County, but construction has not yet begun. One is planned in Harrison Township and the other in Hartford and Bennington. Thursday’s vote does not preclude those projects from moving forward, Bubb said.
Commissioner Duane Flowers said he is not opposed to solar projects, but “there are places where you can use solar.” He pointed to the acreage required to implement these projects – 523 in Harrison and 1,880 in Hartford and Bennington – as a warning that the county could use too much of its acreage for such projects.
“Our farmland and our agriculture are too valuable to do something like that,” Flowers said.
The resolution states that a petition to ban the ban could change the 30-day deadline for it to take effect, and that commissioners retain the right to reconsider or lift the ban through another resolution.
“Licking County uses a lot of electricity now and will in the near future,” Flowers said. “So I’m not sure solar is a viable energy source. Maybe the technology will change and improve where it gets better in the future, but right now it’s just not there.”
Advocate reporter Josué Perez can be reached at [email protected].
