MOV Climate Corner

Rebecca Phillips

The Ohio legislature is up to its usual short-sightedness again, and both legislative houses are in on the act.

Senate Bill 294, now in committee, is poised to prevent nearly all future wind and solar development in the state. At first glance, the bill seems reasonable enough. It would require the Ohio Power Siting Board to mandate “affordable, reliable, and clean” energy sources in all new electricity generation projects. What’s not to like? As it turns out, plenty.

SB 294, sponsored by George Lang of West Chester and Mark Romanchuk of Ontario, would require that all new energy projects use only energy sources that are “readily available at all times with minimal interruptions during high-usage times” and “can be ramped up or down within an hour to stabilize the grid.” It further mandates a minimum capacity factor of 50%; capacity factor is the ratio between an energy source’s actual output and its theoretical maximum. Interestingly, the only two energy sources that meet these requirements are natural gas and nuclear, and nuclear projects are explicitly prohibited in the bill. The likely outcome of the bill’s passage, then, is that only natural gas projects will be approved in Ohio.

Senator Lang stated in his Oct. 28 proponent testimony that he favors natural gas as Ohio’s primary energy source. In his mind, renewable energy as generally defined “doesn’t meet those qualifications of being cheap. It misses the reliability … And it doesn’t really meet clean yet.” This would come as a great surprise to much of the rest of the world, in which 95% of new energy projects last year were for renewables. Even in the U.S., more than 85% of 2025’s new capacity came from wind, solar, and battery storage, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In terms of cost, PV Magazine’s report on the levelized cost of energy notes that solar generation with battery storage in 2025 cost between five and 13 cents per kilowatt-hour, while generating electricity from natural gas cost 13.8 to 26 cents. A recent study by American Clean Power estimates that, without an increase in renewables, the average Ohioan’s electric bill will increase by more than $6,500 over ten years. The senator’s math isn’t mathing.

Not to be outdone by their colleagues in the other chamber, the Ohio House passed and has now passed on to the Senate a bill on carbon capture and storage (SB 136). CCS is a controversial technology, but one that does have the support of environmental organizations like the Clean Air Task Force. Studies published by MIT indicate that while existing CCS technologies can capture more than 90% of CO2 emissions, the costs of moving beyond that threshold (as is necessary with coal-fired power plants) are prohibitively high. I am not trained enough in the sciences to evaluate the technological arguments, but HB 136 has serious problems not associated with the technology.

First, HB 136 strips rights from landowners. While the term appears nowhere in the bill’s text, HB 136 mandates the practice known as “forced pooling.” What this means is that if seventy percent of the landowners of the proposed “pore space” acreage agree to lease their properties for underground injection, the remaining thirty percent have no legal recourse and can be forced to lease their land. (So much for Republicans’ historic defense of private property rights.)

Next, it strips rights from communities. The bill explicitly states that all decisions regarding CCS permits shall be made by the DNR. Counties, cities, villages, and townships have no say in whether these projects will be approved in their communities.

Further, HB 136 passes long-term costs on to Ohio taxpayers. The bill requires CCS project owners to post insurance bonds of 15 million dollars, but we all know how quickly that amount can be surpassed when property damage and medical costs begin to add up. More troubling is the bill’s provision that after 50 years, costs for any damages will become the responsibility of the state unless the company is demonstrated to have been negligent. Yes, the children and grandchildren of the people who had no say in the process will be left holding the financial bag.

Fortunately, these bad bills are not yet law. Call your Ohio senators and urge them to vote “No” on these bills should they pass out of committee.

Rebecca Phillips is a retired teacher, a grandmother, and a long-time member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate action.