Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner: Why is there a war on renewable energy?
Trending
One would think that with the profusion of data centers, the growing need for more electricity for manufacturing, and the need to keep electric rates for residential consumers affordable, we should want energy from all sources: oil, gas, hydro, geothermal, nuclear, wind, and solar. But our state and federal governments seem to be opting for fossil fuels only. In the recent past we have heard public officials from both parties advocate for "all-of-the-above" energy sources. That message seems to have disappeared.
In March of this year President Trump paid TotalEnergies, a French company, $1 billion to terminate its wind energy project off the U.S. east coast. This tipping of the scale to favor fossil-fuel interests is in addition to the panoply of federal benefits for the oil and gas industry. The U.S. government provides substantial subsidies to the oil and gas industries, amounting to approximately $34.8 to $40 billion annually. These subsidies include various tax breaks, direct spending, and regulatory advantages that support fossil-fuel production and consumption (e360.yale.ed). These subsidies are part of broader energy policy aimed at supporting domestic fossil fuel production. Recent reports indicate an increase in subsidies, with an additional $4 billion allocated annually over the next decade.
Admittedly, there have been some incentives for renewable energy projects in recent years, such as the Investment Tax Credit, the Production Tax Credit and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. These incentives have diminished considerably since the recent Trump presidency and pale in comparison to the benefits that have accrued to the oil and gas industry over the past several decades. One might argue that federal investments and incentives for renewable energy are desirable since they serve the long-term national interest of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our dependency on foreign sources of oil and gas.
In the state of Ohio Senate Bill 238 specifies set-back regulations for wind turbines by increasing the distance to 1,125 feet from the nearest residential structure and requires public information sessions for wind-turbine projects. But when it comes to high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, drilling rigs not only can be placed adjacent to public lands such as state parks, but according to 2026 legislation can now be placed within state parks. Oil and gas companies can impose "forced pooling" for leasing of drilling rights on private properties. Ohio has one of the most aggressive forced pooling laws in the region. If 65% of mineral owners in a drilling unit sign a lease, companies can request a mandatory pooling order for the remaining landowners. What this means for landowners: If enough of your neighbors sign, you could be forced into a drilling agreement. You will receive royalties, but you lose the ability to negotiate your contract terms. No such forced pooling is offered for wind or solar projects.
Solar projects were seriously evaluated by the Ohio Department of Health for safety and health issues. There has been no serious study of the safety, health, and environmental risks of fracking and of injection of production waste despite the high rates of accidents in these enterprises.
Senate Bill 52, passed in 2021 by the Ohio Legislature and signed by the governor, allows counties to ban wind and solar projects. In Richland County, for example, 11 of 18 townships have been designated as restricted zones so that no wind or solar projects can be developed in these areas.
The group, Save Ohio Parks, with which I have been affiliated, for several years has been involved in organizing opposition to fracking projects near public lands in the state, most of which involve the eastern part of the state. We have informed volunteers about parcels being "nominated" for fracking in the vicinity of state parks and encouraged those volunteers to submit oppositional statements to these proposals to the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission. The latter group has rubber stamped every "nomination" (most of which are submitted by out-of-state companies) for parcels to be offered up for fracking despite the hundreds of comments in opposition. There has been nothing from the state legislature for renewable projects comparable to SB 52.
In West Virginia HB 5381 describes the state's comprehensive energy plan, which strongly favors coal, the most expensive, unhealthy, polluting, and dangerous form of energy to extract.
The issue of data centers has been brought to our doorstep in Washington County with the non-disclosure agreement that our county commissioners have arranged with a developer for a data center in the Waterford community. This particular data center is apparently on track for development, but around the U.S. things are different. More than 500 counties and municipalities have imposed serious restrictions and even blocked the development of data centers -- 190 since June -- and the pace of moratoriums has accelerated. In addition, 50 data centers already planned have been canceled. Nevertheless, data centers have an inexorable momentum. Data center development, if it does proceed, needs to be accompanied by community benefit agreements, guarantees of local employment, responsible usage of water, and assurances that electricity rates for residential consumers would not be increased. What would also make the idea of data centers more palatable than it is currently would be the use of renewable energy as the primary source of energy for these electricity hogs.
Bill McKibben in his recent book, "Here Comes the Sun," documents that solar power is the least expensive source of energy and that despite the barriers it faces in the U.S., and with the help of advances in battery technology, it has shown impressive gains in adoption throughout the world. These points should demonstrate that solar power should be embraced rather than considered an enemy against which war should be waged.
***
George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, a member of the Washington County for Safe Drinking Water, and a contributor to Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.