Licking County to Consider Municipalities’ Request to Ban Large Solar Farms

NEWARK − It’s a safe bet that Licking County commissioners will ban large-scale solar and wind projects in five municipalities that have applied for exclusionary zoning status to prevent such developments.

Commissioners heard from officials and residents of Licking, St. Albans, Washington, Union and Hanover townships during a public hearing Tuesday at the Licking County Transit building on East Main Street.

They said their decision, expected Thursday, would be based on testimony from residents of those communities. All 10 people who spoke supported an exclusion zone for their area. When asked if anyone opposed the exclusion zone, the room fell silent.

Commissioners previously approved no-use zones for Liberty and Etna municipalities.

“It’s probably going to be a pretty easy decision,” Commissioner Duane Flowers said.

Commissioner Tim Bubb said: “Today’s testimony is not surprising. We are concerned about what residents think about having large solar fields in their area and we heard what they had to say.”

The comments focused on protecting agricultural land and distrusting developers of large solar farms. The exclusion zone also applies to wind farms, but the comments focused mainly on solar farms.

“I think we need to preserve our farmland. Solar panels destroy farmland. Even if you take them down, they destroy the land,” said Ruby Whateverholt of Hebron, who grew up on a farm in Perry County and has lived in Licking County since 2000. “I agree we should eliminate all solar and wind farming.”

Darrin Lewellen of Licking Township said he had read about solar panels in another state being damaged by hail.

“The material that leaked from those hailstones simply destroyed the land,” Lewellen said, without providing evidence. “That land is not good for anyone unless it is completely stripped and reclaimed.”

Bubb asked Lewellen for his source, but Lewellen replied that he did not have that information with him.

“I don’t have the exact name of the chemical,” Lewellen said. “Even if it’s not damaged, there’s still residue coming off the panels that will render the land useless.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy states that solar panels do not emit toxic chemicals.

“When solar panels are in operation, they have a strong coating that prevents leaching,” according to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s response to the question, “Do solar panels leach toxic chemicals?”

The response continued: “Cadmium telluride photovoltaic cells are sealed between two layers of glass to protect the semiconductor materials from the external environment; silicon modules are typically sealed with a front layer of glass with a polymer casing and a back layer.

“Any exposure to lead and cadmium from damaged solar panels in residential, commercial and utility systems would be below the allowable limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for soil, air and groundwater.”

Bubb said the accuracy of the residents’ claims is largely a matter of dispute. The most important factor is their opposition to the solar farms, regardless of the reasons, he said.

During a March 2022 Ohio Power Siting Board public hearing on Open Road Renewables’ application for funding for the Harvey Solar project in Hartford and Bennington townships, Hartford farmer Keith Wilson said opponents of the project are spreading false information that solar panels are toxic.

“This misinformation makes it difficult to address legitimate concerns that may surround the project,” Wilson said at the hearing.

Barbara Brown of Licking Township told commissioners, “I grew up on a farm. I love our land. I don’t think solar is the right use for our farmland. It’s not farming, and I don’t know why they call them solar farms.

“Our farmland should be preserved so that we can grow our crops, graze our animals that we pass on to future generations. If we lose our land, we will also lose many freedoms in our country.”

Ann Lodder of St. Albans Township said, “Ohio is one of the last bastions of both water and farmland in the United States. We are under siege by everyone, everywhere, to take over both.

“Half of my house is solar powered, but it’s a single panel and it doesn’t affect my neighbors. It doesn’t take up valuable farmland that will feed our future generations. When it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Lodder said solar panels can be installed in parking lots, not on agricultural land.

But Bubb added that the exclusion zone prohibits any large-scale solar projects, regardless of whether they are on agricultural land or sidewalks.

There are two solar panel projects planned in western Licking County. Construction on neither has begun.

One is Open Road Renewables’ 350-megawatt Harvey Solar project on 1,880 acres spread across 2,630 acres in Hartford and Bennington townships in northwestern Licking County. The Austin, Texas-based company proposes about 1 million solar panels connected to American Electric Power’s Croton substation along Clover Valley Road, about a mile north of Hartford.

The second is a 108-megawatt solar field by Leeward Renewable Energy subsidiary Union Ridge Solar near the AEP Kirk substation on Watkins Road in Harrison Township. The 523-acre project area will be north of Refugee Road, west of York Road, south of Blacks Road and on both sides of Watkins Road.

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