Northeast of Columbus in Knox County, seven Republican candidates are vying for two county commissioner seats in the March primary, and many of them have made the issue of solar power their guiding light.
At the center of the solar debate is Frasier Solar, a would-be 120 megawatt solar farm. If approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board, the project will bring around 250,000 solar panels to roughly 800 acres, or about 800 football fields, of farmland. Unlike many large solar projects, Frasier would be spread over about 40 disconnected parcels, mostly in Miller and Clinton townships.
Along the roads in the rural townships, bright yellow yard signs read, “No Industrial Solar,” and oftentimes right next door, green signs read, “Yes Solar.”
“I can't sit back and watch as our county is turned into a solar wasteland.”- Drenda Keesee, Knox County Commissioner candidate
Running on solar
The “no” signs are often displayed alongside campaign signs for certain Knox County Commissioner candidates, including Drenda Keesee. Keesee’s campaign has been so focused that when asked about solar, one man at a Mount Vernon diner pointed to Keesee’s poster and said, “talk to her.”
“Our way of life is under attack. Big foreign corporations want to take our farmland and turn it into toxic industrial energy plants,” Keesee said in a campaign video. “I can't sit back and watch as our county is turned into a solar wasteland.”
Keesee isn’t alone. Many of Bill Phillips and Barry Lester’s signs have a yellow strip decrying farmland solar tacked to the bottom.
At a candidates’ forum, Jennifer Snow said “big investors” are throwing “big numbers” at farmers.
“Ohio doesn't get a lot of sun, so we know that it's money driven,” Snow said.
A "hot-potato issue"
The only incumbent in either race, Thom Collier, said solar has become a “political hot-potato.”
“And it's unfortunate that people have introduced so much misinformation to the subject that it confuses people,” Collier said.
Collier was part of a unanimous county commissioners vote in 2022 that prohibited wind power, but allowed solar on a case-by-case basis. He said the decision reflected split opinions of residents and did not impact the Frasier project, which was grandfathered in under old Ohio laws.
Collier said he believes in a property owner’s right to use their land as they choose. As for solar specifically, he said he isn’t going to “rush out and encourage it.”
“But it's a reality of our world today. We're going to have to deal with it. And I think our approach to take it on a case-by-case basis is good,” Collier said.
Collier notes that commissioners handle many issues.
So why is solar the issue this election? Collier thinks it’s because solar is new.
“People are suspicious of it. Some people believe that it's just part of a larger agenda item,” Collier said.
“If they put a housing development in over there, we're not going to be in the country anymore.”- Vicky Leybold, Knox County resident
Land use
And, in rural Knox County, solar farms have also become a land use issue.
Vicky and Bob Leybold live across from a Frasier Solar site on Sharp Road. As the green sign in front of their house said, they support solar, because they know the alternative is a housing development.
“The solar panels won't hurt traffic. It won't make a dent in anything that happens up and down our road,” Vicky Leybold said. “If they put a housing development in over there, we're not going to be in the country anymore.”
She and Bob also believe there is a lot of misinformation going around. They are regular attendees of meetings and events centered around the Frasier project.
“I mean, the opposing team just came up with all kinds of crap,” Bob Leybold said.
“I think they should look the facts up for themselves, though. A lot of this stuff that's out there is not true. And they're spreading it as gospel,” Vicky Leybold said.
Solar opponents
Opponents worry about flooding, chemicals from inside the solar panels leaking into the environment and the destruction of farmland. Others think that with a housing crisis on the horizon, farmland should be developed.
“Unless you've been living under a rock, we have a housing crisis, right?” said Jared Yost, with the anti-solar group Knox Smart Development, during Mount Vernon City Council’s March 11 meeting. “We don't have enough homes to begin with. So where are we going to put these homes? Does it make more sense for that land to be used for solar panels, or does it make more sense for that land to be used for homes?”
At that meeting, city council unanimously approved a resolution in opposition to the Frasier solar project after suspending a rule requiring resolutions to be looked at three times. A small part of the Frasier project lies within city borders.
“Council has concerns over these projects being developed in such close proximity to, and within the boundaries of, the city due to the changes in the visual landscape, reduction in agricultural land for less efficient uses, and the overall effect on tourism potential for the city of Mount Vernon,” reads the resolution.
Councilman John Ruckman voted against skipping the resolution’s second two readings, but ultimately voted with the rest of council on its approval, said he did not like some of “the attitude and the dialog” from people on both sides of the solar issue.
“I would just encourage you all, as fellow citizens of the county, to realize that we're all neighbors, we're all in this together,” Ruckman said during the meeting.
Solar farming
Craig Adair, Vice President of Development for Open Road Renewables, which is developing the project, argued solar offers stable income for farmers, who face an otherwise risky business.
“Whatever part of their land is as part of the project and has solar panels will be generating passive income for them,” Adair said. “That's income that doesn't fluctuate depending on commodity prices or whether bills are flat.”
Adair said solar projects also preserve farmland. State law requires that at the end of the project’s lifetime – in Frasier's case, 40 years – the equipment must be removed, and the land be able to return to farming.
“It means for the next 40 years, if this is approved, you know, this land will not be developed into housing,” Adair said.
The Frasier project would also have an active agriculture use: sheep farming.
Katie Carothers with New Land Management said some of her farm’s sheep would graze beneath the panels. Part of the flock already grazes at Oberlin College’s solar field.
Carothers said the extra space in Knox County would allow the flock of 350 to grow and would create local benefits.
“Having that number of sheep grazing here in Knox County, you know, you're looking at lambs going into the meat market, you're looking at supporting local equipment dealers, local seed suppliers to plant the forage seed,” she said.
“I would just encourage you all, as fellow citizens of the county, to realize that we're all neighbors, we're all in this together."- John Ruckman, Mount Vernon City Council
Power of the primary
The winners of Tuesday’s Republican primary for the county commissioner seats will be favored in November, especially in the three-way race between Collier, Keesee, and Phillips, in which no Democrat filed to run. Only one Democrat is running in the primary for the second seat.
Adair expects, however, that the outcome of the election will not impact the future of Frasier Solar, since state regulators get the final say.
“They are interested to know what, for example, the county commissioners think about the project. But the decision will be made by the Siting Board,” Adair said.
Adair expects the Siting Board decision will happen this fall. Newly elected commissioners will take office in early January.
Adair said the permitting stage of a solar project sometimes overlaps an election, as it has this time, but that it doesn’t change how Open Road Renewables operates.
“For us, the goal is to make sure everybody understands what the project is. And in cases like this, what the project isn't, because of all the misinformation,” Adair said. “And that just takes time.”
