Local opposition to a huge solar and battery storage installation west of Columbus, Ohio, is part of a pattern promoted by Big Oil.
The Ohio Power Siting Board has approved Oak Run, a 6000-acre solar farm and battery storage project that will be the largest in Ohio and one of the largest in the US. That’s great news for renewable energy fans, but that’s not the main story here. What is important about this announcement is that Oak Run is bitterly opposed by the residents of three townships in Madison county, which is located about 25 miles west of Columbus.
The 800 megawatts of power to be generated by the project is more than twice that of any other project to be approved or pending before the Ohio Siting Board and one of the biggest in the country. It is being developed by Savion, which is owned by Shell. Construction of the Oak Run solar farm is expected to begin in 2025.
Supporters of the project include labor unions, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and environmentalists, all of whom tout the jobs, revenue, and clean power Oak Run will provide. The project will create thousands of jobs in the construction phase in addition to more than 60 full time positions in operations and maintenance once completed.
Worries about losing the bucolic look and feel of rural America amounts to a deliberate refusal to recognize that change is coming quickly to rural America and no amount of flag waving or railing at state officials is going to help stem the rapid pace of change these communities are facing. In other words, they are being goaded by outside interests who could care less about them into adopting an attitude that amounts to willful ignorance.
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