Madison Commissioner: Approval of Bill Gates-connected Solar Project “Spitting in the Face of Voters”

BY MATT URBAS

STATEWIDE - The Ohio Power Siting Board, whose 7 voting members were all appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, approved plans for a solar farm covering much of over 6,000 acres of farmland connected to Bill Gates in Madison county on Thursday. Despite the objections of township trustees, county commissioners, and the area’s representatives in the state legislature, all seven DeWine-appointed members of the board voted to approve the Oak Run Solar Project, which would become one of the largest solar farms in the United States.

"The Madison county board of commissioners have opposed the Oak Run Solar Project, Deer Creek township has voted to oppose the Oak Run Solar Project, Somerford township has voted to oppose the Oak Run Solar Project, and Monroe township has voted to oppose the Oak Run Solar Project," said Madison county commissioner Chris Wallace at the Power Siting Board Meeting, minutes before the project was approved.  "We've received a letter in opposition to this project from Madison County Farm bureau, and the county commissioners have received countless phone calls, text messages, emails, and letters in opposition to the project. If this board is to approve this project, they would be doing so in the face of strong local opposition, spitting in the face of Madison county voters."

"We in Madison county feel our contribution to alternative energy has certainly been met or exceeded,” Somerford Township trustee Jim Moran said. “Current prime farmland including approximately 6,000 acres or more are being developed now. If Oak Run is approved, it will push that number over 12,000 acres."

“As recent as the primary election, the citizens made it clear that they were strongly opposed to more solar development in Madison county,” Moran added. “The candidate that won the primary by a 36 percent margin, who based his campaign on opposition to solar, beat an incumbent of over thirty years of public service, who had expressed his intentions for support for the Oak Run project."

The victorious candidate Moran was referring to is Brendan Shea, a state board of education member who defeated 15-year incumbent commissioner Mark Forrest in the Republican primary election on Tuesday. Shea received more than twice the number of votes as Forrest, who had testified in favor of the solar project to the Siting Board in 2023. In a statement opposing the project submitted to the Siting Board on Wednesday, Shea pointed out that Forrest, who had supported the solar project, drew 3 opponents in the primary election, while no opponents filed to run against Wallace, who was against the project.

The seven members of the Siting Board include:

• Jennifer French, Chair of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUCO)
• Mary Mertz, Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Director of the Ohio Department of Health
• Anne Vogel, Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
• Lydia Mihalik, Director of the Ohio Department of Development
• Brian Baldridge, Director of the Department of Agriculture
• Gregory Sloane, member of the public appointed by Governor DeWine

In a statement made on his campaign’s Facebook page, Shea indicated that the decision by the board can be appealed and that he would be working with Madison commissioners and township trustees to expedite that process.  The connection of the land in question to Bill Gates has been widely reported but not confirmed by property documents, the Columbus Dispatch reported.