Wind and Solar Jobs for Ohio, a coalition of businesses and organizations advocating for a more competitive environment for wind and solar projects in Ohio, has launched an intense three-week effort to push for passage of pending legislation before the summer recess.
With surrounding states offering significantly greater competitive advantages, Ohio stands to lose out on seven planned wind developments estimated to generate nearly 1,000 immediate construction and operations jobs, $9.3 million in annual lease payments to farmers, and $7.3 million annually in tax revenue for rural school districts and communities, according to the coalition.
‘The wind development companies are going to choose to build in states that offer the most attractive business environments,’ says Brad Lystra, manager of economic development partnerships for the American Wind Energy Association. ‘Ohioans clearly want wind energy in their future. In a recent statewide poll, 84 percent of the people said wind energy development was very important.’
Two pending bills – S.B.232 and H.B.464 – will create a fair tax for wind and solar power development that is in line with surrounding states, according Lystra.
Seven wind generating projects are in the pipeline through the Ohio Power Siting Board for development this year to be operational by 2012. Three projects – Buckeye Wind (Champaign County) and two Hardin County projects – have been approved by the board. Three others are pending final certification -Blue Creek (Van Wert/Paulding counties), Black Fork (Richland/Crawford counties) and Timber Road I (Paulding County) – and an additional Paulding County project, Timber Road II, is about to be submitted to the board.
SOURCE: Wind and Solar Jobs for Ohio
