A new law in Ohio will fast-track energy projects in places that are hard to argue with: former coal mines and brownfields.
But how much the legislation benefits clean energy will depend on the final rules for its implementation, which the state is working out now.
House Bill 15, which took effect Aug. 14, lets the state’s Department of Development designate such properties as “priority investment areas” at the request of a local government.
The law aims to boost energy production to meet growing demand from data centers and increasing electrification, while applying competitive pressure to rein in power prices.
Targeting former coal mines and brownfields as priority investment areas furthers that goal while encouraging the productive use of land after mining, manufacturing, or other industrial activity ends. Buyers are often wary of acquiring these properties due to the risk of lingering pollution.
The new law could also help developers sidestep the bitter land-use battles that have bogged down other clean-energy projects in Ohio, particularly those looking to use farmland.
Priority areas might “otherwise not see these investments, which can breathe new life into communities, improve energy reliability, provide tax revenue, and lower electricity costs,” said Diane Cherry, deputy director of MAREC Action, a clean-energy industry group.
Ohio has more than 567,000 acres of mine lands and about 50,000 acres of brownfields that are potentially suitable for renewable-energy development, according to a 2024 report from The Nature Conservancy. Federal funding to clean up abandoned mine lands has continued so far under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, so yet more sites may become available. Overall, remediating documented hazards at Ohio’s abandoned mine lands is estimated to cost nearly $586 million, said spokesperson Karina Cheung at the state Department of Natural Resources.
But two Ohio agencies still need to finalize rules before companies can start building energy projects in these underutilized spaces and benefiting from the new law.
The Department of Development has not yet proposed standards for approving requests to designate priority investment areas, said spokesperson Mason Waldvogel. However, in late August, the Ohio Power Siting Board proposed rules to implement HB 15, and the public comment period just closed.
Under the law, approved priority investment areas will get a five-year tax exemption for equipment used to transport electricity or natural gas. The sites will also be eligible for grants of up to $10 million for cleanup and construction preparation.
HB 15 also calls for accelerated regulatory permit review of proposed energy projects in priority investment areas. The Power Siting Board will have 45 days to determine if a permit application is complete, plus another 45 days to make a decision on it.
Those timelines are shorter than the approximately five months HB 15 allows for standard projects. And it’s substantially faster than recent projects where it took the board more than a year to grant or deny applications after they were filed.
The debate over HB 15 rules
Advocates and industry groups generally applaud the new law but want tweaks to the Power Siting Board’s proposed rules.
A big concern is making sure the board will allow wind and solar developments on mine lands and brownfields throughout Ohio, regardless of which county they’re in. Roughly one-third of Ohio’s 88 counties ban wind, solar, or both in all or a significant part of their jurisdiction. This authority was granted to them by a 2021 law, Senate Bill 52.
However, the language and legislative history of HB 15 make clear that it “was meant to be technology-neutral,” said Rebecca Mellino, a climate and energy policy associate for The Nature Conservancy.
HB 15 even states that its terms for permitting energy projects in priority investment areas apply “notwithstanding” some other parts of Ohio law.
“That clause is meant to bypass some of the typical Ohio Power Siting Board procedures — including the procedures for siting in restricted areas” under SB 52, wrote Bill Stanley, Ohio director for The Nature Conservancy, in comments filed with the board.
But the exemption provided by the “notwithstanding” clause is narrow, Mellino added, because local government authorities must ask for a priority investment area designation. That means, for example, that in a county with a solar and wind ban in place, officials would need to choose to request that a former coal mine or brownfield become a priority investment area.
The Nature Conservancy has asked the Power Siting Board to add language making it crystal-clear that renewable-energy projects can be built on any land marked a priority investment area — even if a solar and wind ban otherwise exists in a county.
Industry groups are pushing for additional clarifications to make sure the Power Siting Board meets the permitting deadlines set by the new law, both for expedited and standard projects.
For example, Open Road Renewables, which builds large-scale solar and battery storage, said in comments that, in order to align with HB 15, the board’s rules should require energy developers to notify the public of an application when it is filed, rather than after it is deemed complete.
Separate comments from the American Clean Power Association, MAREC Action, and the Utility Scale Solar Energy Coalition of Ohio ask for tweaks to provisions regarding notices on public hearings and for clarifications on application fees. The board should also promptly issue certificates for projects that are automatically approved, say comments by Robert Brundrett, president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.
The Department of Development hopes to finish draft standards and invite public comments on them soon, Waldvogel said. Meanwhile, the department has received its first request to designate a priority investment area. The ask comes from Jefferson County’s board of commissioners, which did not specify the type of energy that may be built in the area.
That request deals with land where FirstEnergy’s former Sammis coal plant is undergoing demolition, as well as the Hollow Rock Landfill, which received waste from the site. HB 15 gives the department 90 days to act on designation requests.
The Ohio Power Siting Board, for its part, is expected to finalize its rules within the next couple of months. Ultimately, said Cherry of MAREC Action, the law “clears the path for developers to bring energy projects online quickly and affordably, something Ohio’s consumers and businesses desperately need.”