See the original July 2002 article on the Aquila plant.

Kansas City-based power merchant Aquila, Inc. has announced that they will not be building a peaking power plant in Liberty Township, Fairfield County, now or in the future. Aquila stated, “The demand for power and the projections for future demand are not good. There's an oversupply of power plants in the country right now. The soft market is due mainly to two mild winters and two mild summers, and to the glut of U.S. merchant power plants.”

Aquila had been planning to build a 320-megawatt, $133 million power plant in rural Ohio for about 18 months. The simple cycle, natural gas burning, peaking plant was planned for a rural residential neighborhood near Baltimore, Ohio. The energy produced at the plant would have been sold on the open market, to the highest bidder. Aquila is in development stages on two other Ohio plants in Fulton and Muskingum Counties.

In Jan. 2002 Aquila applied to the Ohio Dept. of Development, Enterprise Zone Program for tax incentives. A 100%, ten-year tax abatement was proposed to the local school board and legislative authorities of Liberty Township and Fairfield County. Ohioans for Responsible Rural Development (ORRD) was organized to oppose the abatement and the power plant proposal.

Initially, the abatement was denied by the Liberty Union-Thurston School Board and by the Liberty Township Trustees. Brooks Davis, executive director of Fairfield County Regional Planning, conducted negotiations between the school board, township, county commissioners and Aquila. These meetings were closed to the public.

After an offer from Aquila of a $580,000 “gift” to be divided between the school district and community, the township and the school board reversed their decisions and approved the abatement. Over protests of the majority of area residents, the Fairfield County Commissioners voted to approve the proposed abatement.

Degradation of the environment and depletion of local resources were left out of the decision. Concerns of residents about effects on health, noise levels, pollution of the watershed, and adverse effects on property values and quality of life could not be considered according to the school board, trustees and commissioners. Residents were told to take these issues up with OEPA, ODNR, and the Ohio Power Siting Board. We have since been informed there will be no further public discussion of the power plant proposal allowed at school board or township trustee meetings.

Ohioans for Responsible Rural Development (ORRD), a local group organized to fight the plant, will continue to work with the state legislature and environmental groups to impose a moratorium on power plants in the State of Ohio. ORDD is committed to researching implications of development projects in our area and to working to give private citizens a voice in the governmental process. We will team with local government and school boards to identify appropriate and responsible economic development for our community.

Local land use plans created by local zoning do not apply to power plants such as these, by state law, even when they generate power not used in Ohio-part of the deregulated model for the electrical industry that was advocated by the notorious Enron Corporation. The taxpayers and residents of Liberty Township had no voice or appeal in this process because it was initiated under the Ohio Dept. of Development Enterprise Zone Program.

From a Guide to Enterprise Zone Management on the Ohio Dept. of Development website: “In many communities, the Mayor or Development Director acts as the negotiation representative. However, ODOD recommends a team approach… a team of no more than three individuals -- one representing the local city, village or township, one representing the board of education and one representing the county. Note that having two County Commissioners or Township Trustees serve on the negotiation team would most likely evoke the open meeting requirements. Since it is recommended that negotiations be conducted in private, having multiple elected members from the source group should be avoided.” In other words, the Ohio State Office of Tax Incentives is instructing local authorities on how to avoid obeying the Open Meetings Law!

ORDD remains committed to the goal of obtaining a moratorium on peaking power plants in Ohio. With 28 new power plant projects approved or pending, it is time for Ohio to develop sound public policies limiting their location and number. Exploitation of Ohio’s land and water resources by out-of-state power merchants such as Aquila must stop!

Write Gov. Bob Taft, who can proclaim a moratorium: 77 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43215 Governor.Taft@das.state.oh.us.

Write people who can influence the governor: Rep. Tim Shaffer, Rep. Robert Hagan, and Sen. Jay Hottinger, 77 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43215.