Knox County residents have worked hard in recent months to express their thoughts and concerns about Frasier Solar, but at times have had to overcome hurdles to do so.
Frasier Solar’s application has drawn hundreds of local residents to public hearings and to petition local and state government bodies. For instance, almost 900 Knox County residents submitted letters to the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) expressing opinions about Frasier Solar, most of which were in opposition.
In his testimony to the OPSB, resident Benjamin Dean wrote, “As of the end of the day on August 12, 2024, the number of Knox County residents who submitted comments opposing the Project outnumber the Knox County residents who submitted comments supporting the Project by a margin of 581 to 292, or 66.55% to 33.45%.”
However, Jared Yost, who formed Knox Smart Development, says that Frasier Solar is trying to undermine the local opposition by suggesting that Knox Smart Development is being driven by outside interests.
“I completely disagree with this characterization,” said Yost. “I, as well as the volunteers assisting me, are all local residents. We are all very sincere in our fight and are doing it for our neighbors, our families, and our future. We are not driven by any outside interests.”
Yost said that discounting local opposition to wind and solar projects is happening all across the nation.
“This seems to be the general MO of the developers,” he said. “They tend to put more effort into trying to discredit the opposition versus using facts to support their stance. Maybe that gives insight into the weakness of their stance.”
The opposition to local input seems to increase when it is successful, according to Yost. “If we weren't successful, they probably wouldn't expend much energy or expense on us,” said Yost. “They are doing so because they are desperate and scared.”
Craig Adair, the project lead for Frasier Solar, acknowledged that most of the support for Frasier has come from outside Knox County.
“Of the 3,512 comments with addresses included, 879 were submitted by 19 residents of Knox County, and 2,633 were submitted by Ohio residents who live outside 20 Knox County,” he wrote in his testimony for an OPSB hearing. “Of the 2,633 comments by Ohio residents outside Knox County, 1,888 comments (72%) are in support of the Project, while 745 comments (28%) oppose the Project.”
Levels of support and opposition from outside the county are the opposite from those inside the county, as Dean noted in his testimony.
When crossed examined during the OPSB hearing, Adair admitted that Frasier has worked to encourage the public to write letters of support for its application, including taking out advertisements urging members of the public to write letters to the OPSB.
Yost pointed out that the large number of comments on the project from outside of the county are directly related to Frasier's work with different entities.
“They worked with unions, universities (who have students from outside of the county), and during the recent hearing, admitted to using 2 consultants to assist with comments,” Yost said.
Adair also sought to discount opposition to Frasier Solar by claiming some of it was “misinformation.” For instance, he said a sentence in a letter that said, “[t]he utilization of solar radiation to generate electric power is not economically viable in the State of Ohio,” was misinformation because, “[a]mple solar projects are being sited in states with similar or lower solar resources as Ohio.” He failed to acknowledge, though, that solar generation is only economically viable because of billions of dollars of subsidies from the federal government.
The OPSB is in the process of making its decision as to whether to approve Frasier Solar’s application. Several other recent applications have been turned down due to local opposition.
