Two of the most recognized and respected names in student transportation safety will be at STN EXPO West to share their expertise with conference attendees.
Industry veterans Richard “Dick” Fischer and Pete Baxter will present a half-day seminar “The Best of the Dick and Pete Show” on Wednesday, July 15. This in-depth session will give attendees invaluable education from two National Association of Pupil Transportation Hall of Fame inductees on safety leadership, organizational learning and risk governance in student transportation.
In this seminar, STN EXPO West attendees will receive a comprehensive student transportation safety training that will dive into real-life school bus safety cases, including Danger Zone safety incidents and the “Titanic tragedy,” a 2016 incident in England, where a school bus carrying 26 children got stuck in deep floodwaters, and reveal the lessons learned. Fischer and Baxter will highlight the dangerous pitfalls of overconfidence, ignoring warning signs or a lack of preparedness or emergency training.
The message of the training will contain an overall theme of continuous improvement through the fostering of a strong safety culture. Attendees will be given safety training modules designed to give student transportation leaders what they need to know to implement safe practices, communication, accountability all to protect every child and school bus driver on every bus ride.
Fischer has spent over six decades championing school bus safety as a school district transportation director, school-bus safety trainer and consultant. He successfully petitioned President Richard Nixon in 1969 to proclaim the first School Bus Safety Week. Even following his official retirement announcement in 2013, he has continued to present training, advocate for the industry, and become involved in national safety discussions.
Baxter is a former state director of student transportation at the Indiana Department of Education and past-president of both the National Association for Pupil Transportation and the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, one of only two industry professionals to hold both offices.
Both Fischer and Baxter have served as expert witnesses in court for legal cases involving school bus collisions and have extensive experience and knowledge to equip student transporters to further safety at their operations.
STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The conference will feature hands-on training classes, educational sessions, a dynamic keynote presentation, and networking opportunities. Register now at stnexpo.com/west.
Student transportation professionals looking to advance to the next leadership level are encouraged to sign up for the “So You Want to Be a Transportation Supervisor” professional development special training at STN EXPO West.
This annual conference seminar allows student transporters to prepare for a transition to a supervisor role or re-evaluate their leadership skill sets. Led by a panel of seasoned instructors and industry experts, this seminar is ideal for those looking to improve their operations, department culture and staff interactions. It will be held on Saturday, July 11 as an all-day training from 11:30-5 p.m.
The instructor team is led by Alexandra Robinson, a former executive director of transportation and current industry consultant and expert witness as well as TSD Conference tenured faculty member. She is joined by Tim Purvis of consultant group Pupil Transportation Information; and Rosalyn Vann-Jackson, chief support services officer for Broken Arrow Public Schools in Oklahoma and Pam McDonald, a retired director of transportation and current consultant.
What the Professional Development Consists Of
For those who are newer to the industry, the instructors will discuss making data driven leadership decisions, understanding return on investment, and collaborating with the right people at the district to move transportation operations forward. They will also speak on team building, customer service, communication strategies, workplace culture and productivity as well as operational considerations such as employee retention, principles of proper routing and managing data.
Attendees will be exposed to interactive leadership and team-building scenarios. The instructors through how to approach them with a correct human resources perspective. Attendees will also have a chance to ask questions of the instructors and gain invaluable supervisor and leadership lessons from real-life experiences.
At the end of the professional development class, attendees will have received strategic and practical advice that will better equip them to lead in hard times and build strong relationships with their team.
Electric school bus manufacturer RIDE will sponsor refreshments during the session. There is a maximum of 100 participants. Separate registration is required at no additional charge.
STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. Attendees will have access to a week of educational sessions based on the challenges facing the industry, training classes to improve operations, networking events to bring peers together for problem-solving and innovative experiences such as the Ride and Drive/Live Product Demo, the STN EXPO Trade Show and the Transportation Director Summit. Register at stnexpo.com/west.
News headlines feature incidents of school bus drivers getting behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, which often leads to disastrous consequences.
Even if there are no student injuries, trust can be lost between the district and community when cases like this occur. A new training opportunity at the STN EXPO West conference will give student transportation leaders a thorough course in reasonable suspicion training of CDL employees.
Tonica Lathrop will be leading the “Supervisory Reasonable Suspicion Training” on Friday, July 10. Lathrop is the president of Reno, Nevada-based Sinnett Consulting Services. The company has over 25 years of experience in drug and alcohol policies, regulations, procedures and testing requirements. She has extensive experience in managing alcohol and drug compliance programs and developing drug-free workplace policies.
During the two-hour class, Lathrop will cover how supervisors can recognize the physical, behavioral, speech and performance indicators of probable employee alcohol or other controlled substances abuse. This portion of the training will also cover the misuse/abuse of over-the-counter medications, power drinks and energy formulas.
She will also discuss the legal aspects/concerns of reasonable cause and suspicion when conducting CDL drug and alcohol testing and corrective interviews. Attendees will also learn how to document performance problems associated with alcohol and drug abuse and how to discuss corrections with employees.
The class meets U.S. Department of Transportation training requirements and participants receive a certificate upon completion.
The Early Bird Deadline ends on June 5, register now to save $100 on main conference registration. STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The conference will feature hands-on training classes, educational sessions, a dynamic keynote presentation, and networking opportunities. Register now at stnexpo.com/west.
Anthony Jackson of Bibb County School District in Georgia basks in the glory of reduced fuel costs by relying on propane. Cover design by Kimber Horne Photo by Blue Bird
Buying a new school bus fuel or energy type is no small decision for student transportation operators. Dive into this month’s issue to learn more about what factors are involved in clean fuel purchasing decisions, how to implement the kind of technology that school bus drivers actually want and need, understanding how to convert data into actionable insights and how to plan the perfect technology rollout.
Also find the latest conference news, including a recap of ACT Expo and a preview of the upcoming STN EXPO West conference, this July in Reno, Nevada.
How Clean is Clean Enough?
Experts say it’s important to all weigh all factors when purchasing a new school bus fuel or energy type.
Features
Full Potential
Implementing technology solutions that drivers want and know how to use could be the secret sauce to keeping them behind the wheel.
Tackling the Data Challenge
The promise of compiled data is most beneficial when transportation leaders understand what the information means to their operations.
Student transportation professionals are invited to apply for a continuing education scholarship that will provide them access to the entire STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada.
Richard “Dick” Fischer has built a lifetime career contributing to the student transportation industry. He is a well-known and respected voice in discussions around school bus safety, having spent over six decades serving as a school district transportation director, school-bus safety trainer and consultant. He is an NAPT Hall of Fame member and recognized as the “father” of School Bus Safety Week for successfully petitioning President Richard Nixon in 1969 for the first federal recognition.
Following his official retirement announcement in 2013, Fischer has continued be a presence advocating for continued safety efforts, not only as a speaker at STN EXPO conferences but in his daily School Bus Safety Newsletter email that covers news about school bus and student transportation happenings around the nation. The newsletter subscription is free of charge to any professional in the student transportation industry. Email Dick Fischer for more information.
Scholarship Advances Professional Development Opportunities
Pete Baxter, a former state director of student transportation at the Indiana Department of Education, created the scholarship when Fischer received the STN Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 STN EXPO West conference. Kara Sands, transportation lead trainer and driver at Hanover Community Schools Corporation in Indiana, won the inaugural scholarship last year and shared that she used the opportunity to expand her own professional development.
“I try to keep an open mind. I try to take it all in, you know, whether someone has got more experience at something than me or not. There’s always something I learn new every day. But sometimes people just don’t see that way…For me that is something I would like to discuss with [other] trainers,” she said.
Since expanded by Fischer with additional funding, the scholarship returns this year award to one student transportation professional from a school district or school bus contractor for championing safety at their operations, in their state or nationally. Nominations must be submitted by a supervisor or colleague who can provide detailed examples of the individual’s accomplishments and explain why the nominee would benefit from attending the 2026 STN EXPO West conference and the professional development opportunity.
The scholarship winner will receive funds to cover travel, hotel room accommodations and conference registration costs. The deadline to submit a nomination is May 29, the nomination form can be found at stnexpo.com/west/stn-expo/scholarship.
For regular attendees of the conference, save $100 on main conference registration with Early Bird Savings, ending June 5. The STN EXPO West conference will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The six-day agenda includes the Bus Technology Summit plus Green Bus Summit experience, the STN EXPO Trade Show, hands on trainings, educational sessions and other networking events. Register at stnexpo.com/west.
The topic of seatbelts on school buses is much-debated safety topic around the industry. Ron Kinney, a retired state director of school transportation for the California Department of Education and school bus contractor government relations executive, looks to breakdown the real-life data on how seatbelts, specifically the lap/shoulder variety, affect safety.
The breakout session “School Bus Lap/Shoulder Belts, California’s 20 Year Journey” will be held July 13 during the STN EXPO West conference in Reno, Nevada. During the session, Kinney will present the data of California’s school bus crash and passenger injuries beginning with the 2004-2005 school year through 2024. He will analyze this data in light of the incremental appearance of lap/shoulder seatbelts on new California school buses, starting in 2004, when they became the first state in the nation to require them on all new school buses.
Kinney recently compiled an even more comprehensive look spanning not only the 20 years of seatbelt usage but the 10 years prior using the annual California Highway Patrol’s annual “School Bus Crash and Pupil Passenger Injury Summary Report.” He will discuss some of the federal updates that stemmed from California state laws, including the 2002 state law that requires all newly purchased school buses after July 1, 2025 be equipped with lap/shoulder seatbelts, which led to current FMVSS 222 requirements for lap/shoulder seatbelts in all Type A school buses nationwide.
Attendees will receive a detailed breakdown of how lap/shoulder seatbelts impact the overall safety of student riders and how they correlate to the number of injuries in student transportation. This informative session features a data-based discussion around seatbelts that will help inform conference attendees on this important safety tool.
Kinney Brings Wealth of Industry Experience to Impact Conversation
Kinney’s career in student transportation spans 58 years, starting when he became a part-time school bus driver in 1968. After later serving as a mechanic and student transportation manager at the school district level, he joined the California Department of Education, first as an instructor for school bus driver trainers and later as the state director of school transportation.
He later became director of marketing and business development for Laidlaw Education Services then the school bus contractor’s director of government relations. He served in the same role for First Group America.
Kinney currently serves as a pupil transportation consultant and vice president of the board of directors for the Pupil Transportation Safety Institute a non-profit school transportation safety training organization located in New York. He is also an active member of National Association for Pupil Transportation, National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, where he co-authored Emergency and Rescue Procedure Guidelines for the organization, as well as serving on the steering committee for National Congress on School Transportation .
The Early Bird Deadline ends on June 5, register now to save $100 on main conference registration. STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The conference will feature hands-on training classes, educational sessions, a dynamic keynote presentation, and networking opportunities. Register now at stnexpo.com/west.
The STN EXPO West conference is not only an educational experience, but the six-day conference features a variety of networking events that facilitate conversations and connections impacting the industry.
The conference opens Thursday, July 9 with a kickoff reception at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. EverDriven will co-sponsor the event with School Transportation News as attendees enjoy appetizers and beverages. This event allows attendees to begin networking and set the stage for an impactful experience over the course of the week.
Saturday night features the Welcome Party at EDGE Nightclub, a dynamic and exciting evening. Geotab and Transfinder will be sponsoring a “Great Gatsby” themed event with food, drinks and live entertainment. Attendees can mingle with outdoor fireside discussions or enjoy signature beverages in an environment that sets the energy for an impactful conference.
The unique networking experiences continue Sunday night with the Ride and Drive/Live Technology Demonstration. The evening event blends summertime themes with an ideal setting for student transportation professionals to test the latest electric, propane and low-emission school bus models as well as connect with vendors showcasing technology solutions. Our title sponsor for the Ride and Drive the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit event is RIDE. A full sponsor list can be found on the conference website.
Day 1 of the Wonderland of Ideas Trade Show begins Monday, July 13 with the Trade Show Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, sponsored by Safety Vision. Attendees will be ushered onto a uniquely enchanting trade show floor providing the perfect atmosphere to unwind, network, and foster meaningful relationships with peers and industry contacts.
On Day 2, the conversations continue with a three-hour Trade Show event that will allow attendees to meet manufacturers, OEMs and suppliers with the products and technology options that can improve efficiency and safety at transportation operations. Lunch will be served on the trade show floor. Find the full list of exhibitors.
If you are looking to take your student transportation operations and professional development to the next level, you will not want to miss STN EXPO West.
The Early Bird Deadline ends on June 5, register now to save $100 on main conference registration. STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The conference will feature hands-on training classes, educational sessions, a dynamic keynote presentation and networking opportunities. Register now at stnexpo.com/west.
The Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit return to Reno, Nevada this July during the STN EXPO West conference.
The Bus Technology Summit begins Sunday, July 12 with live product labs presented by companies representing different facets of the student transportation space. Solutions include routing software, safety features, fleet optimization, student ridership, transportation communications and more. Attendees will select labs to attend based on operational needs and will interact with vendors to ask targeted questions and get a closer look at the technology solutions transforming the industry.
The Sunday labs will be presented by Transfinder, First Light Safety Products, Alpha Route, Geotab, Samsara, BusRight and Verra Mobility. Labs continue Monday, July 13 with SafeFleet, Tyler Technologies, School-Radio, CalAmp, Cummins/Accelera and HopSkipDrive.
Zonar CEO Charles Kriete will present a “CEO Talk” on Sunday morning to discuss the technology trends impacting the student transportation industry. The following morning, ZUM’s COO and co-founder Vivek Garg will present his “Tech Talk” to conference attendees.
Meanwhile, the Green Bus Summit will focus on green leadership that enables attendees to discover the latest advancements in sustainable transportation. A wide-range of speakers from OEMs, school districts using low-emission fuel options, and industry experts will share operational considerations, real-life experiences and tips to find the best fuel option for their operations. Sessions will be presented by Blue Bird, Thomas Built Buses, Micro Bird, the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) and IC Bus. The Green Bus Summit sessions will also be held on Sunday and Monday.
The two Summits meet for an immersive outdoor experience Sunday night at the STN EXPO West Ride and Drive/Live Technology Demo. Attendees will ride electric, propane and low-emission diesel school buses from Blue Bird, IC Bus, Micro Bird, RIDE and PERC. In addition, they will visit Zonar, Tyler Technologies, Transfinder and ZUM for more live product demos and networking with vendors for real-time discovery of solutions to take home to their districts.
The evening will include an energetic networking atmosphere with food and beverages, interactive games and a live DJ. Attendees will not only network with companies providing transportation solutions but meet other transportation professionals to have the conversations that are driving innovation in the industry.
Find the full conference agenda and registration details at stnexpo.com/west. STN EXPO West will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. The conference will feature hands-on training classes including the National School Bus Inspection Training Program, educational sessions, the Transportation Director Summit leadership event, the STN EXPO West Trade Show and other unique networking events.
Safety and training are forefront as the NTSB is investigating a Tennessee school bus crash that killed two teenage girls and an Oregon school bus driver was arrested for allegedly transporting students while intoxicated. Plus, new Clean School Bus program details are incoming, just in time for STN EXPO West in Reno, Nevada this July.
Jim Levine, founder of the School Transportation Active Threat Response Training, or S.T.A.R.T., joins us to discuss how school bus drivers can serve as the first line of defense against threats by interacting kindly with students and becoming trained on response tactics. His team brings its law enforcement, Secret Service, SWAT and School Resource Officer experience to an upcoming 4-hour training at STN EXPO West.
The Transportation Director Summit returns to Nevada this summer for a two-day exclusive leadership event designed to empower student transportation leaders.
The training begins Friday, July 10 at the STN EXPO West conference. The first part of the event features a Welcome Networking Reception and Top Challenges Discussion hosted by STN Publisher and President Tony Corpin. To attend, participants are qualified as leading their transportation operations and must fill out a survey on their leading challenges they face. Corpin will facilitate discussion on those points. The participants will be matched with vendor partners who provide technological solutions that could assist with these operational challenges.
The exclusive leadership event continues Saturday morning in scenic South Lake Tahoe for an all-day networking and leadership training experience. Monday’s keynote speaker Bruce Turkel will provide training modules on “All About Them Leadership Lab: Turning Insight Into Action.” During the day, Turkel will discuss how his signature mindset can be used to strengthen communication with team members and align goals, which improve performance and create lasting leadership impact. Turkel’s four-part training includes learning to understand what people truly value, purposely communicating with clarity, building stronger connections through trust, and guiding teams through uncertainty to create successful results.
A Leadership Networking Retreat
The transportation directors will enjoy breakfast and lunch courtesy the vendor partners sponsoring the event. All participants wlll make new connections, engage in targeted discussions that address their specific challenges, and leave with practical applications and strategies to transform their operations. Transportation will be provided Saturday to and from Incline Village.
Applicants for this exclusive leadership event must hold the position of transportation director or a qualified equivalent and be able to attend both days of the Summit. Email for more information about qualifying for the Transportation Director Summit.
The Early Bird Deadline for main conference registration ends June 5, register at stnexpo.com/west. In addition to the Transportation Director Summit, the STN EXPO West conference features educational sessions, a dynamic keynote speaker, hands-on training and unique networking experiences.
Emergency response is non-negotiable safety and security training for student transportation professionals as they are the first line of defense in active-threat situations that take place on the school bus.
The “Elements of School Transportation Active-Threat Response Training” four-hour seminar on Friday, July 10 at STN EXPO West conference will be organized into four distinct sections. It begins with the doctrine of in loco parentis, Latin for “in the place of a parent,” the legal term for assuming the responsibility of a child or minor. In this instance, in loco parentis ensures safety through threat recognition as well as understanding physiological stress responses.
The second part moves to de-escalation training and crisis response, explaining how to address behavioral or emotional triggers with appropriate communication techniques to defuse the situation before it becomes physical.
The third section covers behavioral intelligence. Attendees will learn to train their school bus drivers to recognize their unique placement of observation of student behavior patterns and be alert to areas of concern before an incident occurs.
Part four of the seminar will shed light on quick-threat response, including emergency communication, scenario-based security training and defensive physical intervention.
Attendees will leave the seminar with a realistic and actionable plan to equip their school bus drivers and other student transportation staff with following legal protocol, recognizing warning signs and communicating them before incidents occur, and forming a structured response to cases of violence onboard the school bus.
Meet the Instructors Teach Active-Threat Response
The seminar is presented School Transportation Active Threat Response Training, or S.T.A.R.T., a program created by veteran Ohio law enforcement officers to train student transportation professionals in the school bus environment to be prepared for emergency situations. The lead presenters will be Jim Levine, founder of S.T.A.R.T., and John Zippay, S.T.A.R.T. co-founder and current program coordinator, along with Kevin Spackman, a S.T.A.R.T senior instructor, and Greg Truhan, former U.S. Secret Service special agent, and S.T.A.R.T program developer and senior training instructor.
All four of the instructors have extensive experience in law enforcement. Levine began his career at the Arlington County Police Department in Virginia and since then has served as a S.W.A.T. instructor as well as a field training officer, co-founded a global security organization near Washington D.C., is certified in active-shooter response techniques as well as through the Ohio Crime Prevention Association in the concepts of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) and Crisis Intervention Training. Zippay currently serves as full-time police officer for the South Russell Police Department in Ohio alongside Spackman and is also a member of the Ohio School Resource Association and a certified Crisis Intervention Team member.
Save $100 on main conference registration with Early Bird Savings when you act by June 5. The STN EXPO West conference will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. Updates to agenda and speaker lists can be found at stnexpo.com/west.
This year’s STN EXPO West keynote speaker plans to provide attendees the tools they need to cut through the noise and express their relevance in a way that stands out in the crowd.
National Speakers Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame member Bruce Turkel takes the stage in Reno, Nevada this summer at the STN EXPO West conference for student transportation professionals.
Turkel will first address transportation leaders at the Transportation Director Summit, an exclusive training at The Chateau at Incline Village at Lake Tahoe. The directors attending the exclusive training and networking leadership summit will gain insights from Turkel that they can use to instill trust throughout their organizations and how the values of honesty and integrity impact operations.
Clear Communication
Turkel’s July 13 keynote presentation “All About Them: The Power of Relentless Relevance” will bring a message to all conference attendees on how to position oneself in today’s society of instant informational access. In his high-energy presentation, Turkel plans to show attendees that just credentials may not be enough, but that connecting with stakeholders means showing them what you can do for them. Whether its customers or team members, this keynote will give attendees practical strategies to communicate clearly, relevantly and bring positive results.
Turkel’s unique musical talent will also be featured in an interactive exercise in the power of shared experience as attendees learn in minutes to play a song together. This unforgettable presentation will have attendees not only connecting through laughter but have a renewed confidence to update their communication style with necessary clarity and have a customer-centered framework that boosts success for their operations.
Turkel has been in the brand clarity field for over 30 years, running his own global branding firm. His specialty has been how to stand out in a competitive market, having worked with brands like American Express, Nike, Discovery and HBO. He wrote seven books, appeared on national tv news channels and in major publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Save $100 on main conference registration with Early Bird Savings when you act by June 5. The STN EXPO West conference will be held July 9-15 at the Peppermill Resort in Reno, Nevada. Updates to agenda and speaker lists can be found at stnexpo.com/west.
This story was originally published on Investigate Midwest.
Lisa Lawler wasn’t surprised when diagnosed with breast cancer in 2025. Her mother had breast cancer and died in 2016. It seemed like cancer had become a common diagnosis for many of her neighbors and friends.
“With how many people seem to get cancer in our community, you just assume you will get it,” said Lawler, who lives in rural Hardin County, Iowa. “But no one really talks about what’s causing it.”
After 10 rounds of radiation and a surgery to remove the tumor, Lawler’s cancer was in remission. Last year, she took a test to determine if her cancer was likely genetic, meaning a high chance of recurrence, which could lead her to have her entire breast removed.
She was surprised by the results.
“The genetic test they ran for me was one that covered 81 genes that are typically related to breast cancer,” Lawler said. “After the test, they told me my cancer is likely not genetic, but likely environmental, based on these 81 genes.
“Your next thought is, then what’s in the environment that caused my cancer?”
Increasingly, pesticides are being blamed for rising cancer rates across America’s agricultural communities.
Hardin County, home to around 800 farms, has a pesticide use rate more than four times the national average and a cancer rate among the highest in the state.
Most of the 500 counties with the highest pesticide use per square mile are located in the Midwest. Sixty percent of those counties also had cancer rates higher than the national average of 460 cases per 100,000 people, according to an analysis of data from both the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Cancer Institute.
This story was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship.
Last year, Investigate Midwest, in partnership with the University of Missouri, investigated the link between agrichemicals and cancer in Missouri, finding that many were rural communities that already lacked access to health care.
Investigate Midwest expanded on that coverage by analyzing data across the country, along with interviewing more than 100 farmers, environmentalists, lawmakers and scientists as part of a partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship. The result was the picture of a nation at a crossroads in dealing with this public health crisis that has not just been ignored by state and federal health officials, but aided.
This story was also supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
“Cancer is everywhere and it’s an experience that is unfortunately all too common,” said Kerri Johannsen, senior director of policy and programs at the Iowa Environmental Council, a Des Moines-based nonprofit that has been studying the state’s growing cancer rate.
Agrichemicals have helped America become a crop-producing power, increasing yields of commodity crops — such as corn and soybeans — used for food, fuel and animal feed.
Sprayed from airplanes, drones, tractors and handheld devices, these chemicals can drift through the air or run off into nearby rivers and streams.
And for decades, some farmers and pesticide users have developed neurological and respiratory issues. Thousands of lawsuits have alleged that pesticides and the companies that make them were to blame.
Pesticide manufacturers often rejected those claims while sometimes concealing research by their own employees that raised similar concerns. These companies — such as Bayer, Syngenta, Corteva and BASF — have also spent millions to lobby federal and state lawmakers for laws that would limit their legal liability and continue to allow them to sell agrichemicals.
“This is one of the most transparently reviewed products ever,” said Jessica Christiansen, the head of crop science communications for Bayer, speaking about her company’s production of Roundup, a glyphosate-based pesticide. “This product is so well studied … been on the market for over 50 years with thousands and thousands of studies. There is no linkage to cancer, there just isn’t.”
Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture have also hired dozens of former pesticide executives and lobbyists, some of whom have already pushed for deregulation of their industry. The Department of Health and Human Services has also altered its own reports to downplay the harm of pesticides.
Two states — North Dakota and Georgia — recently passed laws limiting their residents’ ability to sue pesticide companies, and at least a dozen other states will consider similar laws in the coming months.
“We’ve gotten to a point in the U.S. … where we’ve stopped treating pesticides as if they are dangerous tools,” said Rob Faux, who manages a small Iowa farm and has advocated against pesticide liability shield laws. “Instead, these companies tell these stories that these pesticides are completely safe and we are encouraged to use them anytime. We’ve been convinced that we must use them or we are not going to have enough food to eat.”
In Iowa, a state with heavy pesticide use — 53 million pounds last year — and the nation’s second-highest cancer rate, doctors and health officials have been sounding an alarm for years.
The state has become ground zero in the fight to limit the impact of pesticides on health and the environment. Farmers have gathered at the state Capitol to advocate for increased laws and funding to address the rising cancer rate. That advocacy likely helped defeat a bill last year that would have protected pesticide makers from some lawsuits.
I call myself a Republican, but this is not about politics; this is about money, about the almighty dollar.”
— Bill Billings, a resident of Red Oak, Iowa, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2024
“I believe the groups wanting this (bill) to go through didn’t expect any substantial resistance, but there was enough resistance,” said Faux, who also works for the Pesticide Action and Agroecology Network, a nonprofit advocating for less agrichemical use.
The Iowa bill was strongly opposed by environmental and health organizations, which have traditionally been left-leaning. But there was also strong opposition from many conservative residents and farmers.
“I call myself a Republican, but this is not about politics; this is about money, about the almighty dollar,” said Bill Billings, a resident of Red Oak, Iowa, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2024.
Initially, doctors told Billings, then 61, he would likely be dead in a matter of months after discovering lymphoma in his lungs. A health enthusiast and hospital administrator, Billings had been a regular user of Roundup, the popular Bayer pesticide used on farms and residential properties.
“The cancer specialist said, very directly, (my) cancer is a result of being exposed to chemicals,” Billings said. “In my records, it literally says that I have cancer as a result of exposure to Roundup and agrochemicals.”
Billings was prescribed a five-drug regimen, along with chemotherapy. In September, he was declared cancer-free.
Last year, he hired a lawyer to file a lawsuit against Bayer.
“The irony is … Bayer Pharmaceuticals makes one of the drugs that treated my cancer,” Billings said. “It’s disturbing to find out you are in this financial circle — not only as a consumer, but as a patient.”
Bill Billings in Red Oak, Iowa, on Jan. 21, 2026. (Geoff Johnson for Investigate Midwest)
The home of Bill Billings in Red Oak, Iowa, on Jan. 21, 2026. (Geoff Johnson for Investigate Midwest)
Surrounding neighborhood in Red Oak, Iowa, photographed Jan. 21, 2026. (Photos by Geoff Johnson for Investigate Midwest)
Research increasingly links pesticides to growing cancer risk
Cancer is a complex disease and can be caused by numerous environmental and genetic factors. Some links have been clear — such as smoking and lung cancer — while other forms can be impossible to trace back to an original cause.
But scientific research linking pesticides with certain types of cancers has been growing.
“Our findings show that the impact of pesticide use on cancer incidence may rival that of smoking,” scientists wrote in a 2024 study, which was published in Frontiers in Cancer Control and Society.
The study linked pesticides to prostate, lung, pancreas and colon cancers. Pesticides have also been associated with lymphoma and Parkinson’s disease, the study claimed.
Many doctors in agricultural communities say the link with pesticides is hard to deny.
“Iowa has a super high rate (of cancer) and when you look at all of our modifiable risk factors … tobacco, obesity, too many calories, highly processed foods, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, getting vaccinated for HPV, sun exposure, and so on, Iowa doesn’t really stand out dramatically at any of those,” said Dr. Richard Deming, medical director at MercyOne Cancer Center in Des Moines. “But one thing that distinguishes Iowa from other states is our environmental exposure to agricultural chemicals.”
Deming and other health experts also point to Iowa’s high radon levels, a naturally occurring radioactive gas produced by uranium and radium.
The state also has high levels of fertilizer-derived nitrate in its water, which has been associated with increased cancer risk.
“But we use tons of ag chemicals that make it quite likely that the volume of these chemicals is contributing to what we’re seeing in Iowa in terms of the increased incidence of cancer,” Deming said.
A direct correlation can be difficult to determine, as cancer development times can range from months to decades. Overlaying cancer rates onto a map, however, highlights the nation’s top crop and vegetable growing regions, where pesticide use is highest.
The Midwestern states of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri — leading corn-growing states — had the highest rates, while rates were also high in California and Florida, high fruit-growing states.
Lawler, who developed breast cancer in Hardin County, grew up on her family’s 400-acre farm, where her father grew corn and used 2,4-D, a pesticide made by Dow Chemicals. She and her siblings moved out of state after high school, but Lawler returned in 2010.
Pesticides have become indispensable in farming, Lawler acknowledged, but she wishes more people would ask questions about the risks.
“We change products all the time when we learn about the health impacts,” Lawler said.
These family photos show Lisa Lawler with her mother and siblings over the years. Lawler was recently diagnosed with breast cancer; her mother later died after a cancer diagnosis. The family believes years of farm pesticide and herbicide exposure may have contributed. (All photos courtesy of Lisa Lawler)
As lawsuits mount, Bayer pushes state laws to limit liability
In early 2022, Rodrigo Santos had just been promoted to the head of Bayer’s crop sciences division, a prestigious position within the German-based chemical company. But a global pandemic, climate change and a pending war in Ukraine were disrupting the global production and sale of crops — a direct hit to the company’s pesticide sales.
“The global food system is in crisis,” Santos wrote in a column for the World Economic Forum, going on to say that the world needed to grow more food without a significant increase in the amount of land devoted to crops.
But beyond the pandemic and war, another crisis presented an existential threat to one of the company’s top-selling products. Roundup, the glyphosate-based weed killer produced by Monsanto, which Bayer bought in 2018, had been blamed for causing cancer in thousands of lawsuits.
Since purchasing Missouri-based Monsanto, Bayer’s stock price has dropped more than 90% over five years.
In recent years, Bayer executives, including Santos, openly discussed discontinuing glyphosate production. We are “evaluating all the alternatives that we have for the business,” Santos told investors last year when asked about a possible sale of its Roundup division.
But while Bayer publicly said it was reconsidering its glyphosate business, a review of lobbying disclosure statements, campaign finance records, state legislative records and other documents reveals the world’s largest pesticide company remains committed to expanding its sales.
Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the EPA regulates the warning labels on pesticide products. While state-level lawsuits have claimed that federal labeling is insufficient, pesticide companies, including Bayer, have argued that federal regulations should trump state laws.
Bayer, along with other corporate agriculture groups, has pushed for bills in more than a dozen states that would codify the view that federal labeling regulations are sufficient warning, effectively voiding state-level lawsuits.
Christiansen, the head of crop science communications for Bayer, disputed that these laws will stop lawsuits and said courts have yet to begin interpreting those that have passed.
“Folks can still sue a company, and they should if there’s a problem,” Christiansen said. “But the litigation industry has a lot to lose with these (bills) that are out there.”
Founded by Bayer, the Modern Ag Alliance has lobbied for these bills and promoted opinion articles downplaying the health impacts of pesticides.
“If farmers lose access to crop protection products because of misguided ideological agendas, U.S. agriculture would be upended, potentially forcing many family farms to shut down and driving up food costs for every American,” said Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, executive director of the Modern Ag Alliance.
The Modern Ag Alliance has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars on state lobbying since 2024.
Most of the bills came up short in 2025, but Georgia and North Dakota passed liability shields that will complicate local lawsuits.
Georgia’s Senate Bill 144, which took effect Jan. 1, received some bipartisan support but was mostly approved by the Republican majority and opposed by Democrats.
Similar bills have been filed in at least 10 states for this year’s legislative sessions.
In 2024, the Iowa bill was passed by the state Senate with a 30-to-19 vote. Ahead of a vote in the House last year, farmer and environmental groups lobbied against the bill.
The session ended without the House taking up a vote. The bill could return in 2026, but Faux, the Iowa farmer, said he also worries about it being “snuck into” another bill or budget agreement.
“I don’t think we can just assume this fight is over,” Faux said.
In other states, backlash seemed to stop liability shield bills before they got started.
In Oklahoma, Rep. Dell Kerbs, a Shawnee Republican, authored a pesticide liability shield bill he said was meant to end “frivolous” lawsuits against pesticide makers.
“What’s happened in our country is we have … judges that have decided they need to be in the labeling business,” Kerbs said when introducing his bill at a Feb. 11, 2025, hearing of the House agriculture committee.
State Rep. Ty Burns, another Republican, asked Kerbs why he chose to author the bill.
“I was first approached by Bayer,” Kerbs responded.
“But this is a labeling bill; it is not an immunity bill. It is just clarifying on EPA labeling regulations,” Kerbs added. “There is nothing that prevents a lawsuit from any single person. This is not giving a free pass to kill people. This simply is saying that a frivolous lawsuit to potentially pad the pocket of somebody who was not reading the label is not a justification to add that to a label through a state district court.”
But when Burns asked Kerbs about opposition to the bill, especially from many farmers, Kerbs denied receiving any complaints.
“That is hard to believe,” Burns told Kerbs, “because I have been bombarded.”
The bill was never presented to the House for a vote.
After early promises, MAHA walks back pesticide oversight
While liability shield laws have been largely advanced by Republican lawmakers, the push to further regulate pesticides has transcended partisan lines.
Both left-leaning environmental groups and conservative health movements, which have targeted agrichemicals and some vaccines, have called for reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been a longtime critic of pesticides. In a May 2025 report, his Make America Healthy Again commission linked pesticide overuse to children’s health issues, which drew praise from both political camps.
George Kimbrell, co-executive director of the Center for Food Safety, which has advocated for stronger pesticide regulations, called the initial report a “baby step” forward and said he was encouraged after decades of inaction by the federal government.
“Going back my entire career, 20-plus years now of doing this work, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Democratic administration or a Republican administration, they have been beholden to and done the wishes of the pesticide industry,” Kimbrell told Investigate Midwest last year. “So, this is a unique moment where … there’s a chance that there could be some positive change in terms of responsible oversight for these toxins.”
Corporate agriculture groups heavily criticized the report, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and CropLife America, a national organization representing many large agrichemical companies, including Bayer, Corteva Agriscience and Syngenta.
Many of those groups and companies had been large financial backers of Trump. But Kennedy downplayed any concerns that the president would avoid taking a hard position against pesticide companies because of that support.
“I’ve met every president since my uncle was president, and I’ve never seen a president (like Trump), Democrat or Republican, that is willing to stand up to industry when it’s the right thing to do,” Kennedy said at a May 22, 2025, MAHA commission meeting as the president sat smiling to his right.
Three months later, Kennedy’s MAHA commission published its final report, which contained no calls to further regulate pesticides. In fact, it called for the federal government to work with large agrichemical companies to ensure public “awareness and confidence” in the EPA’s current pesticide regulations.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment from Kennedy.
Many of the groups that expressed optimism over the initial report were outraged over the change.
“This report is … a clear sign that Big Ag, Bayer, and the pesticide industry are firmly embedded in the White House,” said David Murphy, the founder of United We Eat and a former finance director for Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
The Trump administration has employed several pesticide executives, researchers and lobbyists at the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Kyle Kunker, who was a registered lobbyist for the American Soybean Association, an organization that has advocated for the legal liability shield laws at the state level, was hired last year to oversee pesticide policy at the EPA.
Three weeks later, the EPA recommended expanded use of dicamba-based herbicides, which federal courts had previously restricted. The EPA proposal was closely aligned with the position of the American Soybean Association.
In 2025, the EPA also hired Nancy Beck and Lynn Ann Dekleva, both of whom worked with the American Chemistry Council.
Last month, a coalition of MAHA supporters called for the removal of Lee Zeldin, administrator of the EPA.
Recent EPA decisions around pesticides “will inevitably lead to higher rates of chronic disease, greater medical costs, and tremendous strain on our healthcare system,” the group stated in a petition circulating online.
Several prominent MAHA influencers have joined the petition, posting anti-pesticide messages on social media under handles such as The Glyphosate Girl and the Food Babe. “The EPA is acting like the Everyone Poisoned Agency,” wrote Kelly Ryerson, on her Glyphosate Girl Instagram feed.
As the EPA advances pesticide use, the Trump administration has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal labeling laws invalidate state-level lawsuits.
“After careful scientific review and an assessment of hundreds of thousands of public comments, EPA has repeatedly determined that glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic in humans, and the agency has repeatedly approved Roundup labels that did not contain cancer warnings,” Trump’s solicitor general wrote in an amicus brief with the Supreme Court.
However, one of the studies the EPA has often cited in claiming pesticides are safe was recently retracted due to concerns about its authorship and potential conflicts of interest.
The report, published in 2000 by the scientific journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, claimed Roundup “does not pose a health risk to humans.” The report has been the foundation for numerous other studies, court cases and policy decisions.
The journal retracted the study last year, noting that court cases had revealed that Monsanto employees had contributed to the study. “This lack of transparency raises serious ethical concerns regarding the independence and accountability of the authors of this article and the academic integrity of the carcinogenicity studies presented,” the retraction stated.
“This is just one example of how the current process of certifying these chemicals is broken in the U.S.,” said Colleen Fowle, water program director at the Iowa Environmental Council. “At the very least, we’re hoping that this (retraction) eliminates this specific research article from being cited in the future and concentrates more on independent peer-reviewed research as our basis to determine the safety of glyphosate.”
Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom whose mission is to serve the public interest by exposing dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism. Visit online at www.investigatemidwest.org
A state-funded climate financing authority will begin ramping up lending in Minnesota this year after hiring its first executive director in October.
The Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority, established by state legislators as part of a flurry of climate and clean energy bills in 2023, is charged with annually lending at least $25 million to stimulate clean energy development and greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects.
The timing — as the Trump administration sows chaos and confusion around federal grant funding — is coincidental, but could help some projects withstand the uncertainty.
Kari Groth Swan, the state authority’s executive director, said she hopes to use her background in banking and community development to help connect promising projects with state and private money.
She recently spoke with the Energy News Network about the launch of the program, which has already drawn dozens of applications.
What kind of projects are eligible?
The finance authority seeks to fund projects that help Minnesota meet its climate action goals, including the Climate Action Framework. The green bank has received applications for district hydrothermal energy, solar gardens, new energy-efficient construction, electric vehicle charging stations, air source heat pumps, battery manufacturing, and the Solar on Schools program.
How does it work?
The funding process is similar to what conventional lenders use. Applicants provide two years of financials, a narrative, a project budget, a list of commitments from other funders, and other financial information.
“We’re not funding ideas,” Swan said. “We’re funding viable, actionable projects that can get done and create jobs.”
A governing board appointed by Gov. Tim Walz makes the final lending decisions. The board includes representatives of state agencies, industry organizations, tribal nations, labor unions and people from other professions.
Why does the state need a green bank?
Green banks are mission-driven to promote clean energy projects, and have technical expertise in energy lending. Minnesota’s green bank intentionally focuses on underserved markets unlikely to receive all their capital from private lenders. By deploying a lending institution rather than relying on grants for clean energy projects, the state creates a revolving fund as loans are repaid.
The finance authority won’t ever be the primary lender on a project, but having the state involved helps move projects forward, Swan said. The green bank has a pipeline of $25 million in loan applications from projects worth over $265 million.
Swan said the first wave of applicants came fully formed and with significant capital in place. The second wave might need some additional advocacy with lenders. “I will be out talking to the traditional lenders, saying, ‘Here’s an example of a project and here’s what the capital stack looks like. Will you partner with us?’”
How large are the loans?
A wide range of loan amounts are available. The green bank requires a minimum loan amount of $250,000, and while the first three loans it issued were all over $1 million, Swan expects a greater variety of loan amounts now that the bank is fully operational. In addition, no loan can exceed 10% of the amount the bank loans annually. The bank may also fund nonprofit lenders who could provide capital to smaller clean energy projects.
How much money is available?
By statute, the bank must lend at least $25 million annually. The Legislature allocated $45 million in 2024 to get the green bank going. Last year, the state competitiveness fund provided $60 million and the federal government added $25 million.
What other requirements are there?
Half of the loans must meet guidelines for environmental justice communities based on the U.S. Department of Energy’s current definition. To qualify, a community’s non-White population must be at least 40%, and 35% of the population must have an income at or below 200% of the poverty level.
How could President Trump’s attacks on federal clean energy affect the program?
Swan thinks federal investment tax credits for clean energy will survive under Trump, adding that unwinding them quickly will be challenging because they’re part of the tax code. But the Trump administration has already signaled a willingness to usurp Congress’ constitutional spending authority when it comes to clean energy, which could mean a greater need for money but also fewer projects ready to fund in Minnesota.
A recent ruling by a Wisconsin appeals court closes the door on the long-standing battle for third-party-owned solar in the state — at least for the near future, as disappointed advocates see it.
On Jan. 3, the court dismissed ongoing legal proceedings regarding a Stevens Point family’s efforts to buy electricity from solar panels that would have been installed on their home but owned by a solar company. The arrangement, known as third-party solar, allows customers access to solar power without the upfront cost of installing panels.
The family moved before their case concluded, though, making it “moot” in the court’s opinion. Advocates had hoped a court decision could still clarify that under existing law, third-party-owned solar is indeed legal, but those hopes are now dashed.
“I think this road is at a dead end at this point,” said Will Kenworthy, Midwest regional director for Vote Solar, which had brought a petition before the Public Service Commission on the family’s behalf, asking the commission to affirm their right to do the project. “We had a chance to resolve it once and for all, and we made the effort to get it this far, then had the carpet pulled out from underneath us.”
In late 2022, the Wisconsin Public Service Commission ruled in favor of the family, who wanted to install rooftop solar that would be owned by North Wind Renewable Energy Cooperative, a developer based nearby.
After the commission decision, the Wisconsin Utilities Association filed a lawsuit challenging the commissions’ ruling, arguing such arrangements violate utilities’ monopoly rights to provide power.
A trial court remanded the issue back to the commission for further information. Vote Solar, represented by the Environmental Law & Policy Center, appealed that ruling, and hoped the appeals court would affirm the commission’s decision.
But when the Public Service Commission members found out that the family had moved without installing solar, they withdrew the decision on their case.
“It closes this phase of the very long and ongoing saga here to clarify the law for third-party financing,” said ELPC senior attorney Brad Klein. “What’s frustrating with this setback is a lot of work went into teeing up a strong legal case for the commission and the courts. It got knocked out on a procedural non-substantive issue on the status of the customers, which leaves the rest of Wisconsin customers in the dark on the lawfulness of this tool.”
The commission’s decision on the Stevens Point case had applied only to that particular project. But advocates thought the move could pave the way for others to do third-party-owned solar.
Why it matters
“The hope with that decision was it would serve as a precedent — if this one family can do it, then a second family, a third family, a fourth family could do it too,” said John Albers, a director at Advanced Energy United, which filed an amicus brief in the case. “The frustrating part is none of this should be happening. Wisconsin is an outlier — you’ve got Michigan, Illinois and Iowa that all allow third-party ownership.”
Nationwide, third-party ownership makes solar more accessible for many households, nonprofits, churches, schools and government agencies, since the solar developer or other third-party owner pays the upfront costs and reaps the tax incentives, while providing power and passing on energy bill savings to the resident or nonprofit.
The direct-pay provision in the Inflation Reduction Act makes third-party ownership less crucial for nonprofit entities including government agencies, since direct payments —unlike tax incentives — can be tapped even if one doesn’t pay taxes. But the paperwork requirements for direct pay can be onerous, and under the Trump administration, pieces of the IRA may be rolled back.
Advocates have long argued that existing Wisconsin law actually does allow for third-party-owned solar. But without clarity from a government authority, utilities have refused to interconnect third-party-owned solar arrays, and developers have been reluctant or unwilling to explore the arrangement with customers.
A legal battle over Eagle Point Solar’s plans to do a third-party-owned solar project with the city of Milwaukee, for example, has been before the public service commission and in the courts for years.
Kenworthy said advocates were hoping the commission and appellate court would offer “an interpretation of statute that avoids this preposterous outcome that someone putting a small solar array on someone’s roof is suddenly constituting a utility.”
“We think it’s as urgent as ever to get third-party ownership available to the people of Wisconsin, we’re still interested in trying to figure out if there’s a way we can address it,” Kenworthy continued. That could mean another resident attempting third-party-owned solar, a lengthy and frustrating undertaking, as the Stevens Point family saw.
“It was illustrative of the problem people are facing,” Kenworthy said. “Getting solar on a residential rooftop is a tough choice anyway, and when you have that type of uncertainty out there it really is a deterrent.”
In an amicus brief, Advanced Energy United had made the case that residential third-party-owned solar would benefit all ratepayers, and could reduce reliance on planned new gas plants in Wisconsin. The group is among many that have filed testimony opposing a $1.2 billion new gas peaker plant that the utility WEPCO plans to build at the site of its Oak Creek coal plant.
“Really, the more behind the meter solar you have in Wisconsin, the better for all ratepayers,” he said. “Utilities wouldn’t need to spend as much on new generation if homeowners were able to generate at home.”
In years past, advocates have pleaded with the legislature, courts and commission to offer clarity on third-party ownership, so far to no avail. The Public Service Commission declined to rule on a petition from the Midwest Renewable Energy Association seeking to develop third-party-owned solar, noting that the association did not have a specific project contract.
“The problem remains unresolved and it’s going to require some additional work over time, but we are going to continue pushing,” Klein said. “I’m confident in the long-term outcome because I think we’re right on the law. We don’t know if the next effort will mirror this one, which was an attempt to be responsive to the commission’s request to bring a specific case to them. We may do that again, or there’s other avenues. Certainly the legislature could act, there are other ways the commission could act. We’ll be exploring all of those options.”
As long-distance transmission line capacity emerges as a bottleneck for Illinois’ clean energy transition, state lawmakers and advocates are drafting legislation to establish state incentives for power line projects.
One proposal under consideration would allow independent transmission developers to access subsidies through the state’s Renewable Energy Credit (RECs) program, the same mechanism that has fueled the state’s solar boom.
“Merchant transmission developers are essentially building a road — generators pay to put their electricity on that road and send it to customers,” said James Gignac, Midwest senior policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a member of the coalition working with legislators on an energy bill building on 2017’s Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA.
The Illinois legislation being prepared for this spring’s session would create another source of revenue for such projects, lowering the cost burden on wind and solar developers looking for a more direct route to power customers. Unlike projects funded by utility ratepayers, merchant lines do not need to go through the lengthy planning and financing process overseen by regional grid operators such as MISO and PJM.
“These [high voltage, direct current] lines can serve a different purpose,” Gignac said. “It’s an overlay or additional feature of the transmission system. They can provide important benefits that supplement the [regional transmission organization] plan.”
A regional need
CEJA mandates that almost all of the state’s fossil fuel generation cease by 2045. Especially with the boom in data centers, some are worried Illinois won’t be able to meet its energy needs with renewables and nuclear if coal and gas plants close.
“Transmission is a huge part of the equation, it will be important in helping us take inefficient coal and gas plants off-line, and it will help bring on extraordinary amounts of clean energy,” said Christine Nannicelli, Sierra Club Beyond Coal senior campaign representative.
In December, MISO, which manages the grid for most of Illinois and a large part of the central U.S. spanning from the Dakotas to the Gulf Coast, approved a batch of 24 long-distance transmission projects on top of 18 interregional transmission lines approved in 2022. But these lines will likely take a decade or more to build, given lengthy bureaucratic processes.
Merchant lines can be constructed much more quickly, as they do not need to be studied and deemed necessary through the regional transmission organization process. They just need to be interconnected to the regional grid system, as well as receive certain approvals in the states they pass through. Illinois advocates have also proposed that legislation designate merchant lines as public utilities, giving them an easier path to eminent domain powers.
Merchant lines including the Grain Belt Express, which would stretch from Kansas through Missouri to the Illinois-Indiana border, have faced opposition from landowners concerned about the routes and eminent domain. Merchant lines also introduce competition for utility companies, which have pushed for legislation in various states to limit such competition.
Some advocates argue competition can be good for ratepayers and the environment. Merchant lines could bring renewable power into Illinois from other states, and also make it easier for new renewables to be built in Illinois and connected to the grid. There can be long delays for new wind and solar farms to get approval to be connected to the MISO grid. These renewables could connect to merchant lines without delay.
Grain Belt Express developer Invenergy, based in Chicago, is among the backers of a transmission incentive bill.
Another merchant transmission line seeking to deliver power to Illinois is SOO Green, a proposed 350-mile underground cable between Iowa and Illinois following a railroad right-of-way.
Both projects would facilitate sharing power between MISO and PJM grids, a necessity especially as extreme weather events increase, experts say. Last May, the twoorganizations for the first time agreed to coordinate on their long-range planning,
The Clean Grid Alliance, a national organization, advocates for grid expansion both through the regional transmission organizations’ planning processes, and through merchant lines. The alliance supported a proposal during the last Illinois legislative session that would have created RECs for merchant transmission. Clean Grid Alliance vice president of advocacy Jeff Danielson said he does not know of any other states that have created RECs for this purpose.
“We encourage states to help in any way possible to get the electric interstate superhighway built,” said Danielson. “It really is up to the states to secure their own economic future around a resilient and commerce-friendly grid. Whether it’s a REC concept, direct power purchase agreements, permitting reform, we encourage all of it. We literally need to build the transmission everywhere all at once.”
Financial lift
Since projects like Grain Belt Express and SOO Green cover multiple states, it may seem unfair for one state to carry more of the financial burden by offering subsidies. But Danielson said that may be necessary to tip the balance and make sure transmission gets built; and other states should follow Illinois’s lead.
“There’s the idea it will just get built,” without state action, Danielson said. “But it won’t, it hasn’t. Merchant lines are incredibly difficult to build. A governor has to understand the value to his state, his colleagues in other states have to understand this is what’s going to drive economic growth. Every time they’re in a meeting they should be saying, ‘We have to get to yes.’ It’s a shared opportunity and shared responsibility.”
A March 2024 study by the Illinois Power Agency estimated that credits for the SOO Green line would cost ratepayers $430 million per year, while reducing utility bills to save them $178 million per year. The line would also add $414 million in economic benefit to the state’s economy, the agency found.
The Laborers’ International Union of North America is among the labor unions supporting a transmission-incentives bill. The union’s Midwest governmental affairs director, Sean Stott, noted that Invenergy’s Grain Belt Express, for example, is projected to create 1,500 construction jobs in central Illinois.
“They’ve made a commitment to employing residents of central Illinois to do that work, including members of the Laborers union,” he said. “Any time you do that, you’ll have money in the pockets of workers. It would definitely generate a significant amount of economic activity in the local community.”
He doesn’t think union members would resent the additional charges on electric bills to fund transmission incentives.
“There are no free lunches in life, there would be a small charge, however they would receive by virtue of an influx of lower-cost power, downward pressure on their electric bills,” he said.
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association also supports such legislation.
“We’ve seen warnings for the last couple years both in PJM and MISO of potential brown-outs,” said association president Mark Denzler. “When there are challenges, the first folks they ask to reduce load are industries. Transmission projects are one place where the state has the ability to work on making sure we have reliability.”
The legislation might also include a component known as “next generation highways,” allowing transmission lines to be co-located with highways, a situation currently prohibited under Illinois law. Minnesota last year passed similar legislation.
“We want to at least allow utilities the option to consider that,” said Gignac. “It’s something states can do, allowing some flexibility in the location of transmission lines.”
Danielson framed the relationship to highways as symbolic on a larger level.
“We have never thought about our grid in an integrated interstate commerce way like we thought about the highway system in the 1950s, and we really need to,” he said. “Because resilience to weather events and connecting economies through clean energy and 24-7 internet commerce are going to be the reasons Midwest states and the U.S. in general are going to be an economic leader in the future.”
On the night of Jan. 2, there was an explosion on a well pad in eastern Ohio’s Guernsey County. In shaky Facebook videos, the volunteer fire department chief warned off “looky-loos,” as a burning tank fed dark, billowing clouds of smoke off in the distance.
The accident happened at the Groh well pad which is operated by Gulfport Engergy. No one was injured in the blast and first responders determined the safest course of action was to let the fire burn itself out. Guernsey County Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation notice within half a mile of the well pad. The agency lifted its advisory about 14 hours later.
In a statement, Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Karina Cheung said the agency is still investigating the cause of the fire and assessing damage.
“Preliminary findings indicate that one containment tank was affected,” she said. “All produced fluids have been safely removed. There was no release of fluids into the environment and the well pad remains shut down and inactive.”
“There were no reported injuries, no reported impacts to wildlife, and no reported impacts to water,” she added.
Context and track record
But to some, the incident highlights concerns they’ve been raising for years about oil and gas drilling — particularly as exploration expands to state lands.
The Groh well pad sits about five miles from Salt Fork State Park. While the site doesn’t draw from within the park, the accident is a reminder that Salt Fork was recently opened to oil and gas exploration thanks to a 2022 law signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Those leases don’t allow well pads within the boundaries of state land, but opponents argue more exploration means more accidents. And with drilling infrastructure creeping closer, they contend, it’s a matter of time before those accidents affect public land.
“These are accidents that have great potential to cause people serious breathing and respiratory illnesses from air emissions alone,” Melinda Zemper from the organization Save Ohio Parks said.
Although she’s quick to note the difference in scale, Zemper compared the accident to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine.
“Sometimes when you have explosions,” she added, “you don’t know what chemicals are going to be released into the soil and the water nearby the well pad.”
The group has organized opposition to drilling leases on public land since state officials began awarding them through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Oil and Gas Land Management Commission.
Gulfport Energy has been awarded seven of those leases in Belmont and Monroe Counties.
Save Ohio Parks argues the recent Groh well pad fire isn’t an isolated incident.
In 2020, Gulfport agreed to a $3.7 million settlement with the U.S. EPA over its operations in Ohio. The company faced $1.7 million in penalties and was directed to invest $2 million in upgrades to reduce emissions at its facilities. The company has also had several accidents in Ohio, primarily related to spilling brine or other drilling fluid. In 2013, state officials fined the company a quarter million dollars over leaks at seven well pads in Belmont and Harrison Counties.
Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Gulfport Energy but got no response.
Accidents and reporting
Taking a step back, the organization FracTracker argued the Groh well pad explosion is a symptom of a broader problem. In an analysis of incident records from 2015 to 2023, Gwen Klenke found at least 1,900 well-related incidents reported in Ohio.
“I think the larger context is just that this industry is prone to accidents,” she said, “and that there will be accidents as we start to frack and extract on state lands — not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”
The bulk of incidents Klenke documented have to do with release or discharge — of gas, brine or other chemicals involved in drilling. Nearly 160 of those incidents are classified as explosions or fires, but only two reference injury or property damage. Under ODNR designations, only three incidents are classified as major or severe since 2018.
Ohio Oil and Gas Association President Rob Rob Brundrett points to the lack of major incidents as “a testament to the industry’s rigorous safety standards and practices.”
“Considering that only .004 percent of ALL Ohio oil and gas operations have had a major reportable incident during that timeframe, I have, and will continue to, put our industry’s safety numbers against any other labor-intensive industry in Ohio,” he added.
But Klenke argues that low number of major incidents points to shortcomings in reporting and classification rather than a strong safety record. Kathiann Kowalski from the Energy News Network highlighted ODNR’s classification system in a 2023 report as well.
The agency relies on a matrix to determine the severity of an incident, but its criteria are subjective and complex. Does the burned-out tank at the Groh well pad constitute “moderate” or “major” on-site equipment damage? If the fire burned for at least 14 hours, does that push it into the category of a major incident (12-24 hours to control impact) or does the apparent lack of off-site spillage ratchet it down to a minor incident?
In her report, Klenke points to two other incidents involving explosions at homes that involved injuries. Because the reporting system allows just one category, they were listed as “explosion/fire,” but they could’ve also been listed as “injury” or “property damage” among other designations.
Klenke explained neither incident was listed as “major” or “severe” under ODNR’s designations.
“They were calling those moderate or minor explosions,” she said, “when those should really be considered major if they’re damaging property, they’re damaging folks’ health.”
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.
A long-running local government collaboration in southwestern Minnesota is helping to insulate the region from the kind of controversies and misinformation that have plagued rural clean energy projects in other states.
The Rural Minnesota Energy Board has its origins in a regional task force that was set up during the mid-1990s as the state’s first wind farms were being built. The task force was instrumental in persuading state legislators in 2002 to create a wind energy production tax, which today generates millions of dollars in annual revenue for counties and townships that host wind projects.
The group’s scope and membership has since gradually expanded to include 18 rural counties that pay monthly dues for support on energy policy and permitting. The board represents members at the state legislature and in Public Utilities Commission proceedings. At home, it facilitates community meetings with project developers, helps draft energy-related ordinances, and educates members and the public on the benefits of energy projects.
The result, say clean energy advocates and developers, has been a uniquely consistent approach to local energy policy and permitting that makes it easier for renewable companies to do business in the region.
“The rural energy board has been a critical, important body and one of the major reasons why renewable energy has been successful in southwestern Minnesota,” said Adam Sokolski, director of regulatory and legislative affairs at EDF Renewables North America. “Their policies have encouraged good decision-making over the years and led to a stable and productive region for energy development.”
EDF Renewables has worked with the board on at least nine projects in the region. Sokolski said he’s come to admire its approach to policy making, its support for transmission projects, and its efforts to educate members on clean energy.
“It’s positive to have county leaders talking to each other about energy projects, about how … they can approach those projects so they best benefit their constituents and the public,” he said.
Southwest Minnesota has the state’s densest concentration of wind turbines and is increasingly attracting solar developers, too. Wind turbines account for more than 4,500 megawatts, or around 22%, of the state’s generation capacity, making Minnesota a top 10 state for wind production.
‘It’s all economic development’
The board counts the wind production tax among its most significant accomplishments. Large wind farms pay $1.20 per megawatt-hour of generation. Counties receive 80% of the revenue, with the remainder going to townships. A similar fee also exists for large solar projects.
The fee delivers millions of dollars annually, allowing local governments to construct buildings and repair bridges and roads without raising their levies for years. According to American Clean Power, Minnesota municipalities receive $44 million annually in taxes, and private landowners receive nearly $41 million in lease payments from wind and solar companies.
That has enabled counties to stave off opposition by pointing out that turbines and solar are economic development, according to Jason Walker, community development director for the Southwest Regional Development Commission, which manages the board, said the local government revenue generated from wind and solar projects has helped reduce opposition to projects.
“It’s all economic development here,” Walker said.
When opposition does emerge, such as around a recent 160 megawatt solar project in Rock County in the state’s far southwest corner, the board works with commissioners to make sure local leaders have factual information as opposed to misinformation.
Peder Mewis, regional policy director for the Clean Grid Alliance, praised the board for creating an information-sharing culture among members that helps prepare them for clean energy development. He said many developers appreciate that the region’s ordinances are similar because of the board, and that they have maintained good relationships with members over the years.
“There are other parts of the state that are thinking, ‘Is there something here that we could replicate or duplicate?’” Mewis said.
Jay Trusty, executive director of the Southwest Regional Development Commission, said the board plays an essential role in lobbying for state policy to support clean energy development. In addition to the production taxes, the board regularly defends the local distribution of those funds when lawmakers consider other uses for the revenue. The board more recently lobbied for changes to the state transmission permitting process, which were approved this year, and it supported an expansion for Xcel Energy’s CapX 2020 high-voltage transmission project before state utility regulators.
Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner John Tuma recalled the board’s support for the state’s 2008 renewable energy standard, which gave Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty important rural support for signing the legislation.
“They bring an economic voice to the table,” Tuma said, adding that the board continues to be active in conversations about regional grid policies.
Nobles County Commissioner Gene Metz has served on the board for 12 years. The region’s decades of experience and collaboration on wind energy has helped make residents more comfortable with clean energy projects, he said, leading to fewer controversies.
In counties outside the board’s territory, “they’re getting more pushback, especially on solar projects,” he said.
Gene’s cousin, Chad Metz, serves as a commissioner in Traverse County, which is not a member and has a mortarium on clean energy projects. Chad Metz sees clean energy as inevitable and wants the county to join the rural energy board to protect its economic interests. “The benefits outweigh the negatives, and it will just become part of life,” he said.
The last time President Donald Trump took office, Illinois had just passed the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA), creating an ambitious renewable electricity mandate, solar incentive programs, green job training and equity provisions to propel the state’s clean energy economy.
That progress is offering both a blueprint and a source of hope for Illinois clean energy and environmental justice advocates as they try to keep the state’s clean energy transition on track during a second Trump presidency.
“The state policy is designed to be responsive to a lack of federal climate leadership, to the need for Illinois to step up into a position of climate leadership,” said Vote Solar deputy Midwest program director John Delurey, who added that since the 2024 election “I’m at the point where I can channel my existential dread into state-based action.”
Illinois lawmakers expanded on FEJA with the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in 2021, and advocates expect another state energy bill in 2025 to prioritize energy storage and otherwise further clean energy goals, including planning for the mandatory closing of almost all fossil fuel generation by 2035.
“With CEJA we’ve mapped out an ambitious climate plan, and we’re in a strong position to further those goals even under a Trump administration,” said Madeline Semanisin, Midwest equitable building decarbonization advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is not the first Trump administration. States and cities are more prepared this time to accelerate initiatives at the state and city level.”
That’s not to say the state won’t be affected by a president who is hostile toward clean energy policy. Several federal tax credits and grants that have helped accelerate progress in Illinois could be at risk under Trump, and a rollback of federal environmental regulations or enforcement could prolong pollution from coal ash, power plants and other sources.
James Gignac, Union of Concerned Scientists lead Midwest senior policy manager for the Climate & Energy program, said he thinks of the state’s clean energy outlook in terms of headwinds and tailwinds, which will continue to shift based on economic and political factors beyond the state’s control.
“States for many years have not been able to rely on the federal government for climate action, whether due to politics or the Supreme Court,” Gignac said. “The election results will make it harder to achieve the goals that Illinois has established. It doesn’t fundamentally change the energy policy path that the state is on, it just makes it even more urgent that state legislators pass additional policies.”
Tax credits and grants
Federal funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other federal programs have helped Illinois and individual cities and counties carry out their clean energy goals. Illinois was awarded more than $430 million in a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant for implementation of the state’s goals on industrial decarbonization, clean energy, clean transportation and freight, climate-smart agriculture, and building energy efficiency.
Illinois was also awarded $156 million in federal Solar for All funds to bolster solar and equity goals including workforce training, residential solar deployment, and community engagement.
Illinois advocates and experts said they expect federal funds that have already been awarded to be paid out, and they don’t expect the Trump administration and Republican-dominated Congress to make major changes to the IRA or infrastructure law, especially given the financial impact those laws have had in Republican-dominated areas.
“We have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars for small businesses and farmers” paid out through the federal Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), not to mention federal IRA funds, that “overall are benefitting Republican districts” during the Biden administration, noted Angela Xu, Illinois Environmental Council municipal engagement manager.
Even if new federal funding windfalls are not available in the future, advocates say the funds awarded during the Biden administration will have lasting impact, combined with state-level programs and funding sources that will continue, and market forces that are making clean energy increasingly competitive.
“President-elect Trump has indicated his intention to roll back IRA programs, but keep in mind that when President Trump was elected last time, he and the Republican-led Senate and House were hellbent publicly on rolling back Obamacare, and that didn’t happen,” said Environmental Law & Policy Center executive director Howard Learner.
“The IRA has supported smart, sensible renewable energy development in red states and blue and purple states,” he added. “There’s no question if President Trump tries to cut back and constrain the IRA, it will have some impact on the pace of renewable energy development and other climate change solutions. On the other hand, it’s very hard to keep better technology from growing. When new technologies come to the market and they are better and cleaner and economically sensible, they tend to accelerate and capture more market share.”
Illinois Shines, the program creating lucrative Renewable Energy Credits for distributed solar, is funded through ratepayer payments — so it is not dependent on federal funding. That doesn’t mean it is immune from federal action, since the federal Investment Tax Credit and the global solar market influence the viability of projects in Illinois.
“There are levers they can pull, through an act of Congress they can change the ITC, which is an important part of the value stack for renewables,” said Delurey, of Trump and his allies in Congress. “And they could deploy tariffs which make the landscape a lot more complicated. The U.S., thanks to the IRA, is making its way towards onshoring and bringing a lot of manufacturing back stateside, but we’re not quite there yet.”
If the tax credit is reduced or solar panels get more expensive because of tariffs, Illinois’s incentives “would probably have to be adjusted accordingly,” Delurey said, with bigger incentives for each project.
“It would just mean fewer megawatts and kilowatts in Illinois. We’d still be deploying solar, but it is sensitive to the price of clean energy.”
Environmental justice
Advocates agree that the Biden administration’s Justice 40 mandate, that 40% of the benefits of many federal climate and other programs go to disadvantaged communities, is likely to be ended or ignored by the Trump administration.
Lower-income and marginalized communities could also be affected by understaffing, delays or rollbacks in federal programs like LIHEAP, which provides energy bill assistance, and energy efficiency rebates for low-income households.
“We can put things in state legislation that supports these communities,” including in the Illinois energy bill being drafted for introduction in 2025, Semanisin said. “Justice 40 is a framework we can incorporate in state legislation as well, to prioritize people who have been historically underserved.”
During his first administration, Trump made significant rollbacks to coal plant wastewater protections, and to the 2015 federal rules governing the storage and cleanup of coal ash. Both are big issues in Illinois, where eight coal plants are still operating, and coal ash is stored in 76 ponds, landfills and other sites, according to an Earthjustice analysis.
Earthjustice senior attorney Jenny Cassel said experts anticipate Trump will again try to weaken the Clean Water Act and coal ash protections. Meanwhile it’s likely the EPA under his administration will do little to enforce the coal ash regulations, which was largely the case before the Biden administration made coal ash a priority.
Illinois passed its own state coal ash rules in 2019, after lobbying by activists who wanted to make sure the rules were at least as strong as federal rules and covered legacy ponds not included in federal rules at the time. In 2024, the federal rules were expanded to cover legacy ponds as well as historic ash and coal ash landfills, but that provision is being challenged in federal court. The state rules do not cover ash historically dumped or scattered around, and they also do not cover inactive coal ash landfills.
Meanwhile the implementation of the Illinois coal ash law has been extremely slow. The law requires each site to get an operating permit with pollution limits that can then be enforced, but so far only two permits at one coal plant site have been issued, Cassel said.
“We keep hearing excuse after excuse” from the Illinois EPA that issues the permits, Cassel said. “‘We don’t have enough people, they’re tied up in administrative hearings, conditions are changing,’ every dog-ate-my-homework excuse in the book.”
“At the federal level, there’s any number of potential ways they could attempt to roll back the [coal ash] rules, or weaken areas that haven’t been fully defined,” she added. “That’s certainly what they did in round one. Illinois will really have to step up into the vacuum of protectiveness we expect at the federal level.”
Local action
Chicago — site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention — has long been a target of Trump’s ire, and Chicago officials during his last administration and today are outspoken about countering Trump’s agenda.
Chief Sustainability Officer Angela Tovar said the city will continue its work on solar, electric vehicles and building decarbonization, as well as centering environmental justice in planning, zoning and enforcement decisions.
“So much of everyone’s local regulations hinge on things like the Clean Air Act and federal standards; there is going to be this question of federal preemption, what home-rule authority do we have?” Tovar said. “Those are still outstanding questions. Every rollback will present its own set of challenges for cities and states. What I am at least grateful for in being in the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago is we do have such robust climate leadership at the state and local level.”
The city’s environmental justice ordinance requires a holistic look at pollution — from traffic and other sources — when industrial development is proposed. That could help protect communities even if federal pollution limits are relaxed. The city has also launched an interdepartmental environmental justice working group, involving “every department that touches air, land and water,” as Tovar said.
The city program Green Homes Chicago funds energy efficiency upgrades for qualifying single- and multi-family homes, which could help fill the gap if federal home rebates are reduced, Tovar noted. Chicago Recovery Plan funding from federal pandemic relief and city bond issuances could help compensate for any funding that might be lost if IRA is undermined, she added.
“The role of cities and states becomes even increasingly more important right now,” Tovar said. “We have an ability to really demonstrate leadership in this moment. For cities like Chicago that have already made some progress, it’s up to us to ensure we’re sharing best practices and working together to really create those safeguards and fortify basic environmental and health protections at a local level. We’re certainly going to maintain our commitment, make sure we are rolling out our programs, and unwavering in our pursuit of environmental justice.”
Ohio environmental advocates are questioning the intent of a pending state law that would add nuclear power to the state’s legal definition of “green” energy.
House Bill 308’s sponsors say the legislation is meant to signal that Ohio is open for business when it comes to nuclear power research and development, but critics warn the language could have broader implications in the future.
“Legislators don’t just put something into the code unless it has meaning and purpose and value,” said Megan Hunter, an attorney with Earthjustice, one of several environmental groups challenging a similar 2022 state law that classified natural gas as a “green” energy source. “Why would you do this if it has no impact or meaning or effect?”
Critics fear the language could be used to greenwash power plants or divert public funding from renewable energy projects, though the bill’s sponsors deny that motive.
“It doesn’t promise any incentives or anything beyond simply placing nuclear under the category of green energy in the Ohio Revised Code,” said state Rep. Sean Brennan, a Democrat from Parma who co-sponsored the nuclear legislation with Republican state Rep. Dick Stein of Norwalk.
The General Assembly passed the nuclear legislation on Dec. 11. As of Thursday it was awaiting Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature.
Brennan said the question of why the language should be in a law instead of just a resolution didn’t come up in discussions with Stein, who initially asked him to cosponsor the bill.
Stein said the legislation is “about sending a signal to the market that Ohio wants to be a partner and won’t be an impediment,” in contrast to other states that don’t want nuclear energy. He said he hopes it will help attract jobs and federal funding, building on last year’s creation of a state nuclear development authority.
Stein would not speculate on follow-up steps lawmakers might take, saying his term in the House of Representatives ends this month.
What the law could do
Ohio does not currently have state incentives or policy preferences for “green” energy. The state’s renewable energy standard essentially ended in 2019 as a result of House Bill 6, the coal and nuclear bailout law at the heart of the state’s ongoing corruption scandal. Opponents testifying against the current legislation, though, said they worry the definition will be used to water down future clean energy policies.
“HB 308 will enable the manipulation of public funds into private, corporate hands,” said Pat Marida, a coordinator for the Ohio Nuclear-Free Network, in her December 13 testimony. Also, she said, “there is nothing ‘green’ about nuclear power,” referring to radioactive waste, which continues to be stored at power plant sites.
Future state programs might offer funding or other advantages for projects that meet the state’s definition of “green” energy, for example. And even if the definition doesn’t open doors to new government funding, it could provide cover to private companies that want to count gas and nuclear energy toward their climate or clean energy targets, another advocate warned.
“Insidiously, it does potentially become important,” said Nathan Alley, conservation manager for the Sierra Club of Ohio. Many companies have adopted clean energy goals, he noted. “This might telegraph to them that they could invest in nuclear energy and achieve the same climate and/or energy goals as if they invest in solar or wind.”
Ohio lawmakers aren’t the only ones who want to define natural gas and nuclear power as “green energy.” Model legislation finalized by the American Legislative Exchange Council this fall does the same thing. ALEC is a Koch-linked group that has long opposed renewable energy and actions to address climate change.
ALEC’s model bill would have its definition “apply to all programs in the state that fund any ‘green energy’ or ‘clean energy’ initiatives.” Another model ALEC bill would define nuclear energy as “clean energy” and put it on a par with renewable energy.
A coalition of environmental groups is currently challenging House Bill 507, Ohio’s 2022 law that labeled natural gas as “green energy,” arguing in court that the way in which it was passed violated the state constitution. The groups say last-minute amendments violated provisions that require bills to deal with a single subject – the initial two-page bill dealt with chickens – and call for at least three hearings in each house of the General Assembly where lawmakers can hear testimony from supporters and opponents.
That lawsuit has been briefed and is currently awaiting a decision from Judge Kimberly Cocroft at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. HB 308 should not affect that case, said Hunter and Alley.
As with HB 507, though, lawmakers added last-minute amendments to HB 308. One of those would extend lease terms for drilling under state park and wildlife areas from three years to five years. That was unacceptable to Brennan, who voted against the Senate amendments when it came back to the Ohio House.
Still, he supports what he views as the main purpose of the legislation: attracting more nuclear power to Ohio. In his view, solar and wind won’t be enough to meet growing energy demands while shifting away from fossil fuels in order to address climate change. “I believe nuclear is going to be hugely important for our energy independence, and hopefully Ohio will become an exporter of electricity in the future.”
Hunter wasn’t surprised that lawmakers made last-minute amendments to the bill. For her, it shows the importance of the ongoing litigation over HB 507.
“Those constitutional protections are there for a reason,” she said. “And seeing the General Assembly have blatant disregard for them again and again harms Ohioans. It deprives them of these constitutional rights.”
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