Policy & Regulation

Nearly all 50 states face local opposition to renewable projects, report finds

Nearly all 50 states face local opposition to renewable projects, report finds
(Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash.)

Local opposition has proven to be a significant barrier to the rapid expansion of renewable energy facilities across the United States.

A new edition of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center’s Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States report identified 378 renewable energy projects across 47 states that have encountered significant opposition. The report also identified 395 local restrictions across 41 states, along with 19 state-level restrictions that could have the effect of blocking a renewable energy project.

This is the fourth edition of the Sabin Center’s report on Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States, and it covers developments through December 31, 2023. Previous editions of the report were published in September 2021, March 2022, and May 2023. This edition identified 73% more local restrictions than the May 2023 edition (from 228 to 395), 111% more state-level restrictions than the May 2023 edition (from 9 to 19), and 29% more contested projects than the May 2023 edition (from 293 to 378). This edition also includes maps and data visualizations that were prepared by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Blue Raster LLC.

Counties in Ohio are continuing to adopt binding resolutions to create restricted areas where large wind or solar projects are prohibited pursuant to Senate Bill 52 of 2021 (S.B. 52). By December 31, 2023, at least 22 counties in Ohio had adopted such resolutions, an increase of 8 counties since the end of May 2023.

In the span of only 4 months, at least 9 townships in Marathon County and Clark County, Wisconsin, adopted ordinances that require large wind turbines to be set back the greater of 1 mile or 10 times turbine height from property lines, substantially restricting where turbines can be sited in those townships. These ordinances were adopted despite a state law that prohibits local governments from placing restrictions on wind or solar facilities unless those restrictions: (a) protect health or safety; (b) do not significantly increase the cost or decrease efficiency; or (c) allow for an alternative system of comparable cost and efficiency.

An increasing number of local governments have adopted ordinances prohibiting solar energy systems from farmland. For example, at least 7 townships in Michigan and 4 counties in Virginia prohibit or substantially restrict solar development on agricultural land.

There has been significant litigation against offshore wind projects. Between the end of May 2023 and the end of December 2023, several new lawsuits were filed in federal court by local governments, historical preservation societies, fishing industry groups, coastal residents, and other plaintiffs seeking to reverse federal approval of the Revolution Wind, South Fork Wind, and Ocean Wind 1 Meanwhile, four federal lawsuits against the Vineyard Wind project were dismissed and subsequently appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. All of these federal lawsuits include claims that the agencies approving the projects violated the National Environmental Policy Act, among other federal causes of action. At the state level, 8 municipalities sued the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in New Jersey state court over its review and certification of the Atlantic Shores project.

Local governments have increasingly taken action to oppose the siting of power lines and battery storage facilities that will be necessary to transmit and store electricity generated by renewable energy facilities. To provide a few examples, in Maine, 2 towns recently passed moratoria on the siting of utility lines in response to the Aroostook Renewable Gateway Project. And in New York, the Town of Long Lake passed a 1-year moratorium in August 2023 on permits for battery energy storage systems.

This report, Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States, was prepared as part of the work of the Sabin Center’s Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI). RELDI conducts independent research on issues related to siting renewable energy infrastructure and facilitates pro bono legal representation to community groups and local residents who support renewable energy developments in their communities that are facing opposition.

The full report is available here.

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