These conservatives want government to stop working against clean energy

Hundreds of business people, policy analysts, and conservative advocates filled a downtown Cleveland conference hall last week for the National Conservative Energy Summit. One major theme: the need for both the federal and local governments to remove increasingly high hurdles to building renewable energy.

“Conservatives can and should lead on energy,” said John Szoka, CEO of the Conservative Energy Network, in his opening remarks.

The group, which cohosted the program with the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum, has a mission ​“to champion secure, reliable, affordable, clean American energy.” Its goal of achieving American energy independence includes support for a range of technologies, including solar, wind, battery storage, hydrogen, biomass, and small modular nuclear reactors.

The Trump administration has taken a more single-minded approach to energy.

“While it’s easy to view this as a roadblock, … it’s a signal that we have more work to do,” Szoka said. He encouraged attendees to use what they learned during the conference in their grassroots efforts to build support for clean energy, especially when faced with extremism and misinformation. ​“If we don’t explain what’s going on clearly, we risk losing the argument before it even starts.”

As President Donald Trump attacks clean energy at the federal level, some states like Colorado and Maine are pushing to speed up deployment. But in general, state and local laws that restrict renewable energy development are gaining steam nationwide. A June report by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University notes 16 states with laws limiting solar or wind, with over 450 counties and municipalities across more than 40 states imposing other restrictions.

Speaking at the conference, Jenifer French, chair of Ohio’s Power Siting Board and its Public Utilities Commission, noted that approximately 30 counties in the state ban solar or wind energy in all or parts of their territories, an authority granted to them by a 2021 law known as Senate Bill 52. The board or its staff have also determined solar and wind projects are not in the public interest in several cases where bans didn’t apply but where local governments unanimously opposed the proposals.

Asked for her advice to developers, French said, ​“I just think communicating with the local officials around the project is so helpful, and being part of that community and earning their trust is very effective.”

Companies often hear such suggestions, but ​“frankly, I think that’s used as a cop-out sometimes,” said Drew Christensen, senior director of public engagement at utility-scale developer Apex Clean Energy, during a later panel about how policies shape companies’ decisions.