City Updates and Meeting Highlights
We opened this episode with an update on several city developments discussed in the latest Hilliard Happening newsletter and recent council meetings.
* Local Heroes Recognized: Four Darby High School and Tolles Career Center students (Future potential first responders Dylan Shields, Luke Self, Logan Faulkner, and Seth French) were honored by City Council for providing emergency aid to a semi-truck driver who suffered a medical episode.
* City Manager Search: The formal search for Hilliard’s next city manager is underway. The city has partnered with the national firm Raftelis to lead recruitment. Applications are open with the first review set for December 1. Virtual interviews will follow, with finalists participating in a public reception in February. A new city manager is expected by spring 2026.
* Tim Ward Memorial: In a nice concluding chapter, City Council and family dedicated a commemorative stone at First Responders Park in honor of former Mayor Tim Ward, recognizing his years of service to Hilliard.
* Upcoming Meetings:
* Housing Steering Committee – Thursday, Nov. 6, 6 p.m. (story to come)meetings take place at City Council chambers, 3800 Municipal Way.
* EPA Fuel Cell Permit Appeal: Council voted unanimously to appeal the Ohio EPA’s approval of fuel cells at the Amazon data center on Scioto Darby Road. The city will retain specialized environmental counsel as it challenges the permit.
Feature Interview: Cathy Cowan Becker on HB 15, Fuel Cells, and Citizen Advocacy
Guest Cathy Cowan Becker, co-founder of Save Ohio Parks and longtime environmental organizer, joined the program to help explain how recent state legislation enabled the fast-tracking of the Amazon fuel cell project and what it reveals about Ohio’s shifting energy policy.
Legislative Background
Cathy outlined the problematic House Bill 15, a sweeping energy reform bill passed earlier this year. The legislation repealed some provisions from the corrupt 2019 HB 6 but introduced new measures that compress Ohio Power Siting Board timelines. The new guidance cutting typical multi-year reviews to as few as 45 to 60 days for projects located on land owned by the applicant.
While framed as “energy neutral,” the bill’s language created an expedited path for natural gas-powered facilities serving private users such as data centers. These “behind-the-meter” projects are exempt from many forms of local review or public hearing. In Hilliard’s case, this mechanism allowed Amazon’s 73-megawatt fuel cell plant to move through the approval process with little notice to residents.
Cowan Becker and the City of Hilliard were the only two entities to file formal objections before the project’s automatic approval in September.
Fracked Gas and Greenwashing
The discussion explored how solid oxide fuel cells often touted as “clean” or “renewable” in this context rely on fracked natural gas, not hydrogen.
Although such fuel cells produce fewer particulates than traditional combustion, they still emit significant amounts of carbon dioxide.
According to Cowan Becker’s analysis of manufacturer data, emissions from the full installation could exceed a million tons of CO₂, undercutting Hilliard’s voter-approved renewable energy aggregation program.
She described the HB 15 language as a form of “greenwashing”: presenting fossil fuel infrastructure as a sustainable technology through neutral or misleading terminology.
Statehouse and Grassroots Action
Cathy outlined how her group tracks state legislation through committee email alerts and rulemaking notices which are often buried deep in agency communications. Save Ohio Parks, founded in response to mandated fracking on public lands, now monitors bills and encourages public comment or testimony at both the Statehouse and regulatory levels.
The organization is also supporting a new proposal to ban fracking in state parks and pushing for greater transparency in siting board decisions.
Paths Toward Positive Reform
Despite criticism of HB 15, Cowan Becker pointed to constructive models emerging in Ohio:
* Municipal and community-owned utilities (as seen in Westerville and Columbus) can lead local renewable adoption.
* HB 303, currently in committee, would enable community solar pilot projects that could allow residents to invest in shared solar installations and receive virtual net metering credits even if their own roofs aren’t suitable.
* Expanded virtual net metering could eventually allow large users like data centers to offset their electricity demand through offsite solar generation rather than gas-powered “fuel cells.”
Advocacy Roots
Cowan Becker’s environmental activism began in 2014 when Ohio lawmakers attempted to repeal the state’s renewable standards. She led the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign, which helped Columbus adopt the Midwest’s largest clean-energy aggregation program in 2020. That success encouraged suburbs including Hilliard, Grove City, and Worthington to follow suit with local renewable aggregation efforts that save residents money and cut emissions.
Stay Connected…
Hilliard’s unanimous Council appeal of the Amazon fuel cell permit may mark the first local test of Ohio’s accelerated siting authority under HB 15.
The Beacon will continue to follow the city’s legal appeal and upcoming legislation.
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