A group fighting to uphold an Ohio county’s ban on renewable energy has significant financial ties to individuals and organizations that promote fossil fuels, as a campaign finance report filed this week reveals.

Last summer, Richland County became one of the more than three dozen Ohio counties that bar utility-scale wind and solar in all or part of their jurisdiction under a 2021 law that places extra hurdles on siting renewables — though not fossil fuel projects. Richland’s ban applies to 11 of its 18 townships, blocking new solar projects of 50 megawatts or more and new wind projects of 5 MW or more.

What makes Richland unusual, however, is that residents who oppose the new restriction banded together and got it on the ballot for the May 5 election, allowing voters to decide if they want to restore the right to consider wind and solar projects on a case-by-case basis. If successful, the referendum could offer a blueprint for pushing back on the local renewable energy restrictions proliferating around the U.S.

The main group urging voters to keep the ban is Richland Farmland Preservation. Its recent campaign finance report is telling: As of April 21, the organization reported only five contributions, totaling $8,000. On the spending side, the campaign has agreed to pay more than $12,400 to the Republican political advertising firm Majority Strategies LLC for text messaging and digital advertising.

Majority Strategies has known links to the fossil fuel industry. For years, it has been the largest recipient of money spent by The Empowerment Alliance, which promotes natural gas use and has pushed for policies that define the fossil fuel as ​“green energy.” The dark money group was launched in 2019 by former executives for Ariel Corp., a gas turbine compressor manufacturer.

Even prior to the filing of its campaign finance report, Richland Farmland Preservation appeared to have a connection to The Empowerment Alliance: The campaign group’s treasurer, Dustin McIntyre, is also the treasurer for the Affordable Energy Fund PAC, which The Empowerment Alliance set up in 2021 to support Republican candidates in Ohio.

Meanwhile, the chief strategist at Majority Strategies, Tom Whatman, has a long history of working against renewable energy. He emceed a November 2023 anti-solar town hall in Knox County, which is just south of Richland County. Whatman was formerly the executive director for the Ohio Republican Party.

It also appears that one of Whatman’s other businesses is the largest donor to the Richland Farmland Preservation campaign. He shares an address with and signed the articles of incorporation for Whatman Farms LLC, which gave the campaign group $2,500, its largest reported donation.

For some clean energy advocates, it’s disingenuous for fossil fuel proponents to campaign against the industry’s competition under the premise of protecting farmland.

“It reminded me … of this overall abuse by either front groups or political operatives for the gas industry,” said Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute, a national watchdog group that promotes clean energy. He noted that these organizations oppose solar and wind by framing arguments ​“around farmland preservation, while also advocating for lifting any limits on oil and gas extraction in those same rural counties.”

Emails in public records obtained by the Energy and Policy Institute show that Whatman received roughly two months’ advance notice of the July 2025 Richland County commissioners’ meeting in which the ban was unanimously adopted. In contrast, dozens of residents who showed up to oppose the ban at that meeting found out about it only days beforehand.

Neither Whatman nor Richland Farmland Preservation’s McIntyre has responded to Canary Media’s requests for comment.

Canary Media also did not hear back from Ohio state Sen. Mark Romanchuk, a Republican, whose campaign committee gave $1,500 to Richland Farmland Preservation.

Romanchuk spearheaded efforts to label natural gas as ​“green energy” as part of last-minute amendments to an unrelated poultry bill that became law in January 2023. He’s also a primary sponsor of Senate Bill 294, which was introduced last fall and could preempt future solar and wind development in the state by defining it as neither affordable nor reliable. Renewable energy supporters have said such arguments are specious, noting that wind’s and solar’s levelized cost of energy is often on par with or cheaper than natural gas, and that batteries can store power for later use.

Compared to the yes-vote camp, the Richland County Citizens for Property Rights and Job Development — which is encouraging Richland voters to overturn the renewable energy ban — spent more money but attracted a much broader range of donors, according to its campaign finance report. Individual contributions range from $5 up to $500. The group also reported cash and in-kind donations from the Natural Resources Defense Council and from Ohio Citizen Action, which has been public about its volunteers’ work to support the local group. Expenses include things like costs for a February fundraiser, rental fees for holding town hall information meetings, and advertising, printing, and sending out campaign materials.

For Emily Adams, the treasurer for Richland County Citizens for Property Rights and Job Development, the number of donors and range of amounts show real buy-in from people in the county ​“to help get this message out to voters so voters can make an informed decision and protect their property rights.”

“I’m not surprised that people with direct ties to the natural gas industry would be giving money to the vote-yes campaign,” Adams said, when asked about the report from Richland Farmland Preservation. ​“I guess it just kind of shows that it’s not really about preserving farmland for them. It’s about preserving the land for their own use and personal gain.”