The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) is the state agency responsible for reviewing, modifying, approving, or denying natural gas facilities that generate a minimum of 50 megawatts (MW) of power. 

The OSPB is comprised of experts from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, as well as legislators from the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives. 

The Ohio Power Siting Board is responsible for setting the date, time, and location of the local public hearings. That information is publicly available on the Ohio Power Siting Board’s website as well as published in local newspapers as required by law. Copies of the applications themselves are available online and at local public libraries as required by law.  

Additionally, the project developer is required by law to notify each property owner and affected tenant within a proposed project area and to certify to the Ohio Power Siting Board that they have done so. 

The City has added additional information to its website about natural gas generation and how residents can participate in the Ohio Power Siting Board’s (OPSB) public meeting process. We plan to share this resource with residents on a quarterly basis through our weekly Connects newsletter. 

In New Albany, there are four generation facilities supplying four data center projects that meet these criteria. The remaining data center projects receive power from AEP or through air cooled engineered solutions. While the New Albany International Business Park is home to 40 data centers, those facilities are located across 15 individual company campuses. 

The City has no decision-making power to approve or deny any project. The City can legally advocate for its planning and zoning standards to be met by intervening as a party in Ohio Power Siting cases. The City has intervened in natural gas power generation proceedings, working with specialized legal counsel to represent the interests of New Albany. Through this process, the City has been successful in ensuring that our planning and zoning standards were adopted as conditions of the OPSB rulings.  

The City will continue to participate in these proceedings. Documents related to these proceedings are publicly available through the OPSB. 

The environmental and health impacts of natural gas generation facilities lie with the Ohio Power Siting Board and the OEPA, pursuant to Ohio law. It is the OPSB’s statutory duty to determine the probable environmental impact of a proposed project and whether the project represents the minimum adverse environmental impact, considering the state of available technology and other relevant considerations, consistent with Ohio Revised Code 4906.10(A)(2)and(3). The OPSB is the entity both required and best positioned to determine the environmental or health impacts of the projects, and the only entity with the authority to approve, modify, or deny a project based on its findings. 

In addition to the OPSB’s oversight, the OEPA maintains a network of air monitoring sites. There are several OEPA air monitoring sites in the Columbus area, including at New Albany High School.

City officials have met with and continue to meet with the leadership and technical experts at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to understand its review process and the criteria for approval of the required OEPA applications, including air permits. 

The potential impacts of multiple projects within the same region are addressed through the regulatory processes of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB). OEPA reviews the air quality impacts of each project as part of its permitting process, including applicable regulatory requirements and existing air quality conditions. The OPSB is required to consider applicable environmental factors when reviewing applications and making decisions on projects before the board. 

As part of its permitting responsibilities, OEPA must ensure projects comply with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and applicable Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) requirements, including limits on allowable increases in air pollutant concentrations above established baseline levels. NAAQS are federal standards that establish allowable concentrations of specific pollutants in outdoor air to protect public health and the environment. The PSD program is a federal preconstruction permitting program under the Clean Air Act designed to protect air quality in areas that meet established air quality standards. The PSD program is triggered by a PSD permit, which sets the baseline air quality and limits the amount air quality can degrade. In New Albany, the Intel Program triggered the PSD permit. *Source: OEPA 

The OEPA works with applicants to develop a modeling protocol. All new applications are modeled “on top” of the current model, thereby providing a cumulative impact assessment for OEPA to evaluate based on the NAAQS and PSD increments. *Source: OEPA