Ohio joined 18 other states Thursday in adopting legislation backed by the gas industry barring municipalities from prohibiting or limiting access to natural gas or propane. The bill now heads to Gov. Mike DeWine’s (R) desk.

Ohio was the seventh largest producer of natural gas among the 35 gas producing states, the Energy Information Administration reported in 2020, based on data collected a year earlier. Though opposed by some local governments as well as the Ohio Municipal League as a violation of the Home Rule provisions in the state constitution, passage of H.B. 201 was never in question. The bill cleared the Senate on a 25-7 party-line vote Thursday after passing the House 65-32 in May with all but two Democrats opposed.

A number of gas industry and manufacturing representatives testified on behalf of the legislation, including the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, the American Petroleum Institute-Ohio, the Ohio Home Builders Association, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, state and local chambers of commerce, and a utility workers local.

Encino Energy, currently the second largest producer of shale gas in the state, submitted testimony in favor, saying, “We believe it will benefit Ohio’s consumers, the state’s economy and the environment by protecting the consumers’ right to choose natural gas.”

The state’s gas distribution utilities began discussing legislation to prevent gas bans 18 months ago after several Ohio cities adopted resolutions endorsing a goal of 100% renewable energy.

The primary sponsor, Rep. Jason Stephens (R), represents rural Appalachian counties in southeast Ohio, which while not the heart of the state’s shale gas activity, do produce some natural gas.

“House Bill 201 is a very simple piece of legislation that preserves a customer’s right to choose the energy option that works best for them while making sure that every community in Ohio with natural gas maintains the ability for its citizens and its businesses to access this abundant source of Ohio energy,” Stephens said in opening testimony earlier this spring.

The bill “bars any political subdivision” from enacting any ordinance, resolution, building code, or other similar requirement that “limits, prohibits or prevents” any consumer from obtaining natural gas service or propane.

The legislation was opposed by the Ohio Mayors Alliance, the Ohio Environmental Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council and several other green groups.

Daniel Sawmiller, the NRDC Ohio energy policy director, called the legislation “underhanded” in a statement issued after the vote on Thursday.

“The gas industry has a simple goal: stop people across Ohio from getting clean and healthy energy in their homes. This underhanded bill takes away the longstanding authority of local governments to meet the energy needs of their residents in the safest, most common sense and cost-effective way. It would block local governments from shaping their permitting rules to encourage healthier, low emissions, all-electric buildings.

“Instead, Ohio communities would stay hooked on gas and be forced to pay for unwanted, costly and unnecessary fossil fuel infrastructure for decades to come. That’s wrong, and Gov. DeWine should veto this unfair legislation,” Sawmiller said in an email.

Home Rule Violation?

In testimony earlier this spring, Garry Hunter, general counsel for the Ohio Municipal League wrote: “I believe this legislation violates the Home Rule provisions of the Ohio Constitution and should not be adopted.”

The Ohio Mayors Alliance, representing mayors in more than two dozen of the state’s largest cities, also opposed the bill. “The importance of local self-governance and municipal home rules is a core principle of Ohio’s Constitution,” it said.

The constitution says, “Any municipality may frame and adopt or amend a charter for its government and may, subject to the provisions of section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder all powers of local self-government.”

Section 3 says, “Municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.”

In written and oral testimony before committees, Randi Leppla, vice president of energy policy for the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund, described the bill as “a solution in search of a problem.

“H.B. 201 would limit local governments from passing resolutions or making changes to city building and zoning codes that would limit or prohibit access to natural gas, despite the fact that no city in Ohio has passed a ban of this nature through resolution or building code updates.

“Proponents of this legislation specifically point to these types of bans on the coasts as the reasoning for passing such legislation, not because of any need here in Ohio,” she said.

According to the NRDC, Ohio would join Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming in passing such legislation. Similar legislation is still pending in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan. Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee approved similar legislation last year.