Bloom Township · Board of Trustees · Fairfield County, Ohio

RESOLUTION NO. 14-26

Opposing Grid Growth East 765-kV Project

Accessible text version of Bloom Township Board of Trustees Resolution No. 14-26. Original PDF.

Motion by Carol Moore, second by Brian Randles: A RESOLUTION OF THE BLOOM TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES STATING THE TOWNSHIP'S OPPOSITION TO SITING OF THE GRID GROWTH EAST 765-kV TRANSMISSION PROJECT IN BLOOM TOWNSHIP; AUTHORIZING THE TOWNSHIP TO PARTICIPATE IN THE OHIO POWER SITING BOARD PROCESS; DIRECTING NOTICE TO DEVELOPERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

The Board of Trustees of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, Ohio (the "Board"), convened in regular session on Wednesday, the 23rd day of September, 2026, at 6:00 p.m., at Bloom Township Hall, 8490 Lithopolis Road, Carroll, Ohio 43112, with the following members present:

RECITALS

WHEREAS, Bloom Township was organized in 1805 as one of the thirteen townships of Fairfield County, now comprising approximately 37 square miles in the western part of the County, bordering Franklin County and Violet Township to the north and west, Greenfield Township to the east, and Amanda Township to the south, and is home to more than ten thousand residents together with portions of the Villages of Lithopolis, Carroll, and Canal Winchester; and

WHEREAS, the Township retains a working agricultural landscape, historic rural settlements at Greencastle and Jefferson, the Rock Mill and Rock Mill Covered Bridge above the Hocking River gorge, Chestnut Ridge at the first foothills of the Appalachians, and Lithopolis Road — one of the earliest overland routes between Franklinton and Lancaster — all of which the Board is charged to protect as part of the Township's rural character and quality of life; and

WHEREAS, Chapters 505 and 519 of the Ohio Revised Code vest this Board with responsibility for township roads, fire protection and emergency medical service, the public health, safety, and general welfare, and the regulation of land use in the unincorporated territory, and impose upon the Board a duty to speak for Township landowners, taxpayers, and the Bloom Township Fire Department in matters that would burden local roads, farms, and emergency response; and

WHEREAS, in February 2026, PJM Interconnection selected Grid Growth Ventures ("Grid Growth"), a joint venture of Transource Energy LLC (itself jointly owned by American Electric Power and Energy) and FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, to build roughly 220 miles of extra-high-voltage transmission facilities across Ohio, described as four new 765-kilovolt (kV) lines and one new 345-kV line running from the Indiana–Ohio line in Darke County eastward to Guernsey County; and

WHEREAS, the eastern portion of that work, identified by the developer as "Grid Growth East," is described as two new 765-kV circuits crossing Pickaway, Fairfield, Coshocton, Muskingum, and Guernsey Counties, which places Bloom Township inside the published study area and within a potential routing corridor even though no preferred alignment has yet been chosen; and

WHEREAS, Grid Growth has scheduled an initial series of community open houses beginning September 21, 2026, a further round in early 2027, and an Ohio Power Siting Board ("OPSB") application as soon as the spring of 2027, so that the window for local governments to be heard is already open and will close if the Township remains silent; and

WHEREAS, a 765-kV line of the type contemplated ordinarily employs steel lattice towers or tall monopoles on the order of 150 to 175 feet, a permanent cleared right-of-way commonly 150 to 200 feet or wider, limits on buildings and many farm practices inside the easement, disruption of subsurface drainage tile, and the prospect of appropriation if owners will not convey; and

WHEREAS, after considering the information now available, the Board concludes that an extra-high-voltage corridor through Bloom Township would work lasting injury upon the community, including:

  1. (1) splitting and permanently encumbering tillable ground, interfering with field tile and waterways, restricting aerial application and the movement of modern farm equipment, and weakening the agricultural base that still defines large parts of the Township;
  2. (2) a severe and lasting visual intrusion upon Rock Mill Park and the Hocking River gorge, Chestnut Ridge, the Lithopolis Road historic corridor, the settlements of Greencastle and Jefferson, and the residential and village edges of Lithopolis and Carroll;
  3. (3) reduction in the market value of farms, homes, and remaining developable parcels touched by or adjoining a 765-kV easement, and a freeze on private investment so long as the route remains unsettled;
  4. (4) conflict with the Township's Land Use Plan which seeks to keep rural lands in productive use, protect scenic and historic resources, and locate heavy infrastructure where it does not dismantle existing neighborhoods;
  5. (5) years of heavy construction traffic, damage to Township-maintained roads such as Lithopolis Road and the Greencastle–Jefferson network, and added call volume for the Bloom Township Fire Department, including Station 552 in Greencastle, without any offsetting improvement in local electric reliability; and
  6. (6) the taking or permanent burdening of private land in Bloom Township for a regional project justified in significant part by large-load demand, including data-center load, arising outside this Township; and

WHEREAS, the Board does not deny that Ohio and the PJM footprint face rising electric load, but finds that growth in demand is not a license to run 765-kV structures through Bloom Township's farms, parks, and village edges when existing transmission rights-of-way, already-disturbed industrial ground, and alignments closer to the loads being served have not been shown to be unavailable; and

WHEREAS, counties already named in the Grid Growth study area — among them Miami, Shelby, Champaign, and Darke — have gone on record against routing the project through their farmland and communities, and this Board intends that Bloom Township stand with those jurisdictions and with neighboring Fairfield County townships that share the same concern; and

WHEREAS, the Board judges that the responsible time to speak is now, while study corridors remain fluid and before a preliminary route is locked into an OPSB filing, so that Grid Growth, the OPSB, PJM Interconnection, and the Township's state and federal representatives have clear notice of Bloom Township's position; and

WHEREAS, immediate adoption is required to protect the public peace, health, safety, and welfare and to preserve the Township's ability to appear in the siting process, and this measure should therefore take effect at once as an emergency;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Trustees of Bloom Township, Fairfield County, Ohio:

Section 1. Policy of the Township.

It is the policy of Bloom Township that extra-high-voltage transmission facilities of the kind proposed by Grid Growth shall not be sited in the unincorporated territory of this Township, and that the Board will use every lawful means available to it to keep such facilities off Bloom Township land.

Section 2. Opposition.

The Board hereby records its formal opposition to the siting, surveying, construction, and operation of the Grid Growth 765-kV Transmission Line Project — including Grid Growth East and any substation, switching station, laydown yard, or related work — inside Bloom Township. The Board further opposes any alignment in Fairfield County that would burden Bloom Township residents, roads, farms, historic sites, or emergency services.

Section 3. Determinations.

The Board determines that a 765-kV route through Bloom Township is contrary to the public interest of the Township; is incompatible with the Township's agricultural, historic, and rural-residential character; would impair property values and orderly growth along Lithopolis Road and the village edges of Lithopolis and Carroll; and would place costs on local landowners and on the Bloom Township Fire Department that are not justified by any local reliability or tax benefit.

Section 4. Requests Directed to the Developers.

Grid Growth Ventures, Transource Energy LLC, FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, and every agent, surveyor, and contractor acting for them are requested:

  1. to strike Bloom Township from every preliminary and final route alternative under consideration;
  2. to examine first those alignments that follow existing transmission corridors, previously disturbed industrial land, or paths nearer the large loads said to create the need for the Project;
  3. not to approach Bloom Township landowners for survey permission, option agreements, or easements except as Ohio law independently requires, and then only after written notice to this Board and to the Township Administrator; and
  4. to furnish this Board, at the same time any such materials are released to the public, copies of study-area maps, candidate routes, agricultural and environmental analyses, and every OPSB filing that addresses Fairfield County or Bloom Township.

Section 5. Requests Directed to the Ohio Power Siting Board.

Should an application for the Project be filed, the Board respectfully asks the OPSB to:

  1. treat this Resolution, the Bloom Township Zoning Resolution, and the Bloom Township Comprehensive Plan as evidence of local land-use policy entitled to substantial weight;
  2. require a full alternatives analysis showing why existing corridors and routes that avoid Bloom Township cannot meet any demonstrated need;
  3. evaluate, with particular care, effects on agriculture and drainage tile, the Rock Mill and Chestnut Ridge historic and scenic resources, property values, Township roads, and fire and EMS response from Station 552 and the Township's other fire facilities; and
  4. refuse any certificate that would place 765-kV structures or rights-of-way in Bloom Township unless the applicant establishes, by clear and convincing evidence, that no reasonable alternative exists.

Section 6. Authority to Appear and Cooperate.

The Board, the Township Fiscal Officer, the Township Administrator, the Zoning Inspector, Township legal counsel, and such other officers or consultants as the Board may later name are authorized and directed to:

  1. watch the Project, attend open houses and hearings, and file written comments in the name of the Township;
  2. seek intervention or other party status in any OPSB case involving the Project;
  3. work with the Fairfield County Board of Commissioners, adjoining townships including Greenfield and Violet, the Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission, the Villages of Lithopolis and Carroll, farm organizations, school districts, and other local governments similarly situated;
  4. ask the assistance of Fairfield County Commissioners, State Representative Jeff LaRe (Ohio House District 73), State Senator Tim Schaffer (Ohio Senate District 20), the members of Congress who represent Fairfield County, the Ohio Township Association, the Fairfield County Ohio Township Association, and the County Prosecuting Attorney; and
  5. keep Township residents informed of map releases, comment deadlines, and the means of protecting their own property.

Section 7. Certified Copies.

Upon adoption, the Fiscal Officer shall certify this Resolution and send a copy, without delay, to each of the following:

Section 8. Public Notice.

The Fiscal Officer and Township Administrator may post this Resolution on the Township website (www.bloomtwp.org), keep copies at the Township offices at 8490 Lithopolis Road, and furnish copies to local news outlets so that residents know the Board's position and the dates of upcoming open houses.

Section 9. Rights Reserved.

Adoption of this Resolution is not consent to survey, entry, easement, construction, or appropriation inside Bloom Township, and is not a waiver of any right, claim, or defense belonging to the Township or to any resident under Ohio or federal law.

Section 10. Open Meetings.

The Board finds that all deliberations and actions relating to this Resolution occurred in meetings open to the public in compliance with Section 121.22 of the Ohio Revised Code.

Section 11. Severability.

If any portion of this Resolution is held invalid, the remaining portions shall continue in full force and effect.

Section 12. Emergency and Effective Date.

This Resolution is declared an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and welfare of Bloom Township. The reason for the emergency is that Grid Growth open houses begin this week, and route-development work is already under way; postponement would leave Township residents and land unprotected during the period when comments most influence the study area.

This Resolution shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its adoption.

ROLL CALL

Resolution approved 3-0.