Abstract
The United States needs more—and cleaner—energy. Experts project that in the near future, the United States will need to significantly increase its electricity generation. Currently, the burning of fossil fuels remains a significant source of power generation in the United States. However, these fossil fuels produce greenhouse gases that are one of the main drivers of the impending and likely disastrous, climate change. Therefore, it has never been more vital to decarbonize the energy sector. However, there are two significant impediments to the deployment of renewable energy: restrictive local siting laws and community opposition.
According to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, at least 459 counties and municipalities across 44 states have severe local restrictions on siting renewable energy projects. In response to the proliferation of restrictions, several states have passed siting reform bills to bypass local restrictions and authorize state-level siting of renewable energy projects. Although many siting reform frameworks aim to streamline permitting and support community engagement, opponents of siting reforms that expand states’ siting authority argue that they constitute an improper appropriation of local land-use authority. This Article will examine this policy tension and whether these siting reform bills strike a balance that allows for community involvement while ensuring a transition to cleaner energy sources.
This Article will also examine opposition to state-level siting by analyzing the specific example of the agricultural sector, which is divided on this issue and is directly impacted by siting decisions. Farmers who support siting reforms desire a streamlined system to facilitate the leasing of farmland for renewable energy generation. Farmers who oppose siting reforms argue that siting should remain a local issue, fearing that state-level siting will enable the conversion of prime farmland and unduly burden rural communities. As the time to take adaptive action to prevent the most severe impacts of climate change approaches, this Article examines whether siting reforms are an improper preemptive power grab of land-use control or a strategic power play to protect the public from a climate catastrophe.
Citation
Sarah Everhart,
State Siting of Renewable Energy – Preemptive Power Grab or Power Play?,
36 Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum
1-46
(Fall 2026)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/delpf/vol36/iss1/1