FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Tony Zartman has listened to opponents of a proposed solar farm claim that runoff from the panels would contaminate their drinking water. He's heard that wind turbines make cellphone service impossible. And he's been told that solar farms would be overrun by rats that would torment neighbors.

One recent Tuesday morning, Zartman stood a few feet away as the three Republican commissioners of Fairfield County weighed the fate of a proposal to build a solar farm on central Ohio farmland worth more $250 million. A Republican, Zartman had approved a major renewable energy project while commissioner of Paulding County, and for the past year, he has crisscrossed the state urging others to do the same. The Fairfield commissioners should put politics aside, Zartman urged, and approve the proposed site. Jobs would come. The money the company was providing for the project was real. Tax revenue would jump.