Why is the Ohio Power Siting Board allowing fossil fuel interests to shut down solar farms?
Solar panels in Damariscotta, Maine. (Photo by Evan Houk/ Maine Morning Star)
It is now well-documented — such as this news story by the Pulitzer Prize winning ProPublica about actually purchasing a newspaper in Knox County to use as a source of misinformation — that the exorbitantly wealthy fossil fuel industry in Ohio is seeking to halt solar farms because they are competition.
As Jake Zuckerman reported for Cleveland.com in March: 'Ohioans and their elected representatives have killed enough solar development to roughly power the state's three largest cities in the three years since state lawmakers passed one of the nation's most stringent restrictions on new solar development.'
But this is now poised to take a quantum leap due to a case at the Ohio Supreme Court. At issue is whether the Ohio Power Siting Board will be allowed to grant what is essentially 'veto power' over solar projects to a small handful of local officials.
If granted, it will provide an almost perfect vehicle for causing the demise of solar projects across Ohio.
Here is how this policy translates into solar rejections. When decisions are given to only a few individuals, there is no longer any need to persuade a majority of the public — the way a democracy works.
Instead the 'blitz' can be focused on just these few, making abuse extraordinarily easy. Solar advocates are becoming placed in an essentially impossible bind. If local officials are already 'locked up' by excessive lobbying from fossil fuel interests, there now appears virtually no chance of prevailing.
It is not an exaggeration to call this a de facto 'rigging' of the process.
A notorious example of this process at work is the Grange Solar Grazing Project. A count revealed a full 80% of public comments were in favor. Yet when a handful of local officials expressed opposition, this 80% majority — and the democratic process itself — got over-ridden and the project was rejected by power siting board staff.
Rural Ohioans oppose solar farms, right? Not so, developer finds
The Grange project was located in the home district of Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon — a primary co-sponsor of the openly anti-solar SB 52 legislation.
This writer is not privy to details, but it stands to reason this juxtaposition generated major pressure on local officials. The pattern repeated again on April 17: 'In yet another case of the state's hostility to utility-scale projects, state regulators have unanimously rejected a 150 MW project outside Canton because of organized opposition from local officials.'
Due to an appearance of favoritism, the solar advocacy group Third Act Ohio legitimately asked the OPSB to explain why such authority was being handed to local officials.
While completely ignoring the question, this group was referred to 'criteria' in a statute to guide decisions, and directed to a link.
When examined, this statute contained no requirement that a project meet approval of local officials. Instead, the group found a separate statute specifically FORBIDDING such.
The very title is 'No Local Jurisdiction.'
There is a strong appearance that this action is being 'manufactured out of thin air.' If reinforced by the state Supreme Court, the stage seems set for a sweeping shutdown of utility scale solar in Ohio.
Why does this matter?
Ohio is not just one state among many. It is the fifth most prolific producer of carbon emissions. Failure in Ohio would combine with a nationwide failure promoted by Trump and the Republican Party to inflict drastic global consequences.
Science warns that crossing a climate 'tipping point' will unleash a continuing spiral of increasing temperatures, with little public awareness about the immense scale of harm that would bring.
When our current 1.5 degree C increase spirals toward a 3 degree C increase, a band around the earth paralleling the equator would dry up from massive drought.
This area — called a 'dead zone' because of its unlivability — would spread north and south. Tens of millions affected by collapsed food supply would escalate into the hundreds of millions.
On a matter affecting survival of life as we know it, the OPSB must not be allowed to become the proverbial 'fox guarding the chicken coop' and tilt the process toward the vested interests it was supposed to regulate!
Gary Houser is a long time Ohio solar advocate, who also produces video resources on the frightening danger of a climate tipping point.
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Fast Company
4 hours ago
- Fast Company
This Arizona tribe's plan to build floating solar could one day help save the Colorado River
About 33 miles south of Phoenix, Interstate 10 bisects a line of solar panels traversing the desert like an iridescent snake. The solar farm's shape follows the path of a canal, with panels serving as awnings to shade the gently flowing water from the unforgiving heat and wind of the Sonoran Desert. The panels began generating power last November for the Akimel O'otham and Pee Posh tribes—known together as the Gila River Indian Community, or GRIC—on their reservation in south-central Arizona, and they are the first of their kind in the U.S. The community is studying the effects of these panels on the water in the canal, hopeful that they will protect a precious resource from the desert's unflinching sun and wind. In September, GRIC is planning to break ground on another experimental effort to conserve water while generating electricity: floating solar. Between its canal canopies and the new project that would float photovoltaic panels on a reservoir it is building, GRIC hopes to one day power all of its canal and irrigation operations with solar electricity, transforming itself into one of the most innovative and closely-watched water users in the West in the process. The community's investments come at a critical time for the Colorado River, which supplies water to about 40 million people across seven Western states, Mexico, and 30 tribes, including GRIC. Annual consumption from the river regularly exceeds its supply, and a decades-long drought, fueled in part by climate change, continues to leave water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead dangerously low. Covering water with solar panels is not a new idea. But for some it represents an elegant mitigation of water shortages in the West. Doing so could reduce evaporation, generate more carbon-free electricity, and require dams to run less frequently to produce power. But so far the technology has not been included in the ongoing Colorado River negotiations between the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada, tribes, and Mexico. All are expected to eventually agree on cuts to the system's water allocations to maintain the river's ability to provide water and electricity for residents and farms, and keep its ecosystem alive. 'People in the U.S. don't know about [floating solar] yet,' said Scott Young, a former policy analyst in the Nevada state legislature's counsel bureau. 'They're not willing to look at it and try and factor it' into the negotiations. Several Western water managers Inside Climate News contacted for this story said they were open to learning more about floating solar—Colorado has even studied the technology through pilot projects. But, outside of GRIC's project, none knew of any plans to deploy floating solar anywhere in the basin. Some listed costly and unusual construction methods and potentially modest water savings as the primary obstacles to floating solar maturing in the U.S. A Tantalizing Technology With Tradeoffs A winery in Napa County, California, deployed the first floating solar panels in the U.S. on an irrigation pond in 2007. The country was still years away from passing federal legislation to combat the climate crisis, and the technology matured here haltingly. As recently as 2022, according to a Bloomberg analysis, most of the world's 13 gigawatts of floating solar capacity had been built in Asia. Unlike many Asian countries, the U.S. has an abundance of undeveloped land where solar could be constructed, said Prateek Joshi, a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) who has studied floating solar, among other forms of energy. 'Even though [floating solar] may play a smaller role, I think it's a critical role in just diversifying our energy mix and also reducing the burden of land use,' he said. This February, NREL published a study that found floating solar on the reservoirs behind federally owned dams could provide enough electricity to power 100 million U.S. homes annually, but only if all the developable space on each reservoir were used. Lake Powell could host almost 15 gigawatts of floating solar using about 23% of its surface area, and Lake Mead could generate over 17 gigawatts of power on 28% of its surface. Such large-scale development is 'probably not going to be the case,' Joshi said, but even if a project used only a fraction of the developable area, 'there's a lot of power you could get from a relatively small percentage of these Colorado Basin reservoirs.' The study did not measure how much water evaporation floating solar would prevent, but previous NREL research has shown that photovoltaic panels—sometimes called 'floatovoltaics' when they are deployed on reservoirs—could also save water by changing the way hydropower is deployed. Some of a dam's energy could come from solar panels floating on its reservoir to prevent water from being released solely to generate electricity. As late as December, when a typical Western dam would be running low, lakes with floating solar could still have enough water to produce hydropower, reducing reliance on more expensive backup energy from gas-fired power plants. Joshi has spoken with developers and water managers about floating solar before, and said there is 'an eagerness to get this [technology] going.' The technology, however, is not flawless. Solar arrays can be around 20% more expensive to install on water than land, largely because of the added cost of buoys that keep the panels afloat, according to a 2021 NREL report. The water's cooling effect can boost panel efficiency, but floating solar panels may produce slightly less energy than a similarly sized array on land because they can't be tilted as directly toward the sun as land-based panels. And while the panels likely reduce water loss from reservoirs, they may also increase a water body's emissions of greenhouse gases, which in turn warm the climate and increase evaporation. This January, researchers at Cornell University found that floating solar covering more than 70% of a pond's surface area increased the water's CO2 and methane emissions. These kinds of impacts 'should be considered not only for the waterbody in which [floating solar] is deployed but also in the broader context of trade-offs of shifting energy production from land to water,' the study's authors wrote. 'Any energy technology has its trade-offs,' Joshi said, and in the case of floating solar, some of its benefits—reduced evaporation and land use—may not be easy to express in dollars and cents. Silver Buckshot There is perhaps no bigger champion for floating solar in the West than Scott Young. Before he retired in 2016, he spent much of his 18 years working for the Nevada Legislature researching the effects of proposed legislation, especially in the energy sector. On an overcast, blustery May day in southwest Wyoming near his home, Young said that in the past two years he has promoted the technology to Colorado River negotiators, members of Congress, environmental groups, and other water managers from the seven basin states, all of whom he has implored to consider the virtues of floating solar arrays on Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Young grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, about 40 miles, he estimated, from the pioneering floating solar panels in Napa. He stressed that he does not have any ties to industry; he is just a concerned Westerner who wants to diversify the region's energy mix and save as much water as possible. But so far, when he has been able to get someone's attention, Young said his pitch has been met with tepid interest. 'Usually the response is: 'Eh, that's kind of interesting,'' said Young, dressed in a black jacket, a maroon button-down shirt and a matching ball cap that framed his round, open face. 'But there's no follow-up.' The Bureau of Reclamation 'has not received any formal proposals for floating solar on its reservoirs,' said an agency spokesperson, who added that the bureau has been monitoring the technology. In a 2021 paper published with NREL, Reclamation estimated that floating solar on its reservoirs could generate approximately 1.5 terawatts of electricity, enough to power about 100 million homes. But, in addition to potentially interfering with recreation, aquatic life, and water safety, floating solar's effect on evaporation proved difficult to model broadly. So many environmental factors determine how water is lost or consumed in a reservoir—solar intensity, wind, humidity, lake circulation, water depth, and temperature—that the study's authors concluded Reclamation 'should be wary of contractors' claims of evaporation savings' without site-specific studies. Those same factors affect the panels' efficiency, and in turn, how much hydropower would need to be generated from the reservoir they cover. The report also showed the Colorado River was ripe with floating solar potential—more than any other basin in the West. That's particularly true in the Upper Basin, where Young has been heartened by Colorado's approach to the technology. In 2023, the state passed a law requiring several agencies to study the use of floating solar. Last December, the Colorado Water Conservation Board published its findings, and estimated that the state could save up to 407,000 acre-feet of water by deploying floating solar on certain reservoirs. An acre-foot covers one acre with a foot of water, or 325,851 gallons, just about three year's worth of water for a family of four. When Young saw the Colorado study quantifying savings from floating solar, he felt hopeful. '407,000 acre-feet from one state,' he said. 'I was hoping that would catch people's attention.' Saving that much water would require using more than 100,000 acres of surface water, said Cole Bedford, the Colorado Water Conservation Board's chief operating officer, in an email. 'On some of these reservoirs a [floating solar] system would diminish the recreational value such that it would not be appropriate,' he said. 'On others, recreation, power generation, and water savings could be balanced.' Colorado is not planning to develop another project in the wake of this study, and Bedford said that the technology is not a silver bullet solution for Colorado River negotiations. 'While floating solar is one tool in the tool kit for water conservation, the only true solution to the challenges facing the Colorado River Basin is a shift to supply-driven, sustainable uses and operations,' he said. Some of the West's largest and driest cities, like Phoenix and Denver, ferry Colorado River water to residents hundreds of miles away from the basin using a web of infrastructure that must reliably operate in unforgiving terrain. Like their counterparts at the state level, water managers in these cities have heard floatovoltaics floated before, but they say the technology is currently too immature and costly to be deployed in the U.S. In Arizona, the Central Arizona Project (CAP) delivers much of the Colorado River water used by Phoenix, Tucson, tribes, and other southern Arizona communities with a 336-mile canal running through the desert, and Lake Pleasant, the company's 811,784-acre-foot reservoir. Though CAP is following GRIC's deployment of solar over canals, it has no immediate plans to build solar over its canal, or Lake Pleasant, according to Darrin Francom, CAP's assistant general manager for operations, power, engineering, and maintenance, in part because the city of Peoria technically owns the surface water. Covering the whole canal with solar to save the 4,000 acre-feet that evaporates from it could be prohibitively expensive for CAP. 'The dollar cost per that acre-foot [saved] is going to be in the tens of, you know, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars,' Francom said, mainly due to working with novel equipment and construction methods. 'Ultimately,' he continued, 'those costs are going to be borne by our ratepayers,' which gives CAP reason to pursue other lower-cost ways to save water, like conservation programs, or to seek new sources. The increased costs associated with building solar panels on water instead of on land has made such projects unpalatable to Denver Water, Colorado's largest water utility, which moves water out of the Colorado River Basin and through the Rocky Mountains to customers on the Front Range. 'Floating solar doesn't pencil out for us for many reasons,' said Todd Hartman, a company spokesperson. 'Were we to add more solar resources—which we are considering—we have abundant land-based options.' GRIC spent about $5.6 million, financed with Inflation Reduction Act grants, to construct 3,000 feet of solar over a canal, according to David DeJong, project director for the community's irrigation district. Young is aware there is no single solution to the problems plaguing the Colorado River Basin, and he knows floating solar is not a perfect technology. Instead, he thinks of it as a 'silver buckshot,' he said, borrowing a term from John Entsminger, general manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority—a technology that can be deployed alongside a constellation of behavioral changes to help keep the Colorado River alive. Given the duration and intensity of the drought in the West and the growing demand for water and clean energy, Young believes the U.S. needs to act now to embed this technology into the fabric of Western water management going forward. As drought in the West intensifies, 'I think more lawmakers are going to look at this,' he said. 'If you can save water in two ways—why not?' 'We're Not Going to Know Until We Try' If all goes according to plan, GRIC's West Side Reservoir will be finished and ready to store Colorado River water by the end of July. The community wants to cover just under 60% of the lake's surface area with floating solar. 'Do we know for a fact that this is going to be 100% effective and foolproof? No,' said DeJong, GRIC's project director for its irrigation district. 'But we're not going to know until we try.' GRIC's panels will have a few things going for them that projects on lakes Mead or Powell probably wouldn't. West Side Reservoir will not be open to recreation, limiting the panels' impacts on people. And the community already has the funds—Inflation Reduction Act grants and some of its own money—to pay for the project. But GRIC's solar ambitions may be threatened by the hostile posture toward solar and wind energy from the White House and congressional Republicans, and the project is vulnerable to an increasingly volatile economy. Since retaking office, President Donald Trump, aided by billionaire Elon Musk, has made deep cuts in renewable energy grants at the Environmental Protection Agency. It is unclear whether or to what extent the Bureau of Reclamation has slashed its grant programs. 'Under President Donald J. Trump's leadership, the department is working to cut bureaucratic waste and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently,' said a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees Reclamation. 'This includes ensuring Bureau of Reclamation projects that use funds from the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act align with administration priorities. Projects are being individually assessed by period of performance, criticality, and other criteria. Projects have been approved for obligation under this process so that critical work can continue.' And Trump's tariffs could cause costs to balloon beyond the community's budget, which could either reduce the size of the array or cause delays in soliciting proposals, DeJong said. While the community will study the panels over canals to understand the water's effects on solar panel efficiency, it won't do similar research on the panels on West Side Reservoir, though DeJong said they have been in touch with NREL about studying them. The enterprise will be part of the system that may one day offset all the electrical demand and carbon footprint of GRIC's irrigation system. 'The community, they love these types of innovative projects. I love these innovative projects,' said GRIC Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, standing in front of the canals in April. Lewis had his dark hair pulled back in a long ponytail and wore a blue button down that matched the color of the sky. 'I know for a fact this is inspiring a whole new generation of water protectors—those that want to come back and they want to go into this cutting-edge technology,' he said. 'I couldn't be more proud of our team for getting this done.' DeJong feels plenty of other water managers across the West could learn from what is happening at GRIC. In fact, the West Side Reservoir was intentionally constructed near Interstate 10 so that people driving by on the highway could one day see the floating solar the community intends to build there, DeJong said. 'It could be a paradigm shift in the Western United States,' he said. 'We recognize all of the projects we're doing are pilot projects. None of them are large scale. But it's the beginning.'
Bloomberg
4 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Is Cementing the Green Energy Transition He Loathes
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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
As Trump slashes federal spending, Collins' promise to deliver for Maine is tested
On May 27, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins visited with first responders in Clinton, Maine and reviewed plans for an upgraded facility built with the help of $2 million secured in Congressionally Directed Spending. (Photo via Sen. Susan Collins/ Facebook) Editor's Note: This story is part of a series about U.S. Sen. Susan Collins' role during the second Trump presidency. As Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins approaches three decades in Congress, the self-described moderate's balancing act has meant she's angered both the left and right. However, even Mainers otherwise critical of Collins commend her ability to secure federal funding for Maine. 'I think her big goal has been what it always has been and that's delivering economically for the state,' said Jim Melcher, a professor of political science at University of Maine Farmington. 'I think [that] really interests her a lot more than being an ideological vote, honestly, for anybody.' Though, the bounds of that unifier are now being tested by the Trump administration. Since President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding unless Maine complies with his executive order banning transgender girls from playing girls' sports, the state has been the subject of several probes and funding cuts that have been widely interpreted as retaliatory. Some Mainers say these terminations underscore why Maine needs Collins, one of Congress' most senior members and top appropriators. Others argue the executive's actions reveal a crack in Collins' power. When asked whether she believes she can still ensure Maine receives both the funding it's owed and continued appropriations for new initiatives, Collins did not hesitate to say, 'I do.' Both Republican leaders of the Maine Legislature, Sen. Trey Stewart of Aroostook County and Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor, said, without a doubt, that Collins should not face a primary challenger. Why? Federal funding. 'I think it's absolutely insane to vote out Susan Collins, who brings so much money into the state of Maine,' Faulkingham said. In fiscal year 2022, Congress reinstated earmarks, formally referred to as Congressionally Directed Spending in the Senate, where individual members have the ability to request funds for specific projects in their home states. Collins has secured more than $1 billion for Maine using this method since. Collins secured more than $200 million for 105 projects in fiscal year 2022, more than $308 million for 108 projects in fiscal year 2023, and more than $577 million for 231 projects in fiscal year 2024. Her 2024 total was the most secured by any senator that year. Throughout the years, these have gone toward initiatives related to infrastructure, medical services and affordable housing, among others. The University of Maine System received $125.45 million from Congressionally Directed Spending secured by Collins between fiscal year 2022 and 2024, according to Chief External and Governmental Affairs Officer Samantha Warren, who called the funding 'transformational.' Though, Warren added, these earmarks don't reflect all of the funding that Collins has helped funnel to the system, both since the earmark process was restored and before, noting Collins' longtime championing of investments for Maine's public universities including through need-based federal Pell grants and TRIO programs. Another key funding source outside the earmark process is defense spending, which Collins has helped secure for Maine-based contractors such as Bath Iron Works and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 'Do you think we're going to be building ships at Bath Iron Works if we have a freshman legislator in the Senate? No, I don't think so,' Faulkingham said. Do you think we're going to be building ships at Bath Iron Works if we have a freshman legislator in the Senate? No, I don't think so. – Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) When asked whether the General Dynamics-owned contractor has any concerns about Collins being able to continue to deliver in light of other congressionally appropriated funds being rescinded, David Hench, communications principal for BIW, pointed to her track record. 'Senator Collins' leadership as a member and now chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee has been invaluable in not only providing resources for our national defense, but in helping to address the transportation, housing and childcare needs of our state and workforce,' Hench said. When asked the same, Kate Dufour, director of advocacy and communications for the Maine Municipal Association, a nonprofit state municipal league, described a similar working relationship between its members and the senator. 'Collins is a strong proponent of municipal government and has done much during her career to ensure that Maine has access to federal revenues, which reduce the burdens placed on the property taxpayers,' Dufour said. Several other major benefactors of Collins' earmarks declined to comment on her performance as a top appropriator, including Jackson Laboratory and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, or did not respond to requests for comment, including Maine Medical Center. When asked about her record of delivering for the state, Collins also pointed to her ability to work with both parties to advance legislation that aids many Mainers, and Americans more broadly. For example, she pointed to her co-authoring of the Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law earlier this year under former President Joe Biden, which she said she spent more than two decades working toward. The Act restored full benefits for millions of public sector workers. The funding process has been upended during Trump's second term, challenging Collins' otherwise steadily growing appropriations power. The continuing resolution from GOP leadership this winter cut earmarks for community projects. Collins had secured nearly $361 million in earmarks this year before they were removed from the resolution, which she said she ultimately supported to avoid a government shutdown. While it appears earmarks will return in bills this year to fund projects for fiscal year 2026, Mark Brewer, chair of the political science at the University of Maine, said he doesn't think anyone can actually say whether that will consistently be the case moving forward. 'Really, a lot of the things that we thought for years and years that had been norms for how things are done in Washington are not at the moment,' Brewer said. How the White House implemented that stopgap bill demonstrated another breakdown of normal procedure, defying precedent in vetoing certain emergency spending allocations made by Congress. Collins warned the Trump administration in a letter then that the move could strain its working relationship with the Appropriations Committee. State Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, a moderate Republican who has crossed paths with Collins when she previously held state-level positions and on campaign trails, said the senior senator has long focused on being institutionally responsible, an objective he also shares. On the state level, Bennett has argued the Legislature has ceded too much power to the governor and on the national level that Congress has ceded too much to the president. Calling Congress 'barely functional on a good day,' Bennett said of Collins, 'I think it's difficult for her to find a normal process that is inclusive in this chaos.' When asked whether Collins is charting the most effective path amid that chaos, Bennett said, 'I think we're going to find out. I don't have any advice for her. I think you'd have to be sitting in her seat in order to see what avenues she has.' Collins has touted her behind-the-scenes conversations with officials as the most effective means to restore funding so far. Maine has been subject to both the Trump administration's across-the-board slashes as well as targeted terminations. For example, in late February, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notified the University of Maine that it was immediately discontinuing funding for the $4.5 million Maine Sea Grant, which has helped finance statewide research, strengthen coastal communities and support thousands of jobs over more than five decades. While one of 34 grants across coastal and Great Lakes states throughout the country, Maine's grant was the only one terminated. The funding cut came about a week after Trump threatened to withhold federal funding unless Maine complied with his executive order banning transgender girls from playing girls' sports. Since then, the state has been the subject of several probes and funding cuts. On March 4, independent U.S. Sen. Angus King and Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine sent a letter to Vice Admiral Nancy Hann demanding she immediately reverse the decision. But when Hann announced on March 5 that the grant would be renegotiated, she credited conversations with Collins and her staff. The University of Maine also credited the renegotiation decision to Collins. 'We are deeply appreciative of Senator Collins' leadership and relentless advocacy on behalf of Maine Sea Grant and the hard-working Mainers it has long served,' UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said in a statement. Collins lost Saco resident Sandy Katz's support on issues of principle, and while not enough to gain her vote, Katz said, 'The funding is the one thing she does well.' Values and funding, however, are becoming increasingly entwined, as exemplified by Trump's attempt to force compliance with his executive order through cuts. On principle, Collins is against transgender athletes playing in women's sports, but when it comes to funding, she criticized the president's attempts to rescind federal dollars for Maine schools. Trying to find her balance between the two has also been challenged with her votes on Trump's Cabinet picks. She voted for the vast majority of nominees, confirming 20 and voting against two: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel. Regarding Hegseth, Collins said, 'I think his difficulty in managing the department effectively has shown that my judgment was correct on that.' Since his confirmation, Hegseth has been involved in a spate of security scandals over his use of the open-source, encrypted messaging app Signal. Regarding Patel, Collins said, 'I felt particularly at this time, but at any time, we need an apolitical FBI director and I did not think that Kash Patel was based on his writings.' Patel has authored children's books and been involved with projects that promote pro-Trump conspiracy theories. Concerning the Cabinet picks Collins supported, one confirmation in particular stuck out to political scientist and writer Amy Fried: Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought. Vought, an architect of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's blueprint to overhaul the federal government, has said he doesn't believe Congress has the final say on federal spending. When asked whether he would comply with the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which clarifies that presidents don't have the legal authority to ignore Congress on federal spending, Vought responded, 'No, I don't believe it's constitutional. The president ran on that view. That's his view, and I agree.' Collins told Maine Morning Star she gives deference to presidential Cabinet picks regardless of party. 'Despite my disagreements with [Vought], which are pretty profound when it comes to the Impoundment Act, he is clearly well qualified for the position,' Collins said. 'He previously served as both deputy director of OMB and as director of OMB. So when I'm evaluating Cabinet nominees, I, in general, base my decision on whether or not the person is qualified for the job, not on whether I agree with all of their positions.' Fried argued Collins' vote for Vought undermines her own power. 'Her big claim was 'I will be able to help the state of Maine because someday I'm going to be chair of the Appropriations Committee,'' Fried said. 'Well, if the Appropriations Committee isn't deciding what money goes where, then that just renders that whole thing null and void.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
