Lawmakers pass energy bill ending Ohio ratepayer charges that subsidize two unprofitable coal plants
House Bill 15 would put an immediate end to the 'legacy generation rider' for the two Ohio Valley Electric Corp. plants contained in House Bill 6, which dates back to 2019. The provision was part of a larger overhaul intended to modernize Ohio energy policy.
The Ohio Senate passed its version of the legislation in a rare unanimous vote Wednesday, before sending it back to the Ohio House. The lower chamber approved Senate changes to the House version 94-2.
The bill goes next to Gov. Mike DeWine, whose office said he is reviewing the amended measure.
State Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Hudson Democrat, praised the measure's passage, calling the end of the 'bailout' of the two coal two plants — one in southern Ohio, one in Madison, Indiana, southwest of Cincinnati — a huge win for consumers.
'It was an outrageous misuse of public funds — sending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day to an aging coal plant in Indiana,' he said in a statement. 'Putting an end to that is a victory for ratepayers across the state.'
The bill also requires utilities to routinely come in for rate cases and justify how they spend ratepayer-collected money; creates a permissive school energy efficiency loan program to reduce energy costs for public schools; and codifies that consumers must receive refunds for improper charges.
Ohio Manufacturing Association President Ryan Augsburger said repealing the uneconomical subsidies and other charges and creating energy 'heat maps' that visually depict energy usage patterns will allow manufacturers to operate more efficiently.
'Ohio has an abundance of natural resources, a strong workforce, world-class educational institutions and now the foundation for a nationally leading energy industry,' he said in a statement. 'Now is the time for Ohio's energy system to pull ahead and attract new generation, bringing with it new economic investments.'
The OVEC subsidy was a late addition to the measure passed Wednesday, which initially focused on a $1 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants owned by a then-subsidiary of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. It was to have been collected through Ohioans' electric bills through 2030.
The Legislature repealed the nuclear plant subsidy contained in the bill in 2021, months after then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others were indicted for their roles in a $60 million bribery scheme secretly funded by FirstEnergy to win passage of the bailout bill.
But the coal plant subsidy has been tougher to eliminate.
The two plants were built in the 1950s to provide power to a uranium enrichment facility in Pike County, but the contract with the U.S. Department of Energy ended in 2003 and OVEC began selling power to the regional power grid. The rise of cheaper and abundant natural gas helped make the plants unprofitable.
The state's utility watchdog at one point said the coal plant subsidy was worse than the one for the nuclear plants, because it helped sustain plants whose electricity wasn't needed and that pollute the air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
28 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Wife of South Korea's ousted ex-President Yoon appears for questioning over corruption allegations
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The wife of South Korea's ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared for questioning by a special prosecutor Wednesday, as investigators expanded a probe into suspicions of stock manipulation, bribery, and interference in party nominations. The investigation into Kim Keon Hee is one of three separate special prosecutor probes launched under Seoul's new liberal government targeting the presidency of Yoon, who was removed from office in April and rearrested last month over his brief imposition of martial law in December. The conservative's abrupt and poorly planned power grab on Dec. 3 came during a seemingly routine standoff with the liberals, whom he described as 'anti-state' forces abusing their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. Some political opponents have questioned whether Yoon's actions were at least partly motivated by growing allegations against his wife, which hurt his approval ratings and gave political ammunition to his rivals. 'I apologize for causing concern to the people, even though I am someone insignificant,' Kim told reporters as she arrived for questioning. She added that she would sincerely cooperate with the investigation, before walking away without responding to specific questions about the allegations. Through a heavy police presence, dozens of Yoon's supporters gathered outside the special prosecutor's office in downtown Seoul, waving South Korean and U.S. flags and banners in light rain. Yoon, who was sent back to prison last month and faces a high-stakes trial on rebellion and other charges, resisted an attempt by investigators last week to compel him for questioning over his wife. Investigators said he took off his prison uniform and laid down on the floor of his cell in his underwear before they gave up executing the warrant to detain him. They plan to negotiate with Yoon's lawyers to arrange a possible questioning. Yoon and Kim have faced suspicions of exerting undue influence over the conservative People Power Party to nominate a specific candidate for a 2022 parliamentary by-election, allegedly at the request of Myung Tae-kyun, an election broker and founder of a polling agency who conducted free opinion surveys for Yoon before he became president. Kim is separately linked to multiple corruption allegations, including claims that she received a necklace and other gifts through a fortuneteller acting as an intermediary for a Unification Church official seeking business favors, as well as possible involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme. While in office, Yoon repeatedly dismissed calls to investigate his wife, denouncing them as baseless political attacks. Yoon's martial law decree lasted only hours, after a quorum of lawmakers managed to break through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers and voted to revoke the measure. He was impeached by lawmakers on Dec. 14 and was formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April. Shortly after winning the early presidential election in June, new liberal President Lee Jae Myung approved legislation to launch sweeping special investigations into Yoon's martial law debacle, the allegations against his wife, and the 2023 drowning death of a marine during a flood rescue operation, an incident Lee's Democratic Party claims Yoon's government tried to cover up. Yoon had been released from prison in March after the Seoul Central District Court overturned his January arrest, but the same court approved his new arrest in July, accepting a special prosecutor's claim that he poses a risk of destroying evidence.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Hiroshima marks 80 years since atomic bombing as aging survivors worry about growing nuke threat
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Hiroshima on Wednesday marked the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japanese city, with many aging survivors expressing frustration about the growing support of global leaders for nuclear weapons as a deterrence. With the number of survivors rapidly declining and their average age now exceeding 86, the anniversary is considered the last milestone event for many of them.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump threatens federal takeover of DC after attack on former DOGE worker
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two 15-year-olds have been arrested in Washington in connection with the attempted carjacking and beating of one of the most prominent members of the Department of Government Efficiency, renewing calls from President Donald Trump for the federal government to seize control of the nation's capital. The victim, Edward Coristine, nicknamed 'Big Balls,' was among the most visible figures of Trump's DOGE, which was tasked with slashing federal bureaucracy. Coristine was assaulted around 3 a.m. Sunday in the city's Logan Circle neighborhood by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman whom police identified as his significant other, according to authorities. The Metropolitan Police Department said the group approached the couple's car and made a comment about taking it. Coristine pushed the woman into the vehicle for safety and turned to confront the group. At least several of the teens then attacked him, police said, until officers patrolling nearby intervened. As officers moved toward the group, the teens fled on foot. Two 15-year-olds from Maryland were arrested on charges of unarmed carjacking, police said. The attack gave new fuel to long-standing Republican efforts to challenge Washington's autonomy, with Trump threatening to bypass local authority and impose direct federal control over the city. In a social media post and remarks at the White House on Tuesday, the president described crime in Washington as 'out of control.' 'If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they're not going to get away with it anymore,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. The District of Columbia has long served as a symbolic battleground in debates over crime and governance, and its lack of statehood has made it uniquely vulnerable to federal intervention. Republican leaders have frequently seized on episodes of violence to portray the city as a case study of violence in cities run by Democratic mayors, even as city officials note that violent crime overall is down more than 25% from the same period last year. Still, local officials have acknowledged in recent years that youth crime, particularly carjackings, remains a serious concern. Just last year, a 14-year-old was charged with killing a Lyft driver in a botched carjacking, and a significant portion of carjacking arrests in Washington involve juveniles. The Metropolitan Police Department said its investigation into the attack on Coristine remains active and additional suspects are still being sought. __ Balsamo reported from New York.
