Energy Exchange

FirstEnergy’s bailout bill (H.B. 6) – which would subsidize its uneconomic power plants and destroy state programs that encourage energy efficiency and clean energy – received a hearing in the Ohio House of Representatives last week. Two supporters testified (including FirstEnergy). Seventy three opponents testified.

You can find full transcripts of the testimony here.

But if you don’t want to wade through all of the testimony, we’ve pulled some of the best comments from the diverse opponents consisting of conservatives, manufacturers and environmentalists.

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For years, FirstEnergy has been looking for a get-out-of-bad-debt card to save it from its failing coal and nuclear plants. First, it tried for a $3 billion bailout from the Ohio Public Utility Commission (PUCO) and failed. Then it went begging in Washington for a federal bailout and failed. It won a $600 million bailout from the PUCO that Environmental Defense Fund is appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Now it has convinced some Columbus lawmakers to introduce H.B. 6, a $300 million per year subsidy to keep the company’s flagging coal and nuclear plants alive and simultaneously kill clean energy standards that have made Ohioans’ air cleaner and created thousands of jobs in the state. H.B. 6 will increase utility bills by $300 million a year for all utility customers, even if they buy their electricity from other suppliers. It’s a corporate handout, plain and simple, and it flies in the face of free market principles. Legislators that value the free market should reject it outright.

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Ohio’s electric industry is thriving and our energy supply is getting cleaner, with average power costs well below the national average. This dreamy scenario is the envy of other states – but Ohio’s legislators are plotting in the Capitol Square statehouse to turn this dream into a nightmare.

This nightmare is a new bill that not only subsidizes uneconomic coal and nuclear plants, but also guts the renewable energy and energy efficiency standards that have led to more than $1 billion in savings and thousands of new jobs for Ohioans. In an Orwellian twist, the legislators are trying to sneak this bailout through by calling it a “clean air resource” bill.

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