If you thought enactment of Ohio’s legislation – HB6 – to rescue uneconomic nuclear and coal plants from shutting down took care of the issue, think again. Opponents of the legislation are mounting a credible campaign to put repeal of the measure on the statewide ballot in November 2020, setting off a nasty squabble.
The legislation had the support of FirstEnergy, the Akron-based investor-owned utility that owns and operates the two nuclear plants facing shutdown – Davis-Besse and Perry — and two endangered coal-fired plants operated by Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (OVEC) – and Republicans in the legislature and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. The legislation also dramatically scales back the Buckeye State’s renewable energy goals.
The new law, which took five years to enact, imposes a fee on all electricity consumers to provide some $150 million annually to the plants owned by FirstEnergy’s bankrupt subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions and OVEC.
A broad coalition of groups, as described by the Environmental Defense Fund, one of the opponents of the legislation, includes “residential consumers, low-income consumers, manufacturers, the natural gas industry, environmentalists, AARP and conservative free-market advocates.” EDF attorney John Finnigan said, “These groups are now mounting a referendum effort to overturn the bill and plan to place the issue on the November 2020 ballot.” Opponents of the law have organized as a coalition called Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts. They are pushing a ballot question that asks, “Should HB 6 go into effect?” They have begun lining up some 265,000 petition signatures needed to get the measure on the ballot.
As the referendum movement has gained traction, supporters of the bailout have mounted an expensive campaign to try to keep it off the ballot. The Cleveland.com news website reported that a pro-HB6 group, Ohioans for Energy Security, which looks very much like a FirstEnergy front group, is putting $1 million into an effort to forestall the ballot initiative. The publication observed, “The massive TV and radio ad buy, by the group Ohioans for Energy Security, is an early indication of the deluge of ads Ohioans will be subjected to if the proposed referendum makes the ballot in 2020.”
The advertising has gotten down and dirty. The pro-HB6 group has aired a television ad claiming that the opponents are “boosting Chinese financial interests,” because one of the opponents of HB6 – natural gas generation investor Bill Siderewicz — recently cancelled a third major gas-fired project in the state because of HB6. Siderewicz blasted HB6 for “political tampering with Ohio’s free electricity generation markets,” saying it would hurt investment in new power generation projects in the state. His Massachusetts-based firm, Clean Energy Future, has Chinese investors.
The ad, complete with images of the Chinese military, says, “The Chinese government is quietly invading our American electrical grid” and “coming for our energy jobs” via “a special interest group” about to start collecting signatures for the referendum — a special interest group the ad warns is “boosting Chinese financial interests” and “risking our national security.”
That hyperbole prompted the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the state’s most influential newspaper, to editorialize, asking, “But why not attack the possible referendum on the merits of HB 6 — a rescue of Ohio’s no-carbon-emitting nuclear plants — instead of trying to scare the heck out of Ohioans?
“Why, indeed. Clearly the backers of HB 6 have concluded they will have a harder time defending the law on its merits. So, why not gin up outsized alarm based on a xenophobic ad?”
At the same time, the utility appears to be challenging the legality of the ballot initiative. A Columbus attorney, John Ziegler, sent a legal memorandum to the Ohio secretary of state, arguing that because HB6 is “a law providing for a tax levy,” that means it is exempt from the state’s procedures for a referendum.”
The memorandum does not identify any affiliation of Ziegler’s law firm. Reporter Kathiann M. Kowalski of the Energy News Network tracked down the connection, as the firm acknowledged in writing, “Our Firm has been retained by FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. in connection with the proposed Referendum Petition concerning the recently enacted HB6.”
Getting the repeal on the 2020 ballot is favorable to the opponents of the law, according to EDF attorney Finnigan. “The timing of the referendum is important,” he says. “Presidential elections spark huge turnout, and Ohio is a perennial battleground state. And experts say that referenda are more likely to pass in high turnout elections. Opinion polls showed that 73% of Ohio Republicans, 67% of Democrats and 73% of independents opposed the FirstEnergy bailout bill.”
— Kennedy Maize