Jan 19, 2021
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost continues to fight the damaging effects of House Bill 6, which is at the center of a $60 million federal bribery investigation, and was intended to bail out FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Energy Harbor.
This time he has asked the Franklin County Common Pleas Court to block FirstEnergy from collecting special fees from customers which were established as part of the effort to shore up Energy Harbor’s two nuclear power plants even if energy prices fall. Yost correctly asserts customers should not have to pay the $102 million the company would collect this year because of a “perverse” form of decoupling, which unlinked how much the company makes from how much electricity it sells, and guaranteed it would maintain a record-high level of profit.
Ohio Sues To Stop Rate Increase By FirstEnergy - Across Ohio, OH - "It's time for the court to shut the House Bill 6 piggybank down," Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS – Money from Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. comprised more than one-third of all contributions to a dark money group supporting Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and likely all of the cash given to one backing his daughter s county prosecutor bid, newly revealed 2019 tax records show.
The donations came the same year that Ohio s GOP-controlled Legislature passed House Bill 6, which included a $1 billion subsidy for two nuclear plants, then-owned by FirstEnergy Solutions. DeWine signed the bill within hours of it reaching his desk.
DeWine s daughter Alice DeWine announced her campaign for Greene County prosecutor in September 2019.
Federal investigators say former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others used nearly $61 million from energy companies, chiefly FirstEnergy, to fuel Householder s leadership fight, House Bill 6 s passage and an extensive effort to block a ballot initiative to upend the bailout.
Jay LaPrete / AP
Documents made available last week show how House Majority Floor Leader Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, championed gutting Ohio s clean energy standards in the state s 2019 coal and nuclear bailout law. He has since served as a force against repeal.
Claims in a federal complaint released in July indicate that the law was at the heart of an alleged corruption scheme involving roughly $60 million. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and others were arrested last summer.
Failure to repeal the law in 2020 was an astounding failure by Republican leadership, said Rep. David Leland, D-Columbus, as the legislature adjourned last month.
as this helps us provide more public service reporting. Documents made available last week show how House Majority Floor Leader Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, championed gutting Ohio’s clean energy standards in the state’s 2019 coal and nuclear bailout law. He has since served as a force against repeal. Claims in a federal complaint released in July indicate that the law was at the heart of an alleged corruption scheme involving roughly $60 million. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and others were arrested last summer. Failure to repeal the law in 2020 was “an astounding failure by Republican leadership,” said Rep. David Leland, D-Columbus, as the legislature adjourned last month.