Ohio GOP Milking Energy Bill for Campaign Cash

Dispatch reporter Julia Carr Smith writes that Gov. Ted Strickland's energy bill is on a slow track in part because the GOP is benefitting from delay. Wealthy utility companies, alarmed about re-regulation, are throwing campaign money at the state GOP:

Utility companies seeking to influence the future of electricity regulation in the state are pouring money into Republican campaign funds. According to a recent Associated Press review, FirstEnergy, Duke and American Electric Power had given at last $281,000 combined to state and local campaigns so far this year, most of it to GOP leaders overseeing the bill's trip through the Statehouse.

Catherine Turcer, campaign reform director for Ohio Citizen Action, a government watchdog group, said such legislation is destined to continue to generate big money for Statehouse politicians as long as it's unresolved.

“You have these very different vested interests that actually have a lot of cash, and the way they can influence the process is by making these campaign contributions,” she said. “It's a typical juicer bill, as in let's see what we can squeeze out of this.”

Strickland had wanted the bill to get through the General Assembly by the end of the year, but now the final vote is not expected until early next year.

Meanwhile, the Plain Dealer had an editorial Sunday calling for more teeth in the energy bill's requirement of an advanced energy portfolio:

More comprehensive and specific provisions could jump-start wind energy projects in Cleveland, expand Northern Ohio's niche in solar power and favor the sort of battery innovations locally that might make this region a center of renewables production and research. ...

The Senate's ill-defined requirement for 25 percent renewables and "advanced energy" by 2025 - as long as it's not too expensive - offers wiggle room the size of Lake Erie. That's not likely to mark Ohio as the next big market for wind and solar.

Reasonable benchmarks that take into account current costs and manufacturing backlogs need to be written into the House bills. The proposed law also must be recrafted so that everyone pays for advanced energy costs, not just some classes of consumers.

The editors called Strickland's statement that the Senate took his plan and made it better "bizarre."

I.B.C. Solar AG, Germany's largest solar power firm, has committed to locating its U.S. headquarters in Cleveland, but won't bring its U.S. solar production unless Ohio demonstrates a true commitment to renewable energy. The Cleveland Foundation hopes that this message will spur the Cuyahoga County delegation to the General Assembly to resist the power companies and fight for a tougher version of the advanced energy portfolio requirement.