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Governor Was Warned Of Would-be Regulator’s Ties To Utility
By: Mark Gillispie | Julie Carr Smith | AP
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gov. Mike DeWine disregarded cries of alarm in early 2019 from consumer and environmental advocates, concerns echoed in a previously undisclosed last-minute plea from GOP insiders, when he was selecting the state’s top utility regulator — a man now under scrutiny as a wide-ranging bribery and corruption investigation roils Ohio. Nearly… Read More
FirstEnergy Execs Fired For $4M Payment To Entity Connected to Unnamed State Regulator
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — FirstEnergy’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission says former senior management members were fired after an internal investigation discovered certain executives made a $4 million payment to an entity with ties to an unnamed state regulator. FirstEnergy says the $4 million was payment to terminate a consulting agreement with… Read More
Execs Say Racketeering Investigation Poses ‘Challenge’ To FirstEnergy Earnings Objective
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — FirstEnergy held its first earnings call since announcing the departure of CEO Chuck Jones who was ousted as the result of an internal review related to a federal racketeering investigation. The utility says, although the company is under investigation in possible connection to a bribery scheme, earnings are still up…. Read More
Judge: Energy Company Can Continue Donations To Lawmakers
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A judge rules that Ohio’s attorney general’s effort to block an energy company and its affiliated entities from donating to lawmakers is an infringement of First Amendment rights. A Franklin County judge denied Attorney General Dave Yost’s attempt to stop campaign contributions to Ohio lawmakers from First Energy while the House… Read More
FirstEnergy Says Yost’s Civil Case Does Not Have ‘Legal Merit’
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — FirstEnergy is responding to a civil case filed against the company by Attorney General Dave Yost (R-Ohio) saying the utility company plans to “vigorously” defend itself. FirstEnergy spokesperson Jennifer Young says the company has followed the law when it comes to making political contributions. “The attorney general’s lawsuit unjustly targets… Read More
State Watchdog Seeks Probe Of Utility Tied To Bribery Scheme
By: Associated Press
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Ohio’s consumer watchdog wants a regulatory agency to investigate whether the state’s largest electric utility used customer money to fund an alleged $60 million bribery scheme involving one of Ohio’s most powerful politicians. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel late Tuesday asked the Public Utility Commission of Ohio to seek an independent investigation to… Read More
Yost Considering Legal Action To Stall Electric Bill Hikes
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Attorney General Dave Yost (R-Ohio) says he’s considering taking legal action to stall the billion dollar nuclear power plant bailout as legislators consider a possible repeal to the law that created the subsidies. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has approved the mechanism to be used to increase nearly every… Read More
Yost Seeks To Halt Payouts In Nuke Plants’ Bankruptcy
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican Attorney General Dave Yost asked a federal court Monday to temporarily halt payouts in a bankruptcy case involving two nuclear plants caught up in a $60 million bribery and corruption probe. Yost said the arrests of then-House Speaker Larry Householder and four associates in an alleged pay-to-play scheme surrounding a… Read More
Deadline to File to Overturn Controversial Nuclear Bailout Law a Week Away
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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On October 21, the group that wants to overturn Ohio’s nuclear power plant bailout law is required to submit nearly 266,000 valid signatures to halt that law and put it before voters next year. But supporters of the bailout are waging an unrelenting fight to stop that. The pro-bailout Ohioans For Energy Security has been… Read More
Anti-Nuclear Bailout Group Argues Against Opponent Tactics In Federal Court
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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Opponents of the nuclear power plant bailout are waiting for a ruling from a federal judge after arguing for more time to circulate referendum petitions to put the law onto next year’s ballot. Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts told the judge that a state elections law that requires them to file what’s known as “Form 15”… Read More
Nuclear Bailout Group Paying People To Follow Referendum Petitioners
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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Generation Now, one of the well-funded groups in the fight over Ohio’s nuclear power plant bailout, is monitoring the referendum petition workers by putting their own people on the ground. Generation Now was behind the pro-HB6 ads that would play around the state before the legislation was approved and signed into law. Now, they’re shifting… Read More
Nuclear Plants Want Court to Stop Vote on Financial Rescue
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The owner of Ohio’s two nuclear power plants is asking the state Supreme Court to block a proposed statewide vote that aims to overturn a financial rescue for the plants. FirstEnergy Solutions argues in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the financial rescue approved by state lawmakers in July can’t be overturned… Read More
Pro-Nuclear Bailout Group Joins Battle Over Ohio’s New Energy Law
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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A group is looking to collect signatures statewide to ask voters to overturn the law that bails out nuclear power plants. But a competing group has formed to argue in favor of the ratepayer subsidies. Ohio voters could soon face an important decision regarding the future of the state’s new energy law, without even looking at a… Read More
W.Va. Governor Signs Tax Break for Company Amid Debt Claim
By: Anthony Izaguirre | AP
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has approved a tax break for a struggling coal-fired power plant whose operator says a company owned by the governor owes it $3.1 million. The Republican governor on Tuesday signed a bill to stop charging FirstEnergy Solutions a $12.5 million state tax. The company has been… Read More
Group Seeking Possible Energy Law Referendum For 2020 Ballot
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts is leading the charge for a possible ballot referendum to stop the new energy law that would bail out the state’s two nuclear plants through $150 million in ratepayer subsidies a year. The new law would also create new subsidies for coal and solar. The group registered with the Secretary of… Read More
Lawmakers Pass Blockbuster Bill Overhauling Energy Policy In Favor Of Nuclear, Coal
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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The Ohio House has voted in favor of the sweeping energy bill, HB6, that bails out two nuclear power plants through $150 million in ratepayer subsidies. The comprehensive bill also sets new coal subsidies, allots credits for solar, weakens renewable energy requirements, and eliminates energy efficiency programs. Supporters have said the subsidies are needed to save… Read More
DeWine Ready To Sign Nuclear Subsidies Bill, Awaits House Vote
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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Gov. Mike DeWine says the proposed law that creates subsidies for nuclear, coal, and solar energy hits his main energy priorities. The sweeping energy bill, HB6, is stuck in limbo until August 1. House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said his chamber was one vote short of passing it this week, but several members who he considered “yes”… Read More
FirstEnergy Corp, FirstEnergy Solutions: What’s The Difference?
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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The Ohio House is considering a piece of legislation, HB6, that will create a new fee on electric bills and scrap the state’s green energy standards. FirstEnergy Solutions’ two nuclear plants would stand to greatly benefit from the bill through large subsidies. There’s a long history between FirstEnergy Solutions and its former parent company FirstEnergy Corp,… Read More
Energy Bill Achieves Two Big Goals For FirstEnergy
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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The plan to overhaul Ohio’s energy policy would get rid of the state’s green energy standards and would likely bailout nuclear power plants. The major utility company, FirstEnergy, has been strongly advocating for those two things to happen for years now. FirstEnergy gave more than $150,000 to House Republicans in 2018 leading up to the… Read More
FirstEnergy Solutions Preparing New Filing In Bankruptcy Case
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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FirstEnergy Solutions, which runs coal and nuclear plants in Ohio, is working on a new bankruptcy proposal after a federal judge denied their initial filing. FES is filing for bankruptcy, in a restructuring plan that would officially separate the company from its parent company FirstEnergy Corp., the energy distributor. Dick Munson, senior director for the… Read More