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Federal prosecutors say Householder criminal case shouldn’t be dismissed
By: Associated Press
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CLEVELAND (AP) — Federal prosecutors say former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s arguments that a racketeering conspiracy charge against him should be dismissed are legally invalid. Prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday in response to one filed by Householder’s attorneys earlier this month that prosecutors failed to produce “essential facts” in a July 2020 indictment against… Read More
Consumer advocates demand fresh FirstEnergy audit after new facts are revealed
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Consumer advocates are asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to reopen one of its audits of Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. after discovering evidence that the first review didn’t look at whether money the company has admitted funneling into a $60 million bribery scheme came from customers. The Office of Ohio Consumers’… Read More
Lawmaker Disputes DeWine’s Claim That Randazzo’s FirstEnergy Ties Were Clear
By: Andy Chow | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — FirstEnergy said it paid a bribe of more than $4 million dollars to Sam Randazzo before he became chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) says he didn’t know about the bribe until late 2020, but insists that Randazzo’s past work with FirstEnergy was common… Read More
FirstEnergy Reevaluates Denial Of Ratepayer Funds In Bribe
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Utility giant FirstEnergy Corp. says it’s reevaluating previous denials that the company used customer money to secretly fund a $60 million bribery scheme. The Akron-based company filed notice with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Friday saying its deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department requires a re-examination of… Read More
DeWine Learned Of FirstEnergy Payment To Former PUCO Chair Before He Resigned
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Gov. Mike DeWine has made his first public comments since last week’s plea deal from FirstEnergy in the federal corruption case involving the nuclear power plant bailout law known as House Bill 6. DeWine was asked what he knew about the connection between the Akron-based utility and the person he appointed to… Read More
FirstEnergy Charged In House Bill 6 Scandal, Agrees To $230 Million Penalty
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — FirstEnergy will pay $230 million after entering into a deferred prosecution agreement over charges that the company bribed then-House Speaker Larry Householder and former Public Utilities Commission chair Sam Randazzo. The company admitted it “conspired with public officials and other individuals and entities”, according to a release from Acting… Read More
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