Groups at odds over proposed Ohio energy policy

A conservative national energy group is at odds with a Columbus-based free market think tank and Republican lawmakers over a proposed new Ohio energy policy.

Power The Future, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, says two GOP bills in the Legislature do not advance President Donald Trump’s energy agenda despite most of the policies recommended by The Buckeye Institute and American for Prosperity-Ohio.

The group wants to continue taxpayer subsidies for private energy companies in the state.

Proponents say the bills would benefit consumers by forcing energy companies to compete and end those subsidies for corporations.

Greg Lawson, research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, called House Bill 15 “the most free-market piece of energy legislation since the deregulation efforts in the late 1990s” and praised the bill.

The bill would end taxpayers' subsidies that Lawson says damage energy markets, and it would:

• Incentivizes new energy production by lowering taxes on new generations.

• Streamline the siting process for new generation and transmission.

• Eliminates electric security plans.

• Ensure utilities remain focused on transmission and distribution – not generation.

Power The Future wants to keep taxpayer subsidies in Ohio’s energy plan, which has been riddled by scandal in recent years.

In 2019, lawmakers funneled billions of taxpayer dollars to private energy companies for nuclear power, costing ratepayers billions and resulting in the largest bribery and corruption scandal in state history.

Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for his involvement. Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges is also in prison for his involvement.

Taxpayers continue to prop up two coal-fired power plants – one in Indiana – owned by Ohio Valley Electric Cooperative. Since 2019, Ohio taxpayers have paid Ohio Valley Electric $150 million annually and are scheduled to pay $1.1 billion by 2030.

“By removing cost-recovery certainty and forcing utilities to compete in a market unfairly tilted in favor of renewables backed by Biden-era federal subsidies, these bills would impose upon Ohioans energy policies that have led to grid instability, blackouts, and higher energy prices in other states,” Power the Future said in a release.

Trump has already ordered a moratorium on the Biden administration’s action on wind projects, renewable energy projects on public lands and is in a court fight to stop federal funding for climate and clean-energy projects.

Conservatives in Congress are also pushing to eliminate tax incentives for clean energy.