COMMON SENSE ENERGY PLAN SAVES JOBS AND CONSUMERS MONEY

Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Act Better for Workers, Consumers, Environment, and Ohio

COLUMBUS, OH -- Today House Democrats held a press conference and unveiled the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Act, which will move Ohio’s economy forward by creating good paying jobs, ensuring cleaner air, and better health for all Ohioans.

“The Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Act is fair to businesses and consumers, and maintains energy efficiency standards that will save Ohioans money. This plan is good for workers, consumers, the environment, and Ohio,” Miranda Leppla, Vice-President of Energy Policy at the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund said.

“The Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Act puts Ohio on the right track to ensuring 50 percent of our energy needs are being generated from renewable sources,” Leppla said.

“This bill stands in stark contrast to House Bill 6, which will take Ohio backward,” Leppla said. “We support establishing accountability and transparency measures in the state’s clean energy program that requires utilities to demonstrate the need for continued subsidies and gives consumers the ability to “clawback” their investment if the utility decides to close or sell facilities, which is absent from House Bill 6.”

“Lawmakers in the Ohio House face a clear choice. They can bailout FirstEnergy Solutions and reward their poor management decisions, put profits over people, and put consumers on the hook to pay billions of dollars to a greedy utility in perpetuity,” said Leppla. “Or they can embrace a common sense plan that benefits everyone in Ohio. We ask Republicans to work in good faith with Democrats and adopt the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Act to protect existing jobs and create new, good paying jobs instead of moving forward with the disastrous House Bill 6.”