COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine backed down and called for House Bill 6 to be revoked Thursday, saying President Larry Householder’s alleged bribery scheme “stained forever” the $ 1.3 billion nuclear rescue law.
DeWine, who signed HB6 a year ago on Thursday, reiterated that he supports the policy established in the bailout, saying it is necessary to preserve jobs at the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants and keep energy sources carbon-free. .
“Although the policy is good in my opinion, the process by which it was created sucks. It is terrible, it is not acceptable, ”DeWine said during her televised coronavirus briefing.
The governor’s announcement marks a reversal from the day before, when he supported HB6 despite federal charges against Householder and four allies regarding their acceptance of more than $ 60 million from FirstEnergy Corp. to have HB6 approved and thwart a anti-HB6 referendum effort.
On Wednesday, DeWine said, “Politics is good, because people did bad things does not mean that politics is not good.”
At his briefing on Thursday, DeWine opened by saying he had been “thinking about this a lot and struggling to process everything.” When asked to explain during the question and answer section of the briefing, DeWine said he had to “let the whole story sink in. I guess it takes a while to really understand it.” Basically, it all came down to “a matter of public confidence,” he said, and the public will not trust a tainted process.
He said HB6 should be reviewed and “repealed and replaced through an open process.”
FirstEnergy’s political action committee donated a total of $ 25,207.79 to DeWine’s 2018 campaign for governor, according to state campaign finance records. The company’s PAC also contributed an additional $ 20,000 to DeWine’s transition fund after he was elected, and gave $ 12,532.34 in campaign donations to Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
On top of that, FirstEnergy’s individual executives gave the DeWine governor campaign at least $ 27,000, according to state records.
On Wednesday, some Republican and Democratic lawmakers announced separate plans to introduce legislation to repeal HB6, although it is still unclear if there are enough votes in the Ohio House and Senate to pass the measure.
Under HB6, which DeWine signed last July, just hours after passing a final legislative vote, each Ohio electric customer will have to pay a new monthly surcharge that ranges from 85 cents for residential customers to $ 2,400 for large industrial plants. , from 2021 to 2027.
In addition to the massive nuclear rescue, the law also grants subsidies for coal plants in Ohio and Indiana, and effectively removes the state’s green energy mandates for public services.
DeWine said Thursday that restoration of green energy standards could be on the table as part of the repeal and replacement.
Read more coverage:
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s top aide once ran a nonprofit political organization identified as a money conduit in a federal organized crime complaint
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