Two powerful conservative policy organizations in Columbus say current policies limit the state’s potential to address suddenly skyrocketing demand, with Ohio consuming more energy than it’s producing.
The 36-page report, authored and released Wednesday by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Ohio and the Buckeye Institute, comes as state lawmakers negotiate an omnibus bill overhauling energy code.
Legislators are mum, so far, about what’s actually going in the bill—but House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said it will likely be introduced Thursday by Reps. Adam Holmes (R-Nashport) and Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland).
“I don’t want to steal their work and their thunder by talking too much in detail,” Huffman said Wednesday. “But I think we need to find a new way to deliver energy.”
Among key points in the report, AFP-Ohio and the Buckeye Institute are encouraging lawmakers to axe power plant subsidies, particularly those for green energy projects, and loosen permitting restrictions so that transmission lines or other energy infrastructure can be more readily constructed.
“Energy efficiency programs are fine and well, lifting or elevating certain forms of energy are fine and well,” said AFP-Ohio State Director Donovan O’Neil on Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, what we need to do is we need an abundance of energy to make sure that we can meet the demands of the future.”
AFP-Ohio lobbied to kill a bipartisan energy efficiency proposal last legislative session that would have enabled utilities to create voluntary programs for their customers to lower theirs bills through reduced usage. Customers would have been automatically enrolled and charged a $1.50 monthly fee for discounts, creating an opt-out program rather than an opt-in program that gave O’Neil pause.
O’Neil and Rea Hederman, the Buckeye Institute’s policy vice president, said Wednesday they believe the market should determine the mix of energy sources, but cautioned against any reliance on solar and wind raises.
“We get less sunlight, particularly here, we’re cloudy coming in off the Great Lakes, so some places for solar probably do not make a lot of economic sense at this current time, without massive government subsidies,” Hederman said.
Legislators have done very little in the way of energy since House Bill 6, the legislative piece in the nuclear plant bailout scandal that landed former House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, and former Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges in federal prison.
