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Say Bye-Bye to Ohio Investments
Ohio legislators were warned that bailing out FirstEnergy’s uneconomic coal and nuclear plants would cause investors in modern technologies to look elsewhere. Lo and behold, just over a month after HB 6 was passed, LS Power walked away from a $500 million investment in its Troy advanced natural gas unit that would have created hundreds of construction jobs. Then, Clean Energy Future terminated plans to build a $1.1 billion Lordstown gas plant. The company’s president blamed HB 6, saying, “Political tampering with Ohio’s free electricity generation markets has very real impacts and results.”
When In Doubt, Blame China
Following the passage of HB 6, many groups began to explore the possibility of a voter referendum that would undo it, and the effort is gaining steam. It might not surprise you that a pro-FirstEnergy front group is already spending $1 million on slick TV and radio ads to block the referendum. But you may be surprised that China…yes, China…is the boogey man behind the referendum effort. (“They took our manufacturing jobs…now, they’re coming for our energy jobs.”)
The ad would be laughable if it weren’t such a perfect example of the dishonest tactics the FirstEnergy crowd has used to secure its bailout.
FirstEnergy’s high-priced PR specialists probably sat around a table and realized they have no good arguments. One guy in the back of the room says, “Hey, no one likes China. Let’s blame them.”
And as if that’s not weird enough, the ad accuses Clean Energy Future, the company mentioned above, that opposed HB 6 and decided to not invest in an Ohio gas plant, of being backed by a Chinese state-owned bank. Strangely, it’s FirstEnergy that has received more than $111 million of funding from that bank.
Odd? Duplicitous? Desperate? Downright funny? All of the above?
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