Landmark Energy Policy for Ohio; Really?

One Oar in the Water: Landmark Energy Policy for Ohio; Really?

From One Oar in the Water:

From the Ohio Republican Party Website:

“Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted (R- Kettering) today led the Ohio House of Representatives in the passage of a landmark energy policy for the state of Ohio that helps to establish price stabilization for consumers and embraces new concepts for the state in the areas of advanced and renewable energy.

“‘Our work represents an energy policy that will protect consumers and provide jobs and cleaner, greener energy for Ohio,’ Husted said.

“The legislation is Ohio's best strategy for ensuring price stability and an adequate supply of energy generation in the future. The hybrid model offered by the Ohio House, in the form of Senate Bill 221, addresses the needs of businesses, industrial users and residential consumers while also moving toward a greener and cleaner environment through provisions and benchmarks for renewable and advanced energy.

“The energy plan additionally includes a provision for a state advocate to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The position would help protect Ohio's interests at the federal level by requiring the advocate to proactively address federal issues that affect the price and reliability of electricity in Ohio.

“In addition to promoting the use of new, cleaner forms of energy, the legislation also creates an energy efficiency standard, which would require utilities to meet a cumulative 22 percent standard by reducing usage, beginning with a .3 percent reduction by 2009 and increasing to a 2 percent reduction of use by 2025. Benchmarks and penalties for lack of compliance are also included for this portion of the proposal.”

Comment: For a better understanding of this bill, check out this link, and read the text for yourself. I read it four times, and became angrier each time I read it.

I don’t see anything “landmark” in this bill; what I see is the compilation of nonsense written by a bunch of pandering politicians that care nothing about Ohio, limited government, nor the free market. This is riddled with waste and regulations, and it saturated with the lexicon of the environmental leftists.

Do you really think that funding a couple of small solar companies, and then mandating all of our schools incorporate the same solar technology is going to create jobs for Ohio? Do you really think that solar is going to solve our dwindling industrial dilemma? Do you think a couple of solar panels on our state buildings with some windmills on the coast and a few farms in the North West are going to supply Ohio with enough energy to actually to make it affordable? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions you either write for the socialist rag “DailyKos” or are an elected Republican politician.

What was needed in this bill was more nuclear and more coal; but you would be hard pressed to find anything in this bill that even mentioned this form. A vibrant energy sector will only survive and grow when there is “actual” de-regulation of the industry. We have to let the market dictate the form of energy we will use, not Husted and Strickland.

Sorry folks, this is one more example of poor governance exhibited by the Republican led General Assembly. The end result of this bill will be higher energy prices, an aging energy production capability, less jobs, and more migration as Ohioans seek a better community to work and raise their children. Once again, Ohio’s Republican leadership let us down.

Comment: Mr. Husted certainly does not understand republican norms; Not One Red Cent until change come to the ORP!