Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder's plan to overhaul state energy policy kills the green energy standards and bails out struggling nuclear power plants.
Plant operator FirstEnergy Solutions has been advocating for those two provisions for years. And there is a connection between the company and Householder. Ohio Public Radio's Andy Chow reports.
FirstEnergy donated more than $150,000 to House Republicans during the 2018 election.
Now Householder is pushing for a new energy plan that would steer about $170 million in subsidies to two nuclear plants owned by FirstEnergy Solutions, which used to be a subsidiary of FirstEnergy.
Householder denies a connection but argues for the merit of a large employer making big campaign donations.
Householder: “For them to care about those people who are trying to serve the state of Ohio and make sure they’ve got good quality candidates moving forward I think is important for anybody.”
FirstEnergy Solutions plans to close their two nuclear plants by 2021 if they don’t get legislative relief.