Report Tackles Coal Bailout Sweeping Through the Legislature

Sierra Club released a report from economist Ezra Hausman, Phd, that shows the Ohio legislature’s coal bailout bill (HB 239 and SB 155) would cost customers up to $2 billion to keep two dirty coal-burning plants operating, which are not needed to serve Ohio customers. 

As Dr. Hasuman’s report shows, these plants – Kyger Creek in Ohio and Clifty Creek in Indiana – can no longer compete in today’s energy markets absent the customer-funded subsidies in the bailout bill.  The report explains how the purported “national security” rationale for this bailout is wrong, and how the decisions that have left these plants’ owners saddled with debt were all made after the federal government’s uranium enrichment program ended.

 

HB 239 and SB 155 would put the cost of the 1950s-era coal-burning power plants onto the bills of Ohio’s electricity customers for more than 20 years. The proposed legislation would shift all costs from each respective utility’s portion of its OVEC ownership to customers for the next twenty three years and would require customers to pay for generation that is not competitive.

 

In response, Daniel Sawmiller of the Sierra Club, released the following statement:

 

“As Dr. Hausman’s report shows, these coal-burning plants can’t compete with cleaner sources of electricity, and Ohio families and small businesses should not be made to pay higher electric bills to bail out these corporations for their spending decisions on these coal-burning power plants. This piecemeal bailout bill benefits out-of-state shareholders at the expense of Ohio’s economy and its people’s health. Ohio legislators should not burden Ohio customers with these significant costs that provide no benefit.”

 

*The report has been shared with all members of the Senate and House committees reviewing this bill.