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I am proud to have supported HB 6

Recently in the Ohio House of Representatives I voted to pass Ohio House Bill 6. This legislation passed with 10 Democratic votes in a rare but important demonstration of bipartisan cooperation. While it seems the two parties in Washington can find little to nothing to work together on, here in Ohio we united on an energy policy that makes sense and will save thousands of Ohio Jobs.

Those that call House Bill 6 a nuclear bailout are hiding half of the story. While it’s true that HB6 will create a surcharge of $1 on monthly residential electric bills, the legislation also eliminates two green energy surcharges that total $4.68 each month, on average.

It is also worth noting that unless HB6 passes, Ohio’s green energy subsides will continue to grow every year — paid for by taxpayers on their energy bills every month.

Now the math is so simple that any fifth grader can tell you that it will save customers money on their electricity bills. If we eliminate the $4.68 green energy subsidy and replace it with a $1 surcharge the average ratepayer will save on average $3.68 per month.

Let me be clear, I voted for House Bill 6 because lower electricity prices matter to the people of my district. Electricity costs matter to every Ohioan — homeowners, renters, local elected officials and employers. Cutting costs for working families is important. It is also a priority to protect the small business owners and manufacturers whose bottom lines are driven by energy costs.

Saving Ohio jobs, whether they are in my district or the most rural part of the state, is a priority of mine and of the Republicans in the General Assembly. When a bill like House Bill 6 allows us to save 4,300 high-paying jobs, I am going to vote for it, plain and simple. Especially when saving those jobs also means protecting two power plants that generate enough electricity to power 2,000,000 Ohio homes.

For more than a decade, Ohio ratepayers have been paying for two green energy surcharges that have accomplished nothing. All the windmills and solar panels combined do not come close to the 2,200 megawatts of electricity the Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants produce.

If clean air is really the reason we have sunk millions of dollars into renewable forms of energy, we should have a larger appreciation the role nuclear energy has in our zero-carbon emission portfolio. After all, 90% of the zero-carbon emission energy that is produced in Ohio comes from those two plants.

It is time for Ohio to have an energy policy based on logic and economics instead of virtue signaling and rhetoric. The two green energy surcharges have been here for over a decade with little to nothing to show for your investment. It is time to focus on what works today and not what may work in ten, twenty, fifty or 100 years down the road.

I hope that my friend Senator Rulli will join me in supporting House Bill 6 as it is debated in the Ohio Senate. Let’s get this done.

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