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The cooling tower of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Oak Harbor, Ohio.
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Repeal effort announced for House Bill 6, Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear 'bailout bill'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Repeal effort announced for House Bill 6, Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear 'bailout bill'

OAK HARBOR, Ohio — Roughly 24 hours after Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others were arrested and charged with masterminding a $61 million bribery and racketeering scheme, Ohio legislators are working on legislation to repeal the nuclear bailout that is at the center of what authorities describe as the worst political crime in Ohio history.

Parallel efforts appear to be underway now by at least six legislators seeking bipartisan action they claim is necessary to restore credibility in the Ohio General Assembly.

The first was launched by a trio of Democrats from northeast Ohio on Wednesday morning.

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State Rep. Michael O’Brien (D., Warren) and state Sen. Sean O’Brien (D., Bazetta) said they will as early as Thursday introduce legislation — which they claim already has bipartisan support — to repeal House Bill 6, the 2019 bailout law that saved the cash-strapped Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants from near-imminent closure by attaching a surcharge to utility customers’ bills.

FirstEnergy Corp.'s Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Saturday, April 22, 2018.
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Supporting them at that news conference, held inside Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in Warren, was state Rep. Gil Blair (D., Weathersfield).

Then, barely an hour after that announcement, Republican lawmakers Mark Romanchuk and Laura Lanese, state representatives from Ontario and Grove City, respectively, said in a media advisory they will announce their own version of a bill to repeal House Bill 6 at a news conference at noon Thursday inside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

Others have followed.

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Ohio Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) said she has signed on as a co-sponsor to state Sen. O’Brien’s repeal effort.

“I originally planned to vote no on House Bill 6. However, after caucus discussions, learning of changes made in the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, and weighing the potential loss of employment for many of my constituents, I decided to vote ‘yes,’” she said. “Now, after learning of the corruption behind the inception of the bill, I support a repeal.”

“We need to root out any corruption in our government and reverse any legislation that has resulted from it,” Ms. Fedor said.

Ohio’s only two nuclear plants are the Davis-Besse and Perry plants, located east of Toledo and Cleveland, respectively. 

Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor.
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While the news of the bailout’s passage was cheered last year in the communities that rely on the plants for jobs and tax revenue, those areas now face new questions in light of the federal investigation and calls to repeal House Bill 6.

"We breathed a sigh of relief when they said [the bailout] was passed," said Bob Cook, who works in a hardware in downtown Oak Harbor, not far from Davis-Besse. "It's a lot of good jobs.”

Guy Parmigian, superintendent of the Benton-Carroll-Salem school district in Oak Harbor, told The Blade it “would be a catastrophic change of events if House Bill 6 was overturned for our funding situation and our voters.”

Once among Ohio’s best-funded schools, the B-C-S district saw its fortunes plummet a few years ago when FirstEnergy Corp., Davis-Besse’s former owner, convinced the state of Ohio to devalue the nuclear plant for taxing purposes and, thus, save the utility millions of dollars. The school district has historically been heavily reliant on property tax revenue generated by that plant.

In response, the school district narrowly got voters to approve two new tax levies to help offset those losses.

Mr. Parmigian said voters have already done enough, and a repeal of a bailout that eventually leads to a closure of the two nuclear plants would be devastating.

“It’s not just funding [the schools],” he said. “It’s the jobs and the cascading economic impact to our community if that plant wasn’t allowed to operate.”

He said he joins others as seeing the racketeering accusation as a sad case for Ohio, but said “the Householder news doesn’t change that reality” for his school district and the greater Oak Harbor community.

“Let’s give Larry Householder his day in court,” Mr. Parmigian said.

Former Oak Harbor Mayor Joe Helle said he is angry but not surprised by the scandal Mr. Householder is now embroiled in.

“I think anyone who’s taken a single cent is complicit in this,” Mr. Helle said. “Unquestionably, money coming into the Ohio Republican Party was muddied at some point by this.”

Mr. Helle said he is angry about the lack of a long-term plan for Davis-Besse. Even with the bailout, its future — and that of the B-C-S school district — is murky for his two young children, ages 9 and 5.

“Oak Harbor’s going to get shredded. It’s already been shredded,” Mr. Helle said, explaining how there’s no replacement once the plant closes.

Mr. Helle said he expects to see “a lot of people jumping on the repeal bandwagon” to save face.

“We have a responsibility as public officials to accept money from reputable sources,” Mr. Helle said. “Playing dumb has got to end.”

Former Ottawa County Commissioner Jim Sass, who chose not to seek re-election in 2018 after years in office, agreed the Householder case is unfortunate, but said Ohio needs to diversify its energy portfolio with those two nuclear plants, and fight to maintain the jobs and tax revenue they provide,

“It’s disappointing how it’s going to be remembered,” Mr. Sass said. “There’s a cloud over this legislation now. The bottom line is we need that energy portfolio. Obviously, the impact Davis-Besse has is huge.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he does not support a repeal.

“For a long time, I’ve advocated for — and the lieutenant governor has advocated for — a balanced energy policy in the state of Ohio,” Mr. DeWine said during his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday. “We think having nuclear plants is part of that balanced energy policy.”

Closures and final dates of operation had been announced by FirstEnergy Corp. and its once-affiliated FirstEnergy Solutions before the bailout was passed.

Those corporations are now part of the Householder probe, with the parent company in receipt of subpoenas. Davis-Besse and Perry are now owned by a newly formed company that emerged out of bankruptcy proceedings, Energy Harbor.

State Rep. Michael O’Brien said payments made to a group called Generation Now, which prosecutors contend was set up as a campaign war chest to help elect and support candidates sympathetic to FirstEnergy, “were just shocking.” Some $61 million is in question. Michael O’Brien, Sen.Sean O’Brien, and Mr. Gill all said the fund also was used to intimate political opponents, including them, and coerce others from seeking office.

Michael O’Brien said his goal through repeal legislation is “to erase [House Bill 6] as if it never existed.”

“And as far as what happens to Davis-Besse and Perry: “Whatever happens with their corporations happens to their corporations,” he said. “Don't rely on the taxpayers of Ohio to bail you out. It's not going to happen.”

He and state Sen. O’Brien said a repeal is necessary to help restore public confidence in the Ohio General Assembly. They also said the case against Mr. Householder underscores the need for campaign finance reform.

“Right now, dark money is legal and has no oversight,” Sean O’Brien said. “It’s not really a Democrat or Republican issue. It’s a right or wrong issue.”

Staff writers Jim Provance and Conor Johnson contributed to this report.

First Published July 22, 2020, 5:20 p.m.

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The cooling tower of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant near Oak Harbor, Ohio.  (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Benton-Carroll-Salem School Superintendent Guy Parmigian at Oak Harbor High School, Tuesday, April 24, 2018.  (The Blade/Andy Morrison)  Buy Image
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Former Oak Harbor Mayor Joe Helle, Tuesday, April 24, 2018.  (THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON)  Buy Image
Former Ottawa County Commissioner Jim Sass in Port Clinton, Tuesday, April 24, 2018.  (THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON)  Buy Image
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