COLUMBUS — “Two years ago, Ohio lawmakers passed a law freezing Ohio’s renewable-energy standards, which were put in place in 2008 to drive development of alternative energy and energy conservation. The law also created a committee to determine if changes are needed in the standards. The panel recommended that the freeze be extended indefinitely, pending the outcome of legal challenges to the federal Clean Power Plan, which would mandate stricter limits on emissions from power plants.
Environmentalists and public-health advocates believe the panel gave short shrift to their concerns and is doing the bidding of utilities that oppose the energy standards. The fact that legislators would make up a significant part Krebs’ proposed review panel might mean that utilities would have an outsized influence on it.
But if a panel could be built that could do the sort of in-depth study of the electricity industry that the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission has performed in its review of the state constitution, this could be a valuable public service for Ohio’s utilities, consumers and economy.”
— editorial, Columbus Dispatch
link to editorial
