Ohio bill to reform electric rates aims to preserve coal plant subsidies under attack in wake of corruption probe

This Avon Lake Power Plant, a 680.0-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station near Avon Lake, Ohio, is scheduled to fully close in September of 2021. In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency found GenOn (then owner) and its Avon Lake coal power plant guilty of excessive ozone emissions, and the plant’s coal unit 7 and coal unit 9 were scheduled for deactivation by April 2015. These units continue to operate today under a Mercury and Air Toxics extension granted by the Ohio EPA (source: Global Energy Monitor; Photo by Bien Stephenson).

A plan to end Ohio’s long-criticized Electric Security Plans comes from a primary sponsor of HB 6, the 2019 law at the heart of a $60 million corruption case.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski

This story is from the Energy News Network in collaboration with Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism. Please join Eye on Ohio’s  free mailing list or the mailing list for the Energy News Network as this helps Eye on Ohio and The Tremonster provide more public service reporting.

A new plan is on the table to phase out rate programs that have let Ohio’s electric utilities collect billions in subsidies over the past dozen years. But the bill aims to continue coal plant subsidies and cuts authority for utility energy efficiency programs. 

Critics also worry that vague wording will continue cross-subsidies in another guise.

For years, consumer advocates, environmental organizations and conservative groups have pushed to end so-called Electric Security Plans, or ESPs, which allow utilities to add riders and other charges without full regulatory review. Many of those produced cross-subsidies that ratepayers can’t avoid.

In one extreme example, a Cleveland neighborhood group received a $70 monthly bill in 2019 for a single lamppost, with only 38 cents going to electricity.

A 2017 bill tried to end the practice, but it stalled in the Ohio House.

Now, House Bill 317 would slash statutory provisions for the plans. The bill, introduced last month, comes from Rep. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro. Wilkin was a primary sponsor of HB 6, the 2019 nuclear and coal bailout law that also gutted the state’s clean energy standards. And it aimed to “recession-proof” utilities by letting them guarantee revenue levels under their 2018 Electric Security Plans.

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Towpath Ribbon Cutting Celebrates Completion with Tremont Community

By Michael Jankus

TREMONT — Tremonsters turned out in droves to witness the ribbon cutting for Stage 4 of the Towpath Trail at historic Camp Cleveland at 2 p.m. on a hot and sunny June 9 that was forecasted to bring rain.

The Civil War landmark, located at the northernmost end of West 10th Street and the corner of University Road, overlooks the sweeping Cleveland skyline, serving as the perfect setting and backdrop for such a significant occasion. The Camp Cleveland site is commemorated by new historical elements as part of Stage 4 in addition to the Towpath Trail, in honor of its importance.

Canalway Partners brought 35 years of dreaming and planning to realization on Wednesday afternoon, and shared a vision of a bright future in a place with a rich and winding history. Where President James A. Garfield once worked as a canalman along the mule trail, local walkers, kayakers, cyclists, birders, canoers, and joggers will forge a history of their own for generations to come.

“That’s why we’re here,” said Chris Ronayne, chair of Canalway Partners and president of University Circle Inc., “to interpret the heritage of the place from which we come, here in Cuyahoga Valley.”

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Community members needed to join sixth Cleveland Consent Decree Community Conversation sponsored by NAACP- Cleveland Chapter and United Way of Greater Cleveland: 6:00 pm, June 09

By Rich Weiss, for Neighborhood & Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland

If you missed your chance to attend the May 12th public input meeting on the Cleveland Police Consent Decree, your input is still needed for the upcoming Consent Decree Community Conversation at 6:00 pm on June 9 (on Zoom).  This public meeting (co-sponsored by the local chapters of the United Way and NAACP) seeks your opinions and questions on progress of the Cleveland Division of Police in the areas of Families and Communities Building Resilience.

Rosie Palfy, who is a a community advocate, a homeless advocate, a veterans advocate, and a member of the city of Cleveland Mental Health Response Advisory Committee since it was created in 2015, said, “I think that the event was really well received…and I’ve got nothing but positive feedback from the community. Strangers have reached out to me on social media, and it’s a small world out there. So somebody knows somebody, who knows me and they send me an email, and so I’m really glad I participated in it and I actually felt empowered afterwards. I was very pleasantly surprised at how it went.”

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Tremont Residents (and Their Dogs) Rally to Save Lucky Park

After Lucky Park was listed for sale, Tremonsters rallied to call for keeping the valued Tremont neighborhood plot as green space (photos by Michael Jankus).

by Michael Jankus (mjankus@thetremonster.org)

TREMONT— More than 50 Tremont residents gathered at the corner of Starkweather Ave. and Professor Ave. on  May 23 for the Save Lucky Park Rally to speak up for one of Tremont’s most adored green spaces.

Residents of all ages, and at least a dozen of their dogs, met Sunday evening at 7:00 pm to take a photo at Lucky Park and share what the park has meant to them in light of the recent news of its for sale status.

The 3,000-square-foot patch of greenery has been placed on the market by the property owner for $109,000. Tremont West Development Corporation will bid on the space.

Tim Harrison, co-chair of Tremont’s South of Jefferson Block Club and one of the rally’s organizers, recounted the park’s journey through the years and the ways the community has come together to care for the park, improving and maintaining it themselves for decades.

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Community members needed to join fifth Cleveland Consent Decree Community Conversation sponsored by NAACP- Cleveland Chapter and United Way of Greater Cleveland: 6:00 pm, May 12

By Rich Weiss, for Neighborhood & Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland

If you missed your chance to attend the April 15th public input meeting on the Cleveland Police Consent Decree, your input is still needed for the upcoming Consent Decree Community Conversation at 6:00 pm on May 12 (on Zoom).  This public meeting (co-sponsored by the local chapters of the United Way and NAACP) seeks your opinions and questions on progress of the Cleveland Division of Police in the areas of Crisis Intervention and Officer Wellness.

According to Roger Smith, Administrator of Cleveland’s Office of Professional Standards, “It’s really what the grassroots wants that should be driving this train.  It’s important for public figures and people who work in public agencies to understand with clarity what it is the community wants, here—what role they want the police to play in their communities and what kind of rules do they want to govern those interactions.  The only way to find that out is to get it from the community.”

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FirstEnergy’s transparency pledge clashes with ongoing actions

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is FirstEnergy-logo-wall.jpg

The company’s broad view of its ongoing investigation for purposes of limiting public disclosures seems at odds with its narrow view and piecemeal approach to regulatory proceedings.

By Kathiann M. Kowalski

This article provided by Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism in partnership with the nonprofit Energy News Network. Please join their free mailing list or the mailing list for the Energy New Network as this helps us provide more public service reporting.

Complete disclosures are still not forthcoming from FirstEnergy, Energy Harbor and others who may have played roles in an alleged conspiracy that funneled millions of dollars to former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder in order to elect lawmakers sympathetic to House Bill 6, pass the law and then prevent voters from having a chance to reject the law in a statewide referendum.

FirstEnergy President and CEO Steven Strah said at the company’s Feb. 18 earnings call that the company is now “deeply committed to creating a culture in which … our leaders prioritize and encourage open and transparent communications with all of our stakeholders.” Strah became acting CEO last October and was formally appointed to the position on March 8, replacing Chuck Jones, who was fired for violating “certain FirstEnergy policies and its code of conduct.”

Yet there continues to be a clash between that stated commitment and what the company has actually disclosed. In particular, the company still has not provided full details about its various contributions to dark money groups that funneled money to the Republican Governors Association, Generation Now, campaigns for Gov. Mike DeWine and his daughter, and others.

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Vancouver New Leaf Project Study Shows One-Time Direct Cash Transfers Positively Impact Homeless

James faced the challenges and frustrations of being homeless in Vancouver, Canada—including pandemic disruptions—but he has found housing and started a more permanent job.  A new study by the New Leaf Project found financial self determination opens up doors to positive opportunities from which individuals are empowered to choose (photo: Foundations for Social Change).

By Rich Weiss & Jeneane Vanderhoff

This story was sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NEOSOJO), which is composed of 20-plus Northeast Ohio news outlets including The West Park Times, The Cleveland Street Chronicle, and The Tremonster, each of which contributed significantly to this report.

Thousands of people experience homelessness in Cleveland and Akron every year. But what if these people were given money? Money that they could use to dig their way out of poverty and turn a new leaf?

When the Poverty and Homelessness Beat Reporter for The Tremonster, Jeneane Vanderhoff (currently experiencing homelessness along with her husband, Adam), was considering reporting on any existing solution that might help alleviate the problem of homelessness in Northeast Ohio, she said, “I read a study—I think it was Canada—they just recently gave homeless people $7,500 and saw how the people spent it.  It basically got them out of homelessness.  It did quite a bit to turn their lives around; they really didn’t waste the money—it’s a recent study.”

Our research led us to The New Leaf project in Vancouver, Canada, which recently published the study Vanderhoff had noticed.  The Vancouver-based project demonstrated that money from one-time cash transfers was spent wisely and provided stability in the lives of individuals recently experiencing homelessness.

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