The Ohio Farmers Union has passed a “Special Order of Business” in at least the last three conventions calling on Ohio’s elected leaders in Columbus to preserve landmark, bipartisan legislation passed in 2008 which established energy efficiency and renewable energy mandates for Ohio’s public electrical utilities. Known as “25 by 2025” the 2008 law put utilities on a path toward ensuring that at least 25% of the power they sell in Ohio comes from renewable energy resources.

Despite the fact that the the evidence shows job creation, a reduction in air pollution and even an increase in Payments in Lieu of Taxes in areas where renewable energy projects are creating new businesses and jobs, a minority of well-connected Ohio business and political interests have sought to roll back the mandates on primarily ideological and narrow economic ground.

Here are just a few facts that came out over the course of testimony on S.B. 310:

• Ohio’s four major utilities have spent $456 million on energy efficiency programs – but saved themselves and ratepayers just over $1 billion from 2009 through 2012.
  • AEP Spent: $158 million; Saved: $377 million
  • Dayton Power & Light Spent: $49 million; Saved: $154 million
  • Duke Spent: $90 million; Saved: $197 million
  • FirstEnergy Spent: $159 million; Saved: $317 million
• The numbers above come from the utilities themselves!
• Ohio’s air has been cleaner due to the renewable energy and energy efficiency mandates:
  • Annually, over 9,000 tons of the smog-forming pollutant Nitrogen Oxide has been removed from our air
  • Annually, over 40,000 tons of Sulfur Dioxide – a pollutant linked to asthma and other respiratory problems – has been removed from our air
  • Annually, 1,000 tons of mercury is prevented from entering our air due to the mandates

Call Governor Kasich office today at (614) 466-3555. Give the receptionist your name and hometown and tell them you’re calling to urge the governor to VETO S.B. 310. Tell them you’re concerned about going backwards on air pollution and creating a more diversified energy economy. If you are involved in the renewable energy economy either on your own farm or in an off-farm career, let them know.

The governor is expected to sign S.B. 310, but I can tell you from experience working for members of Congress and former Gov. Strickland that these calls matter. Sometimes they even change minds.

Finally, send this email to your non-OFU friends and contacts. This bill really is a step backward for Ohio and serves only the interests of a very (politically connected) few.