BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Bowling Green leaders and residents displayed their disapproval of House Bill 6 on Monday afternoon. Protesters gathered at the city’s Wooster Green site to speak out.
H.B. 6 would provide subsidies for nuclear and coal power and take away from subsidies for green power. It has already passed in the Ohio House and is now going to the Senate. The bill was backed by Haraz Ghanbari (R., Perrysburg) who represents Wood County in the Ohio House.
Bowling Green City Council leaders said the bill would not only be harmful to the environment in the long run, but would also cost Bowling Green a lot of money. Bowling Green Mayor Dick Edwards said if passed, the bill would cost the city around $400,000 a year.
“It’s not a good deal for us. It's not a good deal for Bowling Green. We did not have a seat at the table,” said Bowling Green City Council member Bruce Jeffers.
Leaders in Bowling Green said they are upset and concerned about what will happen with all of the renewable energy sources they've put in place to go green and save money in the long run.
“We are glad to have all of these things but we're not going to get the cost benefit we were planning on for these types of projects,” Jeffers said.
The $400,000 a year in potential losses is an approximation of what may be lost through reduced revenue from Renewable Energy Credit sales, said Assistant Municipal Administrator Joe Fawcett.
"Revenue such as this is separated as other utility revenue is in Bowling Green - i.e. electric sales, water and sewer sales, etc. These funds are exclusively used for utilities, not the general operation of the City. As you can imagine, if the $400,000 figure comes to fruition, the revenue will have to made up from somewhere - which would most likely mean some sort of rate increase," Fawcett said.
Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R., Bowling Green) said the bill will have to undergo intense scrutiny in the Senate. She has been speaking with those on both sides of the bill throughout the past few weeks.
“There are a lot of communities that would be impacted by any piece of legislation such as this, so I want to make sure I'm doing the best I can to represent the people I serve,” Gavarone said.
Representative Ghanbari backed the bill in the Ohio House. Bowling Green leaders said they were confused as to why he did not give them a seat at the table.
“I don’t know why Representative Ghanbari is going along with this deal. It's not good for Bowling Green or Wood County,” Jeffers said.
Supporters of H.B. 6, including Representative Ghanbari, said it would lower people’s energy bills. Ghanbari believes it would provide multiple sources of energy, not just wind and solar.
However, Bowling Green mayor, Dick Edwards said he's not convinced.
“I’ve heard that, but I’ve yet to see that aspect of it. We’re hoping very much that the bill can be amended in some way to factor in some of the things that have been so important for Bowling Green’s ability to grow our renewable energy programs," he said.
The bill would help companies like First Energy, which operates the Davis Besse and Perry Nuclear power plants. First Energy representatives said that the future of those plants, and the hundreds of people who work there, depends on this bill.
Ghanbari said he's aware of the backlash this bill has received in Bowling Green and promised there will be legislation in the near future that will address the concerns those in Bowling Green have regarding H.B. 6.
“I’m not against wind, I’m not against solar and I’m not against hydro. But here we are, in Bowling Green, Ohio; the suns not shining and the wind is not blowing. We need to make sure when those things aren’t happening we still have alternate methods of producing energy," Ghanbari said. "And most importantly, it’s going to lower everyone’s energy bills here in Wood county and across the state of Ohio."
The bill will be voted on in the Ohio Senate next week.