The repeal of scandal-ridden House Bill 6 is incomplete without a full repeal of the corporate bailout for the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation (OVEC) coal plants—Kyger Creek in Ohio and Clifty Creek in Indiana. These dirty, expensive cold-war era plants are massive contributors to climate change, poor air quality, and raise Ohioans' bills.

Ohioans should not be on the hook for AEP, Duke, and AES Ohio’s bad bet on the OVEC plants, and they certainly should not be on the hook for the expanded and extended OVEC bailout passed as part of the corrupt HB 6.

It should not fall on Ohioans to pay more each month, at the enormous price tag of $150 million per year, to bail out two dirty, inefficient, expensive 1950s coal plants for the next decade. These plants should be retired, not bailed out. Passing legislation to end these subsidies is the first step.

House Bill 351 would send the question of whether or not Ohioans should be on the hook to subsidize these coal plants back to the PUCO, which is charged with protecting customers from unnecessary and excessive costs. The OVEC owners—AEP, Duke, AES Ohio—should take responsibility for the bad decisions they’ve made to continue operating these polluting power plants that do not benefit Ohioans.

HB 351 should also be passed so FirstEnergy customers will no longer be paying monthly to prop up the OVEC plants—a cost they weren’t paying before HB6 was signed into law.

HB 351 must be passed to repeal one of the most egregious and detrimental parts of HB 6 that is still left on the books. Ohioans should dictate what goes into legislation, not big companies like AEP, Duke, and AES Ohio.