Dive Brief:
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich has signed Senate Bill 310, a Republican-sponsored and utility-backed measure freezing the state’s mandates for renewables and efficiency until 2017.
- The bill was opposed by consumer, business, and environmental coalitions, as well as Honda and Whirlpool, on the grounds that efficiency saves more than it costs and the renewables mandate produced over $1 billion in investments.
- Industrial power users like Timken and Alcoa sided with utilities in support of the legislation on the grounds that utility programs to push electricity usage cuts are redundant to free market drivers and too expensive.
Dive Insight:
The bill also creates a legislative study committee that could recommend the legislature permanently amend or freeze the rules.
The American Lung Association was "extremely disappointed…This was a critical moment in the fight for public health in Ohio…[W]e will take a big step backward.”
The National Wildlife Federation said Kasich and lawmakers picked “the wrong side...” and the law will make Ohio “less competitive…”
The Moms Clean Air Force in Ohio organization called the law "short-sighted" and “a complete dismissal of the children who struggle everyday with asthma and other lung diseases."
The Natural Resources Defense Council predicted lawmakers would have to revise SB310 to comply with the newly proposed EPA emissions reduction rule.
