FirstEnergy Solutions' Chapter 11 continues

"Bloomberg Law reported that Koschik this week ruled in favor of FES over environmentalists on an issue involving long-term plans to clean up nuclear waste at the company's plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The company is still wrangling with the issue of how to deal with its unions after leaving bankruptcy, though, and has faced complaints about its reported plans to use its Chapter 11 case to cancel union contracts.

FES CEO John Judge addressed that topic in an Aug. 18 column in the Columbus Dispatch.

'The company has proposed to keep all wages, wage increases and work rules the same as in the existing contracts. We also have agreed to keep all medical, dental, time off and other benefits the same for the employees as in our existing contracts. Through an agreement with FirstEnergy Corp., we have ensured that all employees will receive any benefits they have earned under the existing FirstEnergy Corp. pension plan,' Judge wrote."

- Dan Shingler, Crain's Cleveland Business 

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House Bill 6 opponents seek ballot decision

State Representative Shane Wilkin

"Friday’s submission included revised summary petition language and the signatures of 2,246 Ohio voters.

Both the attorney general and secretary of state’s office have until Aug. 30 to certify the petition, the group said.

If approved, the referendum campaign said it would begin collecting the roughly 265,000 signatures of Ohio voters needed to place the issue on the November 2020 general election ballot, with the deadline for obtaining those signatures two months away on Oct. 21, 2019.

Wilkin previously told The Times-Gazette that his view of the bill from the very beginning was that it had to bring with it a rate reduction for consumers, and despite the differences in what he originally co-sponsored and what the governor signed, he still holds that it’s a good bill.

Gene Pierce of OACB strongly disagreed with Wilkin’s assessment, describing House Bill 6 as 'a wrong-headed decision that makes government the final judge as to what companies survive and which ones don’t,' adding that in his group’s view, it should be the free market and free market prices that decide, and not 'a universal hike in fees on people that use electricity.'”

– Tim Colliver, The Times-Gazette

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Group that wants Ohio voters to decide on nuclear plants bailout submits revised petition

"A group that wants voters to decide whether Ohio should bail out nuclear-power plants has submitted new summary petition language to the state after Attorney General Dave Yost rejected its initial petition Monday.

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts provided the second summary petition along with 2,246 signatures to Yost and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Friday. In rejecting the original language, Yost said the summary was not 'fair and truthful' as the Ohio law requires, pointing out what he said were 21 inaccuracies and omissions.

The group wants voters to decide whether to overturn the new state law that would force electricity ratepayers to subsidize two of Akron-based FirstEnergy Solutions nuclear power plants.

If the petition clears Yost’s office, it then would go to LaRose’s office. If approved there, the group would need to gather signatures from 265,774 registered voters from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties by Oct. 21, 2019, to make the November 2020 ballot."

- Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch 

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