It's not too late to sign the petition

If you would like to sign the petition to put the repeal of HB 6 on the ballot, here are some options:

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Oberlin

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Thanks for your support and your interest in going out of your way to help repeal HB 6.

Dark money is pouring in to protect the “worst energy policy in the country”

Mother Jones illustration; Getty

"It all started back in July, when the Ohio state legislature passed a law—called HB6—that, starting next year, will charge consumers new fees to rescue four struggling power plants. Those charges will eventually add up to a $1 billion bailout for the utility FirstEnergy Solutions’ two nuclear plants, while handing a lifeline to two 1950s-era coal plants owned by another utility, the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation.

Because of the law, Ohio is the first state to reverse its renewable energy standards and efficiency targets, all while funneling more money to coal—a move that has clean energy advocates fuming. Leah Stokes, an environmental political science professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, called it the 'worst energy policy in the country.'

But this it isn’t your typical environmentalists-vs.-fossil-fuel-industry fight. The side opposing the bailout has clean-energy advocates working alongside the natural gas industry. And though the supporters of the bailout include some of the usual suspects—FirstEnergy, coal-reliant American Electric Power and Duke Energy, and the coal baron and Trump donor Robert Murray—they have also marshaled a mysterious string of deep-pocketed advocacy groups."

-- Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones

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Editorial: When thugs disrupt electoral process, courts should intervene

"Under state law, the referendum group has until Oct. 21 — 90 days after Gov. Mike DeWine signed HB 6 — to gather 265,774 valid signatures. The federal lawsuit asks a judge to reset the clock for another 90 days to compensate for what the group claims are unconstitutional burdens imposed by state referendum law.

Those include the requirement for the attorney general to approve proposed ballot language — Yost’s approval didn’t come until 40 of the 90 days had elapsed — and a requirement that signature gatherers submit their personal information in a public record.

Organizers of the referendum effort say Generation Now agents are using that information to contact signature gatherers and buy them off.

However the court rules regarding state referendum law, if Yost’s investigation finds criminal conduct by blockers, we hope it will lead to convictions, serious penalties and another chance for the referendum effort if it fails to meet the signature deadline."

-- Editorial Board, The Columbus Dispatch

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