COLUMBUS, Ohio – A ballot effort in Ohio to require billions of dollars in state investment in alternative energy has hit a snag after supporters revised the proposal.
Meanwhile, opponents of an energy bill in the Statehouse are taking their battle to the TV airwaves.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine on Monday rejected the petition Monday for the Ohio Clean Energy Initiative, saying the proposed constitutional amendment didn’t meet a signature requirement. DeWine said the submission received on May 9 contained only 836 valid signatures, short of the 1,000 signatures that were needed.
The amendment calls for $1.3 billion in annual investments over a decade in infrastructure, research and development related to solar, wind and other energy sources.
The attorney general and state Ballot Board previously cleared a similar proposal last year but an attorney for its supporters said they revised the timing of the issuance of bonds under the amendment and had to refile their petition.
Clean-energy advocates are taking their push to retain Ohio’s renewable energy and efficiency standards to the airwaves.
Protecting Ohio’s Energy Future, a coalition led by alternative-energy businesses, says a new television ad began airing Monday in Columbus and may appear elsewhere in the state later.
The coalition opposes a bill that allows electric companies a two-year pause in meeting targets set in 2008 for use of wind, solar and other energy alternatives.
The ad says clean energy jobs helped Ohio recover from the economic downturn and removing the standards will return the state to its Rust Belt past.
The bill, considered the most successful of its kind in the country so far, cleared the Ohio Senate last week and is scheduled for a House committee hearing Tuesday.
Backers of the legislation say the targets are difficult to meet reliably and drive up Ohio electricity prices.