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Our calls for deeper investigations have been heard as more dark
money has been unearthed, Friend.
An audit from the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provides the most detailed look
yet at the vast sums of money FirstEnergy poured into
dark-money lobbying efforts to pass HB6. The audit flags
$133 million - more than double the $61 million FirstEnergy paid dark money entity
Generation Now.
The audit found
FirstEnergy improperly raised prices on customers and attempted to
“conceal the nature and purpose” of these payments from the
public.
FirstEnergy now has two months to develop a plan to issue
refunds to customers.
It's not just FERC, there are multiple investigations of
FirstEnergy currently underway, including: the U.S. Attorney's Office
for the Southern District of Ohio, the Cincinnati FBI, the IRS, the
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the Securities and Exchange
Commission as well as FirstEnergy's own internal
investigation.
Larry Householder asks judge to
dismiss corruption case
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has asked a federal judge to dismiss the
bribery case against him, claiming prosecutors haven't
proven that he oversaw the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history to
pass House Bill 6.
Householder's attorneys are citing that here was no
“explicit” quid pro quo despite FirstEnergy’s deferred prosecution
agreement admitting to using a nonprofit to “conceal payments for the
benefit of public officials and in return for official action.”
All of the candidates for governor are weighing in on the findings of the
latest investigation into FirstEnergy’s bribe payments and political
spending, yet...
Nothing but silence from the
Governor Mike DeWine
The corruption surrounding House Bill 6 has exposed a
regulatory failure of the first magnitude.
Governor DeWine can’t run from energy bailout
bribery scandal as dirty laundry keeps piling
up. As Marilou Johanek writes in a
recent column:
He had put the full weight of the governor’s office behind
the nuclear bailout bill and signed the corrupt measure into law the
very day it passed. The “energy” legislation championed by
DeWine also put ratepayers on the
hook to bail out two money-losing, hyper-polluting coal plants (one in
Indiana) partially owned by other utilities and two
FirstEnergy subsidiaries. Plus, the bailout
boondoggle the governor couldn’t sign fast enough thoroughly gutted
renewable energy and energy efficiency standards and removed all
incentive to build more renewable energy projects in the
state.
Is it too much to expect that the
governor looks out for Ohioans? What is he waiting for?
Please help us keep
the pressure on and hold policy makers
accountable
We deserve justice!
Ohio
Citizen
Action
P.S. Please register for our upcoming event, The Intersection of Racial Justice and Climate
Action.
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