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Anti-solar activist confirms ties to gas industry, dark money group
2024-08-28
Jared Yost, leader of the anti-solar Knox Smart Development group, confirmed in recent sworn testimony before the Ohio Power Siting Board that his group was supported by the Ariel Corp. and its allied Empowerment Alliance. Checks & Balances Project reported last March that Yost was a former employee of Ariel, whose former CEO is one… Read more »
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Stonewalling public disclosure, a PUCO tradition, continues
2024-06-5
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio continues to stonewall requests for the names of staff members who recommended a protective order that hid key details of its audit into the state’s corrupt HB 6 law. PUCO lawyers continue to claim they have no records about the staff’s recommendation to grant the order issued last July…. Read more »
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Unlike Ohio’s PUCO, Michigan PSC no pushover on protective orders
2024-05-12
Not only did the Michigan regulators go beyond the timid Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in pulling back higher electricity prices charged by the Ohio Valley Electric Corp., they limited the amount of information covered by protective orders. Checks & Balances Project has revealed how PUCO staffers gave the utilities that share ownership of OVEC… Read more »
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Michigan losing patience with Rockport plant’s excessive costs
2024-04-19
The days of Indiana Michigan Power overcharging for electricity produced by its Rockport power plant may be ending, as Michigan regulators have rejected more than $10 million in costs the company tried to pass on to consumers. “The Commission found that the costs of energy generated by the Rockport plant were well above other long-term… Read more »
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Anti-solar activists show dismay about Frasier Solar testimony
2024-04-5
Anti-solar activists used to spreading disinformation to supportive audiences expressed dismay Thursday as solar supporters presented their case for the 800-acre Frasier project in Knox County, Ohio. “For the first hour and a half there was literally 1 opponent- Barry Lester,” one commenter on the Knox Smart Development Facebook page said. “How did this happen?… Read more »
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Latest Ohio indictment ties Householder with other HB 6 conspirators
2024-03-26
By indicting former Ohio House speaker Larry Householder on 10 counts of corruption, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has closed the circle around the four men most responsible for the HB 6 scandal. In February, Yost indicted the two FirstEnergy officials — Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling — and former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio… Read more »
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Shadow of gas industry hovered over anti-solar rally
2024-03-6
To hear anti-renewable energy pundit Robert Bryce tell it, the fight over a proposed solar project in Knox County, Ohio, is between “big banks, big law firms and big NGOs” trying to steamroll plucky residents in rural America despised by urban elites. Except in this case, rural America is represented by the Ariel Corp., the… Read more »
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Will end of HB 6 stays awake sleeping PUCO watchdog?
2024-02-27
The unfreezing of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s investigations into HB 6 gives the beleaguered agency a chance to demonstrate independence from the utilities that saddled ratepayers with unfair and higher electric bills. PUCO issued its first stay of its HB 6 investigations on Aug. 24, 2022, two years after the indictments of former… Read more »
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