Green Energy Plan Unveiled

COLUMBUS — Renewable energy companies would see a portion of taxes paid by their new employees reinvested in green energy programs under a House plan unveiled Tuesday.

House Speaker Jon Husted, a Dayton-area Republican, proposed creation of an 11-member Ohio Renewable Energy Authority to oversee use of the income taxes earmarked to promote new energy technologies.

Husted said the proposal will be included in debate next year over a sweeping rewrite of Ohio’s energy policy.

Under the plan, the green energy industry would first be given a jump-start from taxes paid by public utility companies and would gradually begin to use money from its own growth to expand more.

The plan entails no new taxes, said House spokeswoman Karen Stivers. It calls for taxes already collected from utilities — and later from employees who land the new jobs created by alternative energy companies — to be spent on renewable energy projects. The state would redirect income taxes paid by new employees of the companies into the energy fund once the fund gets off the ground with utility money.

“This would be based on the very premise that renewable energy is based on, of reinvestment and renewing existing resources for the growth of the industry,” Stivers said.

After an initial infusion of cash, taxes from any growth in solar, wind, biofuel and other renewable energy sources would be directed back to the industry, Husted said. A minimum of $10 million a year would be guaranteed after the first 10 years, according to House estimates.

The governor, speaker and Senate president would each appoint three voting members to the new authority, under Husted’s plan. Its two other members would represent higher education and would not have a vote.

The proposal could offer an alternative to Gov. Ted Strickland’s push to require certain amounts of the state’s energy to be produced using renewable resources by certain deadlines.

Some lawmakers, and particularly utility companies, have argued that the mandates would cause consumers’ electricity rates to rise.

But Husted’s proposal could also work together with Strickland’s proposal, Stivers said.

Strickland spokesman Keith Dailey said the governor supports the proposal’s goal and is reviewing the specifics.

“The governor has long advocated for advanced and renewable energy, which he believes can help to fuel our economic renaissance,” Dailey said.

Husted’s idea was also embraced by environmentalists.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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