Petition drive launched to reverse aid to Ohio's nuclear plants

SANDUSKY — A group seeking a state question to overturn the law that saved the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant has taken the next step.Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts said Friday it started to circulate petitions and plans to get a state question on the November 2020 ballot.If the state question gets approved, it would overturn House Bill 6, which provided subsidies to keep Ohio's two nuclear power plants open.The petition drive must collect 265,744 valid signatures by Oct. 21 to put the issue on next year's ballot, the group said.Attorney General Dave Yost cleared the way for the petition drive Thursday when he announced he has approved summary language for the proposed referendum.Yost had rejected a previous summary as inaccurate but gave a thumb's up after a revised summary was submitted."Without passing on the advisability of the approval or rejection of the measure … I hereby certify that the summary is a fair and truthful statement of the measure to be referred," Yost said.Yost's office said the petitioners working for Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts must collect signatures from registered voters in each of 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, equal to 3 percent of the total vote cast in the county for the governor's race in the last election.The signatures also must equal 6 percent of the total votes cast for governor.Meanwhile, a group called Ohioans for Energy Security has launched a website and run TV ads claiming the new petition drive is a plot to put Ohio's energy grid "in the hands of the Chinese government."The website warns Ohio voters not to sign the petition and "give your personal information to the Chinese government."To back its claims, Ohioans for Energy Security cites investments in Ohio clean energy projects by Chinese banks.A spokesman for Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, Gene Pierce, said the claims are ridiculous, calling them "a new low in Ohio politics.""These ads are designed to intimidate and threaten our petitioners who are exercising their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to place this ridiculous bailout on the ballot," Pierce said. "This is the kind of garbage that will get someone hurt and we will hold all parties associated with their campaign responsible for any harm that comes to our circulators."The Davis-Besse nuclear power plant.