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House Committee Approves Looser Renewable Energy Requirements

Ray Fakhoury, Advanced Energy Economy, testifies against bill that loosens yearly renewable energy requirements on utilities.
Andy Chow
Ray Fakhoury, Advanced Energy Economy, testifies against bill that loosens yearly renewable energy requirements on utilities.

The Ohio House is moving forward with a bill that once again changes the state’s green energy policy landscape -- as a freeze on state green energy standards is set to expire at the end of the year. 

The bill requires utilities to provide an increased amount of renewable energy by the year 2020, instead of smaller benchmarks each year for the next three years.

Ray Fakhoury with the Advanced Energy Economy, an advocate for the green energy industry, says this plan discourages companies from moving to Ohio because the state’s alternative energy policy is constantly changing.

“They can’t just have you come in and have the rug pulled out from underneath them once they’ve set up and they’re expected to operate under certain rules,” said Fakhoury.

Supporters of the bill say this gives more flexibility for utilities to meet the higher benchmark instead of finding low hanging fruit each year.

Copyright 2016 The Statehouse News Bureau

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.