COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A proposal to adjust Ohio’srenewable energy and efficiency mandates stalled
for a second time onWednesday amid opposition from environmental and consumer interests andsome majority
Republican lawmakers.Senate Public UtilitiesChairman Bill Seitz, who sponsored the measure, cancelled a
scheduledcommittee vote Wednesday, signaling an uncertain fate for the sweepingbill."This decision
reflects nothing more than my adherence tothe principle that it is more important to get this complex
subject doneright than to get it done quickly," he said in a statement.Seitz,a Cincinnati Republican,
had made significant revisions to the billafter it stalled before Thanksgiving in hopes of lining up
neededcommittee support. That included removing a provision that would haveallowed power companies to opt
out of meeting some state alternativeenergy requirements.But opponents continued to balk.Stateand national
advocacy groups struck out against the measure, saying itwould harm Ohio’s budding renewables industry, hike
electricity billsfor Ohio residents and businesses and favor politically generous utilityexecutives over
average consumers.The Union of Concerned Scientists submitted a petition to Seitz on Monday questioning the
goals of the legislation."Renewableenergy generation in the Buckeye State has nearly tripled since
2008,and Ohioans are benefiting from downward pressure on wholesaleelectricity prices and reduced
pollution," the group wrote."Energyefficiency programs have reduced energy demand by billions
ofkilowatt-hours and saved consumers millions of dollars. Ohio is now hometo thousands of clean energy jobs
thanks to the investments energyefficiency, solar, and wind companies have made in our
communities,"they told Seitz.Meanwhile, the liberal think tank Innovation Ohioreleased a campaign
finance analysis showing Ohio’s four major electricutilities have contributed nearly $2.7 million to
gubernatorial andlegislative candidates and statewide political parties in Ohio since May2008. More than
half of that went to current members of theLegislature, the review found."The utilities, armed with
amountain of cash and an army of lobbyists, have spent five years givinggenerously to the very people who
could enact a change in the law thatwould benefit their bottom lines while costing Ohioans more on
theirelectricity bills and jeopardize jobs in the state’s emerging energysector," the report
said.Seitz’s bill revisited a 2008 Ohio lawunder which utilities were required to produce 12.5 percent of
theirenergy from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and hydropower, by2025. Another 12.5 percent must
come from so-called "advanced energy,"such as clean coal or a state-of-the-art nuclear reactor, in
what’s beencalled the "25 by ’25" standard.Seitz argues that Ohio’sin-state renewables mandates —
which he labels "envirosocialist" — needto be addressed before they risk being declared
unconstitutional, assimilar rules have been elsewhere in the U.S.He said Wednesday hewill proceed on the
issue along three paths: pursuing a compromise onthe sidelined bill; holding extensive hearings on separate
legislationthat would completely wipe out the 2008 mandates; and mapping a legalstrategy through meetings
with interested parties aimed at "judicialinvalidation" of Ohio’s mandates."Approximately
half the statesthat have renewable portfolio standard mandates have mandates that areless costly and less
ambitious than Ohio’s," Seitz said. "In most cases,those states’ mandates do not include
unconstitutional and uneconomicrequirements that renewable power emanate from sources located in thatstate,
to the exclusion of cheaper sources from elsewhere in the UnitedStates."It was not clear whether Gov.
John Kasich, a fellow Republican, would go along with wiping out the mandates.Thecompany Enerfab has
scheduled a ribbon-cutting event in Seitz’shometown Thursday to tout an energy initiative backed by Kasich
thatcould be jeopardized by the sidelined renewables legislation.TheKasich-backed law, which took effect in
September 2012, bolstered marketopportunities for energy-efficient combined heat and power systems
byproviding incentives paid for through Ohio electric utilities’ energyefficiency rebates. The governor’s
energy adviser is expected at theevent.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This
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