What are Ohio’s Clean Energy Laws?
Ohio is one of many states that has set goals for its electric utilities in regards to how much of the state’s energy needs must be met through renewable resources and how much energy they save by being more efficient in their use.
In Ohio, these goals come in the form of an Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (AERS) and an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS).
Together, these two standards are Ohio’s Clean Energy Laws.
The overarching goal of Ohio’s Clean Energy Laws is three-fold:
Should Ohio raise taxes (a "frack tax") on the lucrative oil and gas industry to help protect human health and our air, land, and water? The OEC says yes!
The Issue
Ohio Governor John Kasich has proposed to increase the state’s severance tax on oil and gas production.
The Ohio Environmental Council supports an increase in the state’s severance tax.
In May 2008, Ohio enacted landmark clean energy legislation (SB 221) that created a state plan for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
This legislation requires electric utilities to generate 12.5% of electricity sales from renewable energy sources and enact efficiency programs to reduce energy consumption by 22% by 2025.
Additionally, the law has a pro-consumer cap to protect ratepayers and ensure the benefits of the program outweigh the costs.
The Clean Ohio Fund is a $400 million state bond initiative first approved by Ohio voters in 2000.
In 2008, it was overwhelmingly renewed in all 88 counties with strong bipartisan support from the executive and legislative leadership.
The rush to unconventional gas drilling poses risks to Ohio’s communities and natural resources.
Overview
A relatively new drilling technology — known as high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing — now makes it possible to reach natural gas reserves that underlie much of the state of Ohio.
Commonly referred to as “horizontal hydrofracking” or just “fracking,” drilling into deep-shale formations requries more land, water, and chemicals than conventional oil and gas drilling.
The Problem
The exhaust rolling out from that diesel engine in front of you not only looks and smells bad, it is also bad for your health.
Diesel engines are a source of many different dangerous air pollutants which affect human health and our community’s ability to meet and maintain federal Clean Air Act standards.
Particulate pollution which is also known as soot, can penetrate deep in the lungs and trigger breathing ailments and heart attacks.
Overview
Businesses along the Lake Erie shoreline, such as recreation and sport fishing, generate more than $11.5 billion in revenue and support more than 117,500 jobs. This economic driver is put at risk by harmful algal blooms.
In 2012, the Ohio General Assembly, led by (then-Representative) Senator Randy Gardner, appropriated a one-time $3.35 million state investment in a Healthy Lake Erie Fund, which was used to support water quality monitoring, conservation pilot projects, and research in support of nutrient reduction efforts in the Lake Erie watershed.
“Vernal pools” are wetlands that fill up annually but typically dry out during part of the year.
These usually small but very dynamic, wetlands fill with water, blossom with life and host a cacophony of sounds and a plethora of life forms every spring, only to disappear into the forest floor every autumn.
Vernal pools are miniature, fascinatingly complex and fragile worlds of activity, which play out their drama in a few months every year.
Ohio EPA is currently working on a new set of Water Quality Standards and Water Quality Criteria that will govern our waters for years to come. Taken as a whole, these rules represent the State’s framework for regulating impacts to our water quality.
Outdoor wood-fired boilers (OWB), also called hydronic heaters, are freestanding wood burning devices that heat water, which is then pumped to one or more structures to provide heat.
