Has the FirstEnergy Corp. nuclear bailout scandal claimed another career? On Thursday, FirstEnergy announced that its CEO, Steve Strah, was suddenly retiring the very next day, on Friday, and that the Chairman of the Board, John Somerhalder, will become the interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found. No reason was offered in the FirstEnergy announcement for Strah’s sudden “retirement.”
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FirstEnergy Corp. CEO Steve Strah has an impossible job–to revive the badly tarnished reputation of his company following the biggest bribery scandal in the history of Ohio. Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law).
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. HB 6 empowered FirstEnergy to add a new charge to the electric bills for all ratepayers, on the theory subsidizing nuke plants was a good thing because nukes don’t create carbon dioxide emissions (that extra charge has since been overturned). A group of FirstEnergy ratepayers sued after the scandal broke, and a federal judge has just certified a class action against the company.
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy finally, openly, admitted they paid the bribe money just a few months ago (see FirstEnergy Admits to $61M Payment in Massive Bribery Scandal). Last Thursday the company announced it will pay the federal and Ohio state governments $230 million (split evenly) to make the mess it’s made go away.
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. Last October the FirstEnergy board fired the CEO, Senior VP of Marketing, and Senior VP of External Affairs over the scandal. Add one more to the list…
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy finally, openly, admitted they paid the bribe money just a few months ago (see FirstEnergy Admits to $61M Payment in Massive Bribery Scandal). However, the company refuses to admit that what they did is a crime!
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy finally, openly, admitted they paid the bribe money (see FirstEnergy Admits to $61M Payment in Massive Bribery Scandal). However, the company has refused to admit that what they did is a crime. That appears to be changing.
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Last week, after months and months of dithering around, the Ohio legislature passed a bill that overturns and rescinds House Bill (HB) 6, legislation adopted in 2019 due to $61 million in bribes spread around by FirstEnergy (see Kicking & Screaming, OH Legislature Votes to Overturn HB 6 Nuke Bill). Gov. Mike DeWine signed the new bill overturning HB 6 into law last Wednesday. HB 6 created a new tax on all Ohio electric ratepayers to funnel $150 million per year (for seven years) into FirstEnergy’s coffers in order to prop up the company’s two economically failing nuclear power plants in the state. At least, that was the reason given. Last week FirstEnergy refunded $26 million in previously collected fees back to ratepayers.
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Finally! After months and months of dithering around, the Ohio legislature has passed a bill that will overturn and rescind House Bill (HB) 6, the legislation that got passed due to $61 million in bribes spread around by FirstEnergy in what has become Ohio’s biggest bribery scandal ever (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). HB 6 created a new tax on all Ohio electric ratepayers to funnel $150 million per year (for seven years) into FirstEnergy’s coffers in order to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants in the state.
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Neil Clark, 67, was arrested last July and charged with racketeering as part of a federal investigation into House Bill 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). Clark was a “close political ally of then-House Speaker Larry Householder.” Householder, since removed from his position, seems to be at the center of the scandal. Federal prosecutors described Clark as Householder’s “enforcer” who coordinated supporters and fundraising efforts. Clark was found dead in Florida on Monday.
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Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 is a law granting billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy is finally, openly, admitting they paid the bribe money. Yet the company still refuses to admit that what they did is a crime.
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On Friday, representatives of a “dark money” political action committee called Generation Now signed a guilty plea admitting their part in the biggest bribery scandal to ever hit Ohio. Generation Now was set up as a social welfare nonprofit but in reality was a shell organization that received “tens of millions of dollars” from FirstEnergy as part of a $61 million bribery scandal to pass and keep passed House Bill (HB) 6 which funnels over $1 billion from Ohio ratepayers to FirstEnergy in order to keep the company’s unprofitable nuclear power plants running.
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We continue to peel back the layers of the rotten, smelly, stinky onion that is Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6, a law granting billions (plural) to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $60 million (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has been hammering FirstEnergy with lawsuits since the bribery scandal was first revealed. It looks like Yost (and consequently Ohio residents AND the Ohio Utica Shale industry) has won.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost continues to hammer FirstEnergy Corporation. In November Yost filed a lawsuit to block the collection of $150 million provided for under House Bill (HB) 6, aimed at propping up FirstEnergy’s unprofitable nuclear power plants in the state (see OH AG Files 2nd Lawsuit to Block FirstEnergy $150M Nuke Payments). Yost has just filed another lawsuit, this time aimed at preventing a rate hike from going into effect on FirstEnergy customers across the state.
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FirstEnergy is up to its metaphorical rear-end in alligators. Not only has the Ohio Supreme Court blocked (for now) the collection of annual $150 million payments from the residents of Ohio given to FirstEnergy to prop up its uneconomic nuclear power plants, but multiple (over a dozen) lawsuits have been filed against the company by some of FirstEnergy’s biggest investors alleging fraud that has caused the company’s stock price to plummet.
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It really is frustrating and beyond belief. Republicans in Ohio continue to fiddle around and try to delay overturning House Bill (HB) 6 that gives FirstEnergy a $1.1 billion bailout to keep its economically failing nuclear power plants from closing. The company’s Energy Harbor subsidiary is accused of bribing Ohio House members with $60 million to pass and keep passed HB 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). The stench is beginning to stick to those who refuse to overturn HB 6.
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