Prior to his testimony in Columbus against the public bailout of Ohio’s two ailing nuclear power plants, an energy executive with close ties to two gas-fired electric plants in Lordstown called the proposal “so embarrassingly silly it’s hard to believe it’s actually being debated.”

Now Bill Siderewicz, president of Clean Energy Future and a minority investor in the Lordstown Energy Center, is calling on Ohioans to pressure the governor and lawmakers to suspend the law that provides the financial relief.

“Everyone should be in Columbus forcing (Gov. Mike) DeWine and (the) Legislature to immediately suspend HB 6 pending this case,” Siderewicz wrote in an email Tuesday shortly after news broke that Ohio’s House speaker and others were arrested in a federal bribery case connected to the rescue that became law in July 2019.

And if the accusations prove true, Siderewicz wrote, “Repeal HB 6 in total!!

“In a C-19 (COVID-19) world, why should Ohioans pay an extra $550 mm (million) per year to support fraud!! That is insane!!” Siderewicz wrote.

Tuesday, Republican House Speaker Larry Householder and four other men were arrested in the $60 million bribery case that the U.S. Attorney in southern Ohio called “likely the largest bribery scheme ever perpetrated” against the state.

Householder was one of the driving forces behind the nuclear plants’ financial rescue, which added a new fee to every electricity bill in the state and directed more than $150 million per year through 2026 to the plants near Cleveland and Toledo.

It also scales back and eventually ends requirements that utilities generate more power from wind and solar.

The rescue coming through the Legislature was known as House Bill 6.

“We spoke loudly for two years that HB 6 was s sham!” Siderewicz wrote. “The 81 page FBI indictment spells out why.”

The bill was the driving reason for Siderewicz aborting plans for a third billion-dollar, gas-fired plant in Lordstown. At the time, nearly $1 million had been spent to develop and get permits for the third plant called Lordstown-3.

The financial losses, according to Siderewicz, included 1,100 new local union construction jobs; 2.6 million manhours over the next 34 months to build the plant; $150 million in water purchases from Youngstown; $300 million in local property and income taxes; and $29 billion in economic benefit to the Mahoning Valley over the next 50 years.

Siderewicz also was instrumental in a failed referendum initiative for HB 6. That effort ended in court when a federal judge ruled issues belonged in state court.

Previous attempts to bail out the nuclear plants had stalled before Householder became speaker. Months after taking over, he rolled out a new plan to subsidize the plants and eliminate renewable energy incentives. The proposal was approved a year ago despite opposition from many business leaders and the manufacturing industry.

A criminal complaint filed by the FBI says Generation Now, a group that fought the repeal, received $60 million from an unidentified company over the past three years. In exchange, Householder and the other defendants worked to pass the nuclear plant bailout and block attempts to overturn it.

Householder and the others used the money to preserve and expand his political power in Ohio, the complaint said.

Also arrested were Householder adviser Jeffrey Longstreth, longtime Statehouse lobbyist Neil Clark, former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matthew Borges and Juan Cespedes, co-founder of The Oxley Group, a Columbus-based consulting firm.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

rselak@tribtoday.com