Ohio lawmakers have found a new way to attack renewable energy without explicitly saying they’re against it, say the hosts of Today in Ohio.

Ohio Republicans are pushing Senate Bill 294, which cleverly redefines what counts as “affordable, reliable and clean energy” to effectively exclude solar and wind power from the state’s energy future.

“This is the state of Ohio outlawing green energy because they’re in the pockets of the gas and oil industry,” Chris Quinn said on Monday’s episode, cutting through the euphemistic language used by lawmakers.

The bill’s proponents claim they’re simply ensuring reliable power for Ohioans. However, as Laura Johnston pointed out during the podcast, this argument deliberately ignores modern energy storage solutions:

“They’re saying they want reliable energy, which they say can’t be solar or wind because you can’t generate it all the time, even though it obviously can be reliably stored. And they’re not taking batteries into account here.”

The Today in Ohio hosts exposed the financial motivation behind the bill. While lawmakers present it as protecting reliability, the legislation serves fossil fuel interests by creating barriers to renewable projects that don’t require government handouts to be built.

“This is just a gigantic lie,” Quinn said, clearly frustrated. “There’s no reason to say either-or. If somebody wants to build the solar farm, it’s added power generation. Who cares if it’s intermittent? It’s more.”

Johnston spoke of the economic impact this could have on everyday Ohioans, citing an analysis showing the long-term costs of excluding renewable energy:

“It’s going to cost the average Ohio customer a total of $6,500 by 2035. That is real money that Republican lawmakers want to cost all of their constituents because they want to give only to the natural gas companies.”

The podcast hosts also pointed out the intellectual dishonesty of the bill’s language, particularly its use of the word “clean” to describe fossil fuels. “They’re saying clean meets national air quality rules set by the US EPA… That’s the very bottom of the bottom line,” Johnston said, highlighting how the legislation co-opts environmental terminology while establishing the bare minimum standards.

The discussion framed the legislation as part of a pattern in Ohio politics, coming amid the ongoing FirstEnergy corruption trial.

“It’s a false construction to make it sound like it’s an either-or,” Quinn said. “If investors want to come into Ohio and put up solar and wind farms, there’s no reason to say no. “

Listen to the discussion here.