FirstEnergy Accountability Coalition
c/o [email protected]
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release, May 20, 2024
Contacts:
Greg Coleridge, [email protected] | Sandy Bolzenius, [email protected]
Coalition Calls for Dissolving FirstEnergy Corporation for Its Admitted Bribes to Pass House Bill 6
A group of environmental and democracy good government organizations and consumers will hold a press conference on Wednesday, May 29 to call for the dissolution of FirstEnergy Corporation. The conference, sponsored by the FirstEnergy Accountability Coalition, will take place at the Governor Thomas Worthington Center, ground level at the Ohio Statehouse, corner of Broad and High streets in Columbus, beginning at 11:30 am.
FirstEnergy Accountability Coalition members believe it’s time to hold FirstEnergy accountable in proportion to the scale of its historic admitted crime of a $61 million payment in 2021 to a nonprofit secretly operated by former GOP Speaker of the Ohio House Larry Householder (now in prison) and another $4.3 million payment to the state’s top utility regulator, Sam Randazzo, who was recently indicted and is now deceased. The bribes were intended to pass House Bill 6 (HB6), a $1.3 billion bailout of two FirstEnergy antiquated, failing nuclear power plants, which would have cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Dissolving the corporation is the proportionate action to respond to the scale of its historic bribery scheme, according to the Coalition.
Press conference speakers will address the harms FirstEnergy has caused to the environment, consumers and to democracy in Ohio. Speakers will also address the historical frequency of corporate charter/license dissolution when companies have violated the terms of their charters/licenses, which have been done to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and to preserve democratic self-governance over the corporate creations of the state.
Following the press conference, attendees will march across the street to the office of Attorney General David Yost. The march will feature banners, signs and handouts calling for Yost to “Unplug FirstEnergy.”
Yost has filed a civil suit against FirstEnergy Corporation, calling for it to be dissolved or reorganized pursuant to the Ohio Revised Code 2923.34(B)(3).
A request has been sent to Yost asking for a meeting with Coalition members urging him to proceed with corporate dissolution of the single contributor to the single largest bribery scheme in Ohio history.
May 29 marks the fifth anniversary of passage of HB6
