COLUMBUS — "FirstEnergy’s efforts to try to get Ohio politicians to rescue its troubled nuclear power business haven’t come cheap.

Since 2017, FirstEnergy and its allies have spent millions on campaign contributions to Ohio politicians, as well as on lobbying, public relations and advertising, state and federal records show. The time period covers multiple attempts to subsidize the Davis-Besse nuclear plant near Toledo and the Perry nuclear plant, near Cleveland, including a new iteration, a “clean air” bill Republican state lawmakers rolled out on Friday.

Nailing down an exact number is difficult. But the spending can be tracked through two main sources:

· State and federal campaign-finance filings, which detail campaign contributions from FirstEnergy and its allies.

· Filings in the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings for FirstEnergy Solutions, a former subsidiary which FirstEnergy spun off last year as it works to exit the power-plant business. FirstEnergy Solutions now owns the plants, part of a corporate restructuring plan that’s currently before a federal bankruptcy judge in Akron for approval.

Some of that campaigning showed itself on Friday, when state lawmakers rolled out House Bill 6, which would tack new fees onto every electric bill in Ohio, raising $300 million for “clean energy” — including $150 million for the Davis-Besse and Perry plants — while eliminating different charges that fund renewable energy projects. Backers of the plan bill it as a way to fund clean energy and protect jobs, while downplaying the legislation’s origins as a way to rescue the nuclear plants, which together have about 1,400 full-time employees."

— Andrew Tobias, Cleveland Plain Dealer

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