COLUMBUS — “Samuel Randazzo, an attorney and lobbyist known for playing a leading role in political attacks on renewable energy and energy efficiency in Ohio, is the among the candidates vying for a seat on the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).
Randazzo is one of nine candidates who will be interviewed by the PUCO Nominating Council on Thursday. The 12-member council will then select four candidates to recommend to Governor Mike DeWine for further consideration at the same meeting.

…As a lobbyist for the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio (IEU-Ohio), Randazzo helped to draft controversial legislation aimed at rolling back Ohio’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards.

He has represented individual IEU-Ohio member companies like Marathon Petroleum Company before the PUCO as they seek approval for so-called ‘reasonable arrangements’ with utilities. These deals allow some industrial ratepayers to pay lower rates for energy, at the expense of residential consumers.

Randazzo has also fought the development of wind power in Ohio as a lobbyist and attorney for Greenwich Neighbors United, an anti-wind group that refers to climate change as a ‘hoax’ on its website.”

— Dave Anderson, Energy and Policy Institute

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