The Ohio Conservative Energy Forum was incorporated as a charitable organization in Ohio on August 4, 2016 by Columbus attorney and lobbyist Terrence O’Donnell.  See link to filing here.
 
According to his lobbying reports, O’Donnell represents a who’s who of left wing, alternative energy organizations.  These include Advanced Energy Economy, Apex Clean Energy, Carbon Solutions Group, EDP Renewables, Green Tech Action Fund, Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation, and Open Road Renewables.  According to its website, the Green Tech Action Fund is affiliated with the Energy Foundation. 
 
Tyler Duvelius is the current Executive Director of the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum.  He previously served as the State Director of the Ohio Christian Coalition.  According to the 2016 IRS 990 form for the Green Tech Action Fund, $79,000 was granted to the Christian Coalition of America to conduct a clean energy digital ad campaign and support the Ohio state director. 
 
According to that same tax return, a grant of $60,000 was given to the Advance Energy Forum to support a digital advertising campaign in Ohio.  Another $20,000 was given to the Wind Energy Foundation for that same purpose. 
 
Bill Byers and Greg Bennett have lobbied for the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum since 2015.  According to their lobbying reports, the address for the group is the same address as The Energy Foundation and its affiliated Green Tech Action Fund in San Francisco. 
 
Michael Hartley has been identified as both the founder and a consultant for the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum.  Hartley is a former John Kasich staffer and the current President of Swing State Strategies, a GOP public affairs consulting firm. 
 
As I have previously written, the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum is actually an effort by left wing, California based liberal organizations to coopt and corrupt Ohio Republicans.  There is nothing conservative or Ohio about this group.

Once again, some GOP hired guns using the name Ohio Conservative Energy Forum are touting a poll purportedly showing that Ohio conservatives just love "clean energy".  Don't be fooled.  There is nothing conservative or Ohio about this group.

In fact, this is just the latest effort by far left, San Francisco based liberals to infiltrate and coopt Ohio Republicans.  According to their lobbying reports, the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum is simply a front for the San Francisco based Energy Foundation.  Here's how Influence Watch describes the Energy Foundation:

The Energy Foundation is a left-of-center “pass through” charitable foundation founded by and supported by a network of left-wing organizations. The Foundation began in January 1991 as a $20 million collaborative between the Pew Charitable Trusts, Rockefeller Foundations, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and has subsequently grown in partnerships and funding.[1] The Energy Foundation describes itself as a nonpartisan “grantmaker,” with a focus on building a “new energy economy.”[2] In reality, it is a medium for bundling vast sums of money from donors to far-left political causes, under the guise of philanthropy.

In December 2013, the Alabama Coal Association (ACA) accused several organizations of promoting a “war on coal.” The ACA cited roughly $3 million in grants given to anti-coal groups by the Energy Foundation, including the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Federal filings show that the grant intent was “the accelerated retirement of conventional coal-fired plants.”[34]

Don't be fooled.  The Ohio Conservative Energy Forum is a liberal, San Francisco wolf in sheep clothing.  ​

My letter on Ohio's Nuclear Plants ran recently in the Toledo Blade.  ICYMI, here it is:

Closing nukes bad for economy

Bad government decisions are crippling Ohio’s most important and reliable energy source, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and the quality of our air along the way.

In recent years, nuclear energy has been placed at a competitive disadvantage by outrageous corporate welfare handouts lavished on other energy producers.

Excessive regulation by the federal government is preventing construction and renovation of nuclear power plants. Over the past decade, plans for more than 30 new nuclear reactors have been scrapped. To make matters worse, the federal government began pouring tax dollars into subsidies for unproven and unrealistic solar and wind projects. During President Obama’s tenure in office, the federal government spent more than $300 billion on handouts to green energy schemes -- many of which never got off the ground.

The government’s cold shoulder towards nuclear is particularly problematic here in the Buckeye State. Nuclear energy is responsible for 90 percent of Ohio’s carbon-free energy. The state’s two nuclear power stations — Davis-Besse and Perry — produce enough electricity each year to power 1.7 million homes.

Ohio’s nuclear power plants contribute half a billion dollars to the state’s economy annually, according to the Brattle Group, an economic research firm. The plants also generate more than $30 million in tax revenue for the state and local governments that goes to fund essential services such as local law enforcement and first responders.

Further, the Brattle Group estimates that having low-cost nuclear energy in the state’s electric mix reduces power bills for Ohio’s electric customers by $400 million a year, leaving more money in the pockets of hard-working Ohioans.

Perhaps most importantly, 4,300 Ohio families rely on jobs supported by the state’s nuclear power industry. Those jobs would be lost if government policies force the state’s nuclear power stations to close.

The plants that would replace Ohio’s two nuclear plants if they close in the next two years would not come close to replacing the number of jobs that we would lose. According to the Energy Information Administration, a nuclear plant with 838 megawatt capacity employs about 600 people while a natural gas plant with 627 megawatt capacity employs less than 5 percent of that: 22 employees. Once a gas plant has been built, the bulk of the jobs they produce disappear as construction workers move on.

If we allow Perry and Davis-Besse to close, we’d be replacing hundreds of high-paying, high-skilled jobs with something that equates to a small fraction of that amount. Or even worse, that energy may be imported from outside of Ohio and other states would see the benefit of our failed policy approach.

That being said, the importance of saving these plants is not just about jobs and the economy. Nuclear power also allows Ohioans to breathe a little easier -- literally.

While electricity generated from natural gas may be better than coal-burning power plants, it is still much worse than nuclear energy. Natural gas is lauded for emitting about half of the carbon dioxide as coal, but nuclear power produces no carbon dioxide emissions at all, and no air pollution whatsoever. The only byproduct of nuclear power is water vapor.

Clearly, nuclear energy is dramatically cleaner than fossil fuel-burning power plants and provides many more jobs. And despite receiving billions of dollars in subsidies, renewables are not close to matching the scale of nuclear energy. In fact, only 1.7 percent of Ohio’s electricity is generated from hydroelectric, solar and wind power combined.

Despite the undeniable economic benefits of nuclear energy in Ohio, unreasonable regulations and unfair subsidies have pushed the state’s two nuclear power stations to the brink of closing. If these plants close, electric bills for average households are expected to increase as well. Ohio residents can’t afford to pay more money and lose thousands of jobs.

Federal and state lawmakers must stop only rewarding the forms of energy that do more harm than good. Ohio’s economic future depends on it.

SCOTT PULLINS
Mt. Vernon, Ohio

​Scott Pullins is an Ohio attorney, consultant and political writer. He is the founder of the Ohio Taxpayers Association. For further information, please visit www.scottpullins.com and www.ohiotaxpayers.org.