To the editor:

The Ohio House of Representatives is set to vote on House Bill 6. We are being told through TV ads that it is a bill that will support clean air, and if it is not passed jobs will be lost. Don’t be fooled by these ads, which are funded by corporate interests.

HB 6 creates a new tax which will be paid by all Ohio utility customers (that’s you and me) to fund the Ohio Clean Air Program. Our monthly AEP bill, for instance, will be more that we are paying right now. This program is a $190 million tax to bail out FirstEnergy’s nuclear plants in Northern Ohio and coal-burning plants, including one in Indiana.

The legislation does not provide any state support for clean energy sources such as wind or solar. It is strictly a bailout for nuclear and coal. It also is riddled with hidden fees and costs that we will be forced to pay in the future, and is just another blank check written on our incomes payable to corporate utility interests.

If your monthly utility bills are eating up a sizable portion of your income and you do not want them to get any bigger, please contact your congressman in the Ohio House of Representatives and ask them to vote “no” on House Bill 6.

Don’t know how to contact your representative? Check out the box titled “Call your congressman” that appears on the opinion page of the Herald-Star. Don’t really want to talk to someone? Call during non-business hours and leave a short message — stating your name, address and phone number and say, “I am calling to ask you to vote ‘no’ on House Bill 6,” and hang up.

Esther Fugett

Wintersville