JOB CREATION THROUGH SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

I support sustainable energy and restitution for communities impacted disproportionately by fossil fuel industry losses. Renewable energy is an ideal way to create jobs and a strong economy as evidenced in western European nations. Ohio cannot afford to be left behind – we need a renewable energy program that will work towards both addressing climate change and help build a new economy with strong jobs for us. With the skilled and innovative workforce that supports Wright-Patterson AFB, we could and should be leading the rest of the country in developing solutions towards solving the environmental problems the Department of Defense has long asserted are the source of the most serious national security threats we face today.

A HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

I value and respect the environment that we live in here in Greene County, and believe in a society that takes the protection of our habitat seriously. The despoiling and destruction of our natural resources for the profit of a few at the expense of the rest of us, including our future generations, is irresponsible. New development projects should be accurately examined for the impact that they would have on the community around them. This is also why I oppose fracking as unsustainable and destructive, and support a complete ban on the practice. I also vehemently oppose such retrograde policies as the Ohio legislature’s HB6, a shameless bailing out of economically and environmentally failing nuclear power corporations, and doing so at the expense of our investing in the green energy technologies we need today. A comprehensive plan for switching to renewable energies is essential to the future of our county, our state, our nation, and our world, and many states are already on board with making this necessary transformation.

UPDATE: The criminal indictments in July of 2020 of Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and his numerous accomplices in the FirstEnergy racketeering scam that enabled the passage of HB6 in the first place, has only demonstrated my points about 1) the need for a new energy policy in this state, one that isn’t written by and for corporate lobbyists; 2) the corruption in our state governance and how it affects and costs us all, and which my opponent is himself embedded in. The great bulk of the monetary and material backing of his campaign has come directly from or through the very parties now facing federal criminal indictment. These kinds of cozy political relationships with those who wield political power for their benefit at the cost of the rest of us is completely unacceptable, and is the corruption over our governance that I’m running to bring an end to. For we’ll never have a truly effective and sustainable energy policy in this state as long as our lawmaking is being hijacked by this kind of corrupt racketeering control over our legislative policy making.

