KASICH.JPG

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's mid-biennium review has a far too expensive gift to Duke Energy and other utilities in it -- and we're paying for it.

(Rick Osentoski, AP)

Tucked into Gov. John Kasich's mid-biennium review package is a section that could saddle Ohio homeowners, renters and businesses with higher monthly natural gas bills.

At issue are cleanup costs that Ohio utilities may face for abandoned manufactured-gas plants.

Before natural gas became widely distributed, utilities manufactured gas. They heated coal or coke, then sold the resulting gas, initially to provide lighting. The early link to lighting is why what today are all-electric Ohio utilities, not just gas-and-electric or gas-only utilities, may own old manufactured-gas sites. There may be more than 90 such old gas plant sites in Ohio.

In a 3-2 decision last fall, now under appeal to the state Supreme Court, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio agreed to let North Carolina-based Duke Energy saddle Duke's Ohio ratepayers with $56 million in cleanup costs for two old manufactured-gas plants in Cincinnati. One of the Cincinnati plants last produced gas in 1928. Calvin Coolidge was president. The other plant last produced gas in 1963. John F. Kennedy was alive.

About our editorials

Plain Dealer editorials express the view of the

the publisher, editor and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the newspaper.

• Talk about the topic of this editorial in the comments below.

• Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

• Email general questions or comments about the editorial board to Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director for the Northeast Ohio Media Group.

For decades, though, Ohio ratemaking has required utility property and equipment to be "used and useful" before their costs may be figured in setting rates. It now appears, at least as to the two old Cincinnati plants, that a PUCO majority is willing to overlook that requirement. Among those appealing the ruling are the Office of Consumers' Counsel, the Ohio Manufacturers' Association and the Kroger Co.

Other utilities know a sweet deal when they see it, and Kasich's mid-biennium review bill includes a section that could — by, in effect, writing the PUCO's Duke decision into Ohio law — let other utilities recover cleanup costs for old gas plants if the property "is or was used for the provision of public utility service." (Emphasis added.) Thus, Ohioans may be forced to pay for pollution a utility produced in lighting or heating their great-grandparent's houses — not their own. It should be a problem for stockholders.

Kasich's administration argues, in so many words, that the manufactured-gas provision, fairly considered, is pro-environment. If so, it will withstand thorough, full, extended General Assembly debate. If, instead, GOP leaders ram the ratemaking language through the Statehouse, that will amount to an admission that the proposal is just what it seems to be: a brazen giveaway.

This editorial was fixed at 9:04 am to correct an editing error regarding John F. Kennedy's name.