The Ohio legislature is wrangling with a second attempt in recent years to force energy refineries to hire union workers for safety inspections – despite the current contract workers producing a better safety record. Now, in an incredible development, the United Steelworkers Union (USW) – which represents the vast majority of refinery workers in the […]
Category Archives: energy
Labor Mandate Bill Is Not About Safety, But Making Ohio’s Energy Industry Pay Unions More
Here we go again! Last year, a diverse coalition of the state’s leading industries and employers successfully implored Ohio legislators not to support House Bill 235, the High Hazard Training Certification (HHTC) Act, a job-killing labor mandate. But this June, the same crony-capitalist labor quota bill, which would force Ohio’s petroleum refineries to hire only union […]
Ohioans for Tax Reform Opposes HB 235
January 26, 2022 To: Members of the Ohio House Commerce and Labor Committee From: Ohioans for Tax Reform, Americans for Tax Reform Re: HB 235 Chairman Stein and Members of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, On behalf of Ohioans for Tax Reform, Americans for Tax Reform, and our supporters across the Buckeye State, I […]
Ohio Considers Mandating Union-Only Workers at Refineries
Ohio’s four oil refineries could face onerous new requirements to hire union-only workers under a recently introduced bill. Refineries often use construction crews to complete turnaround projects, in which the entire processing capacity of a plant is taken offline for inspection, improvements, and catalyst regeneration. Turnarounds are already expensive, constituting the most significant portion of […]
Ohio Enacts Bill to Protect Customer Access to Natural Gas
Radical groups have been attacking natural gas in Ohio. In particular, they have been trying to pass local measures that block new natural gas hook ups, putting Ohioans are at risk of losing access to reliable, affordable energy. Fortunately, legislators have responded to this threat, passing House Bill 201 to prevent municipalities throughout the state […]
Ethanol Bill Would Distort Market & Damage Car Engines
With big delays in legislative activity due to coronavirus and a need to focus on economic recovery, it would seem it’s a specifically bad time to impose anti-free market policies. Yet, a bill in the Ohio House of Representatives would create “a nonrefundable income tax credit for the retail sale of high-ethanol blend motor fuel.” […]