Ohio Gov. John Kasich takes on renewable energy requirement foes

Ohio governor and presidential candidate John Kasich offered strong words of support for Ohio’s renewable energy requirement laws today.

Passed in 2008, Ohio’s law required that 25 percent of the state’s electricity be generated with “alternative technologies” by 2025. However, in 2014 Gov. Kasich signed a bill that froze the requirement for two years. Now that the moratorium is ending, the governor made clear it’s time for Ohio to resume forward progress.

Here’s what he had to say:

“But some wanted to basically, in my opinion, stop the development of solar and wind and even efficiency standards. They said, ‘OK, it’s good enough.’ I’m like, ‘That’s not acceptable.’”

Gov. Kasich continued, ”We need to drive efficiency in this country. We should have been doing it … 40 years ago. Of course we like solar.”

“And we like wind.”

“We are going to have the development of solar and wind, and if the legislature wants to gut it, then I am going to go back to the goal that we had, which was unpalatable. I am not playing around with this.”