Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who lost his bid earlier this year for the GOP presidential nomination, reiterated an earlier threat to state legislators that he would veto any attempt to eliminate or further delay implementation of energy efficiency and renewable standards. A law passed in 2008 requires utilities to derive a certain percentage of their energy from renewables and also provides efficiency measures for households to reduce energy use, but two years ago Kasich signed a freeze on those standards, which he labeled “unrealistic.” As the end of the freeze approaches, some Ohio lawmakers are advocating for an extension of the freeze or elimination of the standards. Kasich said he would not support any measures that “kill the standard” outright.
“I’m for developing all these other resources,” Kasich said. “We have a program in Ohio that requires us to meet these certain standards, and I’ve told the legislature the standards that were set were unrealistic but if you try to kill the standards, whether it has to do with the renewables, or whether it has to do with the issue of saving energy, I’ll veto the bill and we’ll go to the higher standards. And so you know I’m committed to it.”
During the primary campaign, Kasich was one of the candidates who said he had “very little doubt that human beings have an impact” on climate change.