The intense fight over a petition drive seeking to overturn Ohio's nuclear bailout law is escalating with a counter petition now circulating around the state. The pro-nuclear bailout group is calling it a grassroots effort which doubles down on their anti-foreign investors’ message.
Ohioans for Energy Security has already spent what appears to be millions of dollars on ads and mailers to stop people from signing the petition that would call for a referendum of the nuclear bailout law.
Now they're circulating their own unofficial petition that calls for a ban on foreign investment in energy generation.
The group's Carlo LoParo disagrees with critics who said this might cause confusion.
"Well under that logic then you can only circulate one petition for one issue at a time. We certainly don't think it causes confusion. I think that voters are smart enough to read the language. We certainly hope they do read the language."
The informal petition has no force of law but the group believes it would build public pressure for lawmakers to act on the issue.
