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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Oil and gas industry sees jobs in Utica shale
Ohio’s oil and gas industry experts released a report Tuesday that predicts as many as 203,138 new jobs could come to Ohio by 2015 as explorers begin taping into energy deposits buried more than a mile underground in the Utica Shale reserve.
The jobs would be from the leasing, royalties, exploration, drilling, production and pipeline construction, the report said.
The Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program is trying to make the case that the state is on the verge of an economic oil and gas boom, which could provide jobs and local energy sources for Ohio.
“You can’t have a healthy economy unless you have affordable, reliable energy,” said Jerry James, president of Artex Oil Co. based in Marietta.
The report comes on the eve of a two-day energy summit by the Kasich administration in Columbus. The governor’s office wants input on energy issues such as hydrofracking for Utica Shale deposits and renewable energy standards established in 2008 by the Strickland administration.
Environmentalists and green energy companies want to preserve the renewable energy standards, which will require utility companies to produce or acquire 25 percent of the energy they sell in Ohio from advanced energy sources in the coming years.
The Kasich administration is expected to propose a comprehensive energy policy early next year, according to Rob Nichols, the governor’s press secretary.
More than 800 people are expected to attend the energy summit.
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TweetOhio Business Roundtable calls for Yes vote on Issue 2
The Ohio Business Roundtable is the latest business group to endorse Senate Bill 5, which will appear on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot as Issue 2.
The roundtable says the collective bargaining reform package offers reasonable changes to help local communities manage their finances, deliver services and avoid raising taxes.
Senate Bill 5 cuts back collective bargaining rights for 360,000 public workers in Ohio by outlawing strikes, limiting negotiations to wages, hours, terms and conditions, and giving management the right to impose its last offer if the two sides reach impasse. It is a sweeping re-write of Ohio’s collective bargaining law, which Democrats pushed through in 1983.
Other business groups that have endorsed Senate Bill 5 include the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Ohio Farm Bureau, NFIB and the Ohio Society of CPAs.
Opposition to the bill comes from labor unions, including the Ohio Education Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, Service Employees International Union, AFSCME and the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association.
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TweetUPDATED with comments from Senate President - Senate vote expected Wednesday on new U.S. House districts
The Senate on Wednesday could vote on a map creating 16 new U.S. House districts and an appropriation is expected to be added to the bill before the Senate votes, Sen. Keith Faber, R-Celina, Senate president pro tem, said Tuesday morning.
Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said later Tuesday that a Wednesday vote was “possible” but the timing would depend work by the committee studying the bill.
Adding an appropriation to House Bill 319 would make it effective immediately upon the signature of Gov. John Kasich and also prevent opponents from gathering signatures for a referendum on the bill. Niehaus, like Faber, said adding the appropriation was a possibility.
Faber said the Senate also is expected to vote on House Bill 318, legislation moving the 2012 spring primary from May to March.
Faber commented during a hearing of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee, which his hearing the bill and which Faber chairs.
The new map, already approved by the House, creates 12 Republican-leaning districts and four leaning toward Democrats. Ohio’s delegation to the U.S. House will shrink from 18 to 16 because of the state’s slow population growth relative to other states.
The proposed map puts U.S. Reps. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, in the same district, setting up a possible primary between the two.
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TweetUPDATED with Senate President Niehaus response -“Heartbeat” backers rally at the Statehouse
An estimated 500 backers of the “Heartbeat” bill crowded in to the Statehouse Atrium Tuesday to push for Senate action on the legislation.
“We need your prayers, but we also need your action,” said Lori Viars of Lebanon, leader in the effort to win Senate approval of House Bill 125.
She urged those in the audience to meet with their senators and other senators and urge them to become cosponsors of the bill.
Senate President Tom Niehaus, R-New Richmond, said the Senate would do its “due diligence” before deciding whether to vote on the bill. He said he was distressed that there appeared to be a rift in the pro-life movement. The Ohio Right to Life Society has not endorsed the bill.
The group’s leaders have said they fear an adverse court ruling could set back the effort to end abortion, a fear that backers of the bill play down.
The House has passed the bill, which would prohibit abortion after a heartbeat is detected, but Senate leaders have not pledged to bring it to the floor.
Meanwhile, about half a dozen opponents of the “Heartbeat” bill demonstrated in front of the Statehouse, carrying signs such as one that said “Trust Women Not Politicians.”
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