COLUMBUS — An amendment to the state worker’s compensation budget which could significantly reduce construction costs for the proposed American Municipal Power Generating Station is being call “another unfair Ohio perk for coal” by the Sierra Club.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, the Sierra Club called the amendment a setback for Gov. Ted Strickland’s vision for clean energy in Ohio. The amendment, supported by Ohio Sen. Jimmy Stewart (R-Albany), is said to save AMP-Ohio $20-25 million on construction costs by allowing the company to apply for self-insured status with the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation. What supporters call “saving” opponents like the Sierra Club call “avoiding” $20-25 million in worker’s compensation costs.

“There is no reason why a coal-burning company should pay less in workers’ compensation costs than a clean energy company or any other company — especially given Governor Strickland’s strong support for clean energy,” said Nachy Kanfer, with Sierra Club’s ‘Beyond Coal Campaign’ in Ohio. “The Governor should use a line-item veto on this short-sighted subsidy. This is a perk for a dirty coal plant, nothing more.”

In the statement released yesterday, the Sierra Club claims self-insured status through the OBWC is “typically allowed only for companies with thousands of employees.” Sen. Stewart told The Daily Sentinel employers with over 500 employees are eligible to receive self-insured status at this time which AMP-Ohio will have during the construction phase of the project. After the project is over, the power plant and adjacent fertilizer plant will provide around 165 permanent jobs. Stewart added, obviously after the construction phase is over, the company would no longer be eligible for self-insured status.

“Subsidizing coal without subsidizing clean energy is not only unfair, it’s the exact wrong direction for Ohio,” said Enid Nagel, chair of the Sierra Club Ohio Chapter. “This is the second time Ohio has offered financial assistance to this project that runs counter to a national trend of supporting clean energy. Why isn’t the same assistance being offered to the broader business and manufacturing sector?”

The Sierra Club also said in its statement “this development raises new doubts regarding AMP-Ohio’s commitment to its workers; over the course of the project, AMP-Ohio has sought public funding for ‘temporary housing’ for construction workers. Temporary housing would only be needed if AMP-Ohio intended to hire large numbers of workers from outside the local area of the plant. The unemployment rate for Meigs County was 14.1 percent in May.”

“Ohio has a choice,” Kanfer continued. “We can continue giving handouts to the coal industry, or we can create thousands of clean energy jobs across the state. Unless Governor Strickland acts, this is just more of the same nonsense that got us in this mess in the first place.”

The Sierra Club’s statement closed with: “The proposed AMP-Ohio plant would be located in Meigs County, which has the highest death rate from lung and bronchus cancer in the state, as well as the shortest male life expectancy. Local residents are already overburdened by air pollution from four nearby coal-fired power plants, a manganese processing facility, and other polluting industry.

If AMP-Ohio receives the exemption and then suffers more workplace-related injuries than anticipated during construction, the company introduces itself to risk of default on compensation payments, leaving workers to rely on an emergency state fund designed to continue such payments in the case of the failure of a self-insured company. The company is under investigation by the US EPA for failing to comply with the Clean Air Act at its only other coal plant, the Richard Gorsuch generating station in Marietta.”