FIRST ON FOX: A controversial nonprofit watchdog group with a history of anti-Israel rhetoric and ties to vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown could cost hundreds of jobs and losses. It is working to shut down one of the largest power plants in the United States. Raise energy costs for Ohioans.
The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) recently sent a joint letter to Blackstone with the Sierra Club, citing environmental concerns and calling the plant the “largest and dirtiest” power plant in the state of Ohio. called on the group to shut down the Gavin Generating Station. In the US.
The coal-fired power plant is the largest coal-fired power plant in Ohio and the ninth largest in the United States, with nearly 300 employees. The Energy Research Institute said closing the plant could “adversely impact the stability of the power grid and electricity market,” given that the plant produces 11% of Ohio's electricity. I'm guessing.
Other experts say residents in Gallia County, Ohio, where the power plant is located, already have higher average electricity bills than the rest of Ohio and 24% higher than the national average, and the plant closures will see their electricity bills even higher. We are warning that this may occur. .
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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) walks through the U.S. Capitol in July. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
The Sierra Club has been running ads targeting Blackstone leaders in recent weeks in an effort to pressure the group to close the plant.
Brown has a long history of working with PESP, benefiting from a virtual phone bank event hosted by the Sierra Club in late September and receiving support from the club's PAC.
Brown participated in a PESP press conference in June and mentioned PESP in a letter to the Federal Home Loan Association in 2020.
“NPR reports that U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project that companies We are demanding answers from corporate landlords after discovering that they are investing in low-income housing nationwide. The coalition wrote about Brown and his 2021 PESP push.
Brown also mentioned the PESP initiative in a 2024 letter to the Department of Labor.
A previous FOX Business review found that several staffers at PESP, which receives funding from left-wing groups such as the Soros-backed Open Societies Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Srdna Foundation, participated in anti-Israel movements. It turned out that Promoting conflict-related protests or extremist advocacy.
On the day of the Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,200 people and took hundreds more hostage, PESP senior research coordinator and self-proclaimed “Marxist” Abhilasha Bohra used the phrase “river to river”. Liked a post by X that included . The word “sea” is widely understood to call for the annihilation of the state of Israel.
PESP Senior Housing Campaign Coordinator and community organizer K. Agbebii participated in the “Demand an End to Genocide in Palestine” rally in Washington DC in November 2023, and in December 2023, “Demand an End to Genocide in Palestine” He posted a photo of a mural titled “Emancipation Looks Like”. It is terrorism in the eyes of the oppressors. ”
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Polls show a tight race between Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Bernie Moreno. (Getty Images)
Additionally, Mr. Agbebiy signed a letter with other University of Michigan alumni accusing the university of “anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim hostility” and calling for the university to pursue “exchange programs and strategic programs with Israeli universities.” They demanded that the partnership be discontinued.
In 2022, Agbebiyi posted on X that he was “becoming more principled as a Marxist” and described his political views as “communist.”
A Brown campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Brown “will always fight to protect Ohio jobs, keep our factories open, keep our energy costs affordable, and keep our local residents safe.” “We will continue to work with the company, workers and community leaders.” Please stay healthy and safe. ” However, the campaign did not address Fox News Digital's questions about PESP's anti-Israel rhetoric.
Many experts believe the Ohio Senate elections will play a key role in determining which party controls the Senate next year, with the Cook Political Report predicting that Mr. Brown and Republican businessman Bernie・The election race between Mr. Moreno is evaluated as a “very close race.”
Energy is a key issue in Ohio, where coal energy production and hydraulic fracturing are the top issues for voters.
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senator sherrod brown (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Brown's campaign told Fox News Digital that Brown “believes in all of the above approaches to American energy independence,” and that he has supported Biden's energy policy, including voting against Biden's “clean energy regulations.” He cited examples of people “standing up to their own party” to block regulations. “Power plant rules.
“Sherrod Brown is a Green New Deal radical who wants to shut down energy production in Ohio,” Moreno campaign spokesperson Regan McCarthy told Fox News Digital. “Mr. Sherrod claims that there is no war on coal, but he is actively campaigning with extremists who want to shut down a coal-fired power plant in Ohio. Unlike Mr. Sherrod, Mr. Bernie I will always support Ohio's energy industry.”
Matt Parr, communications director for PESP, defended the group's push to close the plant, calling it “one of the highest-emitting, dirtiest, and most dangerous coal-fired power plants in the United States.” I called.
“The Gavin coal-fired power plant, owned by private equity giant Blackstone, is one of the highest-emitting, dirtiest and most dangerous coal-fired power plants in the United States, emitting 14.7 million tons of CO2 last year. “I did,” Parr told FOX News Digital. “Because Blackstone's Gavin plant is upwind of eastern U.S. metropolitan areas such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the plume of toxins emanating from Blackstone's 50-year-old Gavin plant could be seen in the public domain in Ohio and other states. Modeling shows that Blackstone's Gavin plant is the deadliest coal-fired power plant in the country, with an estimated 244 deaths each year due to particulate emissions. It’s causing death.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Sierra Club for comment but did not receive a response.
