Vulnerable Dem senator tied to 'radical groups' working to close massive power plant in swing state

FIRST ON FOX: A controversial nonprofit watchdog organization with a history of anti-Israel rhetoric and ties to vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is working to close one of the largest power plants in the United States in a move that could cost hundreds of jobs and raise energy costs for Ohioans.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP) recently sent a joint letter, along with the Sierra Club, to Blackstone urging the group to shut down the Gavin Power Plant in Ohio due to environmental concerns and arguing that the plant is the "largest and dirtiest" in the United States.

The coal plant is the largest coal-burning power plant in Ohio and the 9th largest in the country, employing nearly 300 people. The Institute for Energy Research has estimated that closing the plant could "negatively impact the stability of the electric grid and power markets" given that it produces 11% of the electricity in the state of Ohio. 

Other experts warn that residents of Gallia County, Ohio, the county where the plant is located, already have higher average electric bills than other areas in Ohio and 24% higher than the national average suggesting that closing the plant would send those costs up even higher.

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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)

In recent weeks, the Sierra Club has been running ads targeting Blackstone's leadership in an attempt to put pressure on the group to retire the plant. 

Brown, who benefitted from a virtual phone bank event hosted by the Sierra Club in late September and has been endorsed by their PAC, has a long history of working with PESP.

Brown participated in a PESP press conference in June and cited PESP in a letter to the Federal National Mortgage Association in 2020.

"NPR reports that Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, is seeking answers from a corporate landlord after a report by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project found the firm has been filing for evictions much more over in predominantly Black neighborhoods during the pandemic," The National Low Income Housing Coalition wrote about Brown and his promotion of PESP In 2021.

Brown also cited PESP's work in a 2024 letter to the Department of Labor. 

A previous FOX Business review found that several staff members at PESP, which has been funded by the Soros-backed Foundation to Promote an Open Society, the Ford Foundation, and Surdna Foundation, among other left-leaning groups, took part in anti-Israel protests or promoted radical claims related to the conflict.

On the day of the Hamas attack on Israel, where over 1,200 people were murdered and hundreds more taken hostage, PESP senior research coordinator and self-proclaimed "Marxist" Abhilasha Bhola liked a post on X that included the phrase "from the river to the sea" which is widely understood as a call for the elimination of the state of Israel.

Community organizer K Agbebiyi, a senior housing campaign coordinator with PESP, attended a November 2023 rally in Washington, D.C. "demanding an end to the genocide in Palestine" and in December of that year she posted a photo of a mural titled "Liberation looks like terrorism in the eyes of the oppressor." 

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Polls show a neck and neck race between Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and GOP challenger Bernie Moreno (Getty Images)

Additionally, Agbebiyi signed a letter with other alumni of the University of Michigan slamming the school for "anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim animus" and demanding the university "discontinue exchange programs and strategic partnerships with Israeli universities."

In 2022, Agbebiyi posted on X that she is "becoming more principled of a Marxist" and described her political views as "communist."

A spokesperson for the Brown campaign told Fox News Digital that Brown "will always fight to protect Ohio jobs and will continue to work with the company, workers, and community leaders to keep the plant open, keep energy costs affordable, and make sure local residents stay healthy and safe." However, the campaign did not address Fox News Digital's question about PESP's anti-Israel rhetoric.

Many experts believe the Ohio Senate race will play a critical role in determining which party controls the Senate next year and the Cook Political Report ranks the race between Brown and Republican businessman Bernie Moreno as a "toss up."

Energy has been a key issue in Ohio, a state where coal energy production and fracking are top issues with voters.

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Sen. Sherrod Brown (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Brown campaign told Fox News Digital that Brown "believes in an all of the above approach to American energy independence" and pointed to examples of where he "stood up to his own party" to block Biden energy regulations, including voting against Biden's "clean" power plant rules.

"Sherrod Brown is a Green New Deal radical who wants to shut down Ohio energy production," Moreno campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy told Fox News Digital. "While Sherrod claims there is 'no war on coal,' he is actively campaigning with radical groups who want to shut down Ohio coal plants. Unlike Sherrod, Bernie will always stand with Ohio's energy industry."

Matt Parr, the communications director for PESP, defended the group's push to close the power plant, calling it "one of the highest emitting, dirtiest, and deadliest coal-fired power plants in the United States."

"The Gavin coal plant, owned by private equity giant Blackstone, is one of the highest emitting, dirtiest, and deadliest coal-fired power plants in the United States, emitting 14.7 million tons of CO2 last year," Parr told Fox News Digital. "The plume of toxins emitted by Blackstone's 50-year-old Gavin plant have major public health impacts for Ohio and other states because it is upwind of major metropolitan areas across the eastern U.S. such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Modeling has found Blackstone's Gavin plant to be the nation’s deadliest coal plant, causing an estimated 244 premature deaths each year from particulate emissions."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Sierra Club for comment but did not receive a response.