The Nov. 19 editorial, “Long for efficiency,” confuses the 2025 mandate for 22 percent alternative fuel electric generation with electric consumption and energy efficiency.
As a small business owner and a manufacturer of recycled paperboard, I employ over 80 workers and work hard daily to keep my business afloat. My business was founded 45 years ago, and I am a fourth-generation papermaker.
I have always viewed FirstEnergy as a valued business partner. Its reliable and uninterrupted electric service is an integral element to a low-margin business that is required to run 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
The 2025 mandate does not align with the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association assertion of lower costs. Last year alone, the electric generation component of my bill increased $15,000 per month.
FirstEnergy is merely passing the cost of this mandate to the end user. FirstEnergy was “making the rounds at the Statehouse” to change a mandate that has made its customers extremely angry and less competitive. Simply put, if its customers fail, it loses.
The 2025 mandate success was tied to an alternate fuel generation goal of 22 percent. The alternative fuel goal, while ambitious, is foolish.
The primary sources for alternative fuel were considered to be wind, solar and biomass.
Yet the average of sunny days in the seven largest cities in Ohio annually equals 70.4 days, and the average daily wind velocity in Ohio is approximately 9 mph. Utility-scale wind farms need average wind speeds of at least 14 mph. Biomass feasibility as an alternative to natural gas would require natural gas pricing to be much higher.
I do not oppose alternative fuel sources, especially when they have zero impact on the environment. However, the state of Ohio does not have sufficient wind, sun or biomass for this mandate to ever succeed.
Industry competition and business survival drive lower energy consumption and increase efficiency, not mandates.
The green movement has also had a very positive influence on business.
FirstEnergy is not the villain. It employs 17,000 people, provides service to 6 million customers in six states and maintains 20,000 miles of electric transmission lines and switchgear.
I do not have the financial resources or time to lobby the Statehouse. However, in this particular case, FirstEnergy argued against this mandate on behalf of many small businesses like mine in Ohio.
Finally, this does not mean energy efficiency should not be pursued. It does mean that the governor and our legislators should stop the annual increases that will cost more money and jobs and take a fresh look at what is best for Ohio’s overall future.
David Shew
President, FiberCorr Mills
Massillon
Stop fighting, start governing
I am writing in response to the Nov. 12 story, “In a nation divided, an election settles little.” Why must we be so divided?
President Obama won the election with record-breaking figures for early voting. He had a total of 332 electoral votes, along with a majority of the popular vote.
I believe the president is ready to talk sense again, but we must again eliminate the division between the two parties.
Our elected officials in Washington must sit down to think on the same level, if possible.
They must not forget who elected each and every one of them, and who they represent.
I don’t like being negative, but something very positive must happen to get this country back on the right track again.
We must find some bipartisan solution, and, as they say, reach across the aisle.
I would also like to discuss how President Obama has been ridiculed during his first four years in office with degrading and derogatory remarks that he is un-American and has no birth certificate.
But then look what happened, this guy who took all the criticism was elected to a second term in office, by a landslide.
His poise, professionalism and honesty got the president elected a second time. I would bet some Republicans had a lot to do with his winning numbers.
The continuing fight between the parties must come to an end.
We must find collective ways to stop the $16 trillion debt, create many good-paying jobs and find some peace and harmony between the two parties to do what’s right for the country.
Fred C. Pall
Norton
Protect basic phone service
Ohio senators have passed a bill (Senate Bill 271) which could end basic landline phone service to residents in areas where providing service is not profitable to utility companies. I am asking readers to urge the Ohio House to oppose S.B. 271 so it does not become law.
Lifeline programs, home security systems and other devices require landline service.
Discontinuing affordable and reliable landline service would make it difficult for seniors to maintain connections with families, medical providers and government agencies.
Large phone companies and their trade associations have hired 35 registered lobbyists to influence passage of S.B. 271.
We do not need this bill, which would jeopardize access to affordable and reliable basic phone service. Please ask the Ohio House to stand up for all Ohioians and oppose S.B. 271.
Dave Gynn
AARP advocacy volunteer
Brimfield Township
Think before you send
You would think that with all of our modern technology, and how so many leaks occur to even the casual user of the computer, that those in the spy and military business would think twice before posting something compromising.
But what do I know?
I still use a pen, paper and the U.S. Postal Service.
I would suggest that everyone weigh their communications before hitting the “send” button.
Patrick Bozzelli
Cuyahoga Falls
