landfills continued:
According to the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), division of the EPA, there are currently 396 landfills that are turning Methane into a usable fuel. However, there are 600 more nation wide that ought to be operational and are not. These 395 projects generate approximately 9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and deliver just over 200 million cubic feet per day of LFG to direct-use applications. However, the South Carolina Energy Program cited that initial estimates show making 600 more landfills operational, would provide electricity for over one million homes across the nation. Also, the use of methane in this way would lead to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to 14 million cars off the road a year. This whole project of trapping and using methane from landfills is cost-effective. Ohio currently has 18 landfills that are operational but another 28 are capable of being operational. In the future I would like to see Ohio utilize these great alternatives as a real way to curb the robust prices from the natural gas and oil mongers. If there is a way for Ohio citizens to save a buck and the environment at the same time, why not take advantage of it?
Petro introducing legislation to lower higher education costs
This is a good idea considering that our average tuition for a four-year school is 45% higher than the national average. Petro is going to consolidate 23 executive-level Cabinet agencies into nine and cut out 11,500 jobs. Petro also plans to slow Medicaid spending in order to give roughly $520 to $540 million in total from both cuts. The money would go specifically towards colleges to give about a $1,740 tuition break per student. The cost cutting over the span of 18-24 months would total about $1.1 billion. Taxpayers would also get $600 million in tax relief. This idea of getting tuition to go down is a good idea but it does present some problems in the way it is doing cost cutting. I’m always leery of cuts to Medicaid. Many people rely on Medicaid because they cannot afford to pay for health services otherwise. The other problem is there would need to be a tuition cap put into effect. Without it, there would be nothing stopping the colleges from raising their tuition to get extra money. Yet, putting a price cap on universities might also be bad. Universities that charge based on market factors would be at the mercy of the price cap. There is no easy answer to this dilemma but I will say that cutting Medicaid is a bad idea. Making tuition cheaper for higher education is a good idea as long as the costs don’t outweigh the benefits.
Charter schools under performing public schools:
This information comes from Plain Dealer’s article on Charter schools in Ohio and David Brennan the mastermind of for-profit schools. Ohio’s charter schools have continued to be out performed by public schools yet, his schools have collected $109 million in state tax money, plus millions more in federal grants. Brennan started in Ohio when he opened his first Hope school to take advantage of legislatures passing of a voucher program funded by Ohio tax payers. Two years later, legislatures authorized tax supported charters and Brennan capitalized by converting his private schools to charter schools. This happened upon realizing that he could make double per student in state tax monies. Brennan contested that he could create for-profit schools and better educate students than public schools. Overall, the schools have collected $350 million dollars in Ohio tax dollars since the program began in 1997.
