Introduction
The conscientiousness of the United States people props up against the systematic character of all bodies of power in each state. This division is quite understandable due to the historical cut of the US, but due to the difficulties of the American state political and economic structure, undoubtedly, there may be some grave problems appear. This paper is dedicated to touching upon the controversial situation with the energy resources maintained and developed in state of Ohio with additional prospects of different proposals of local government and officials as well. The main emphasis is made in the paper on the ways of optimal solutions in energy issues with further efficacy in exploitation and profits for the state and the US, on the whole. As the problem of energy spending and the ways of its production is a widely discussed problem due to the ecological approach, and the problem of unemployment in the state on the hole, so the audience for this proposal can be different in social and economic peculiarities. The main goal concerns evaluation of State Energy Sector in its efficacy and reforming with innovative decisions as of last technological approaches.
Evaluation
The problem of energetic supply in-state Ohio is a core element for many politics in order to gain stability in rational use and afterward recycling of energy inputs or fossil fuels, on the whole. The situation is emphasized with the prehistory of energetic development in this region of the US and terrible news, which caused outrageous attitude of the population. It was about the problems with energy supply and energetic crisis at the end of 1970s and actions of the Governor Rhodes (Lamis and Sharkey 117). Also there was striking information concerning the fact of saving nuclear wastes from power plants of the country and their constant leakage into soil, air and water environment without letting the society know beforehand of the terrible situation (Gray 39). The development of the energetic issue is still in its contradictory pathway toward ways of optimal resolving of the question. The anger of population in Ohio is still increasing, so the issue obtains more and more political coloring with various conflicting perspectives as for the measures implemented in present days comparing with the previous steps of local government accompanied with federal structures. Today the issue of safety in most vital spheres of peoples’ activities is at a core emphasis for the society of state Ohio. Society needs concrete actions from governments and effective ways of the problem resolving taking into account all pros and cons made by previous state leaders and energy officials along with the requirements of contemporary society in terms of environmental pollution. It should also reckon with the conventional agreements made by the international elite for biological and nuclear hazards prevention.
Prospective outlook
The area of state Ohio is rich in coal and other mineral resources with huge deposits of such riches for further excavation process. The state is placed on the plain territory and with a great number of workers of industrial and coal-mining branches of the state economy the issue of full energetic supply is still open to masses. Furthermore, an extent of different initiatives and proposals which were represented by a number of changed presidents and governors is quite important for new officials to have a bit of experience about the significant and paramount steps in the regulatory mechanisms considered with the ecological and energetic hazards and troubles in the area.
The point is that the population was convinced that the major efforts of the state economy should have had the information-oriented character, but not, as George W. Knepper outlined a character of “smokestack” orientation (Knepper, p. 469). The reality of few decades showed the problematic aspects in energetic issues and their effects on the society and environment as well. The Ohio Valley with its plants and excavating enterprises is under a strict eye of the government due to the probable harmful effect of this area on the well-being of American people. That is why, as National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) admits, that since the energetic crisis appeared more attention is grabbed on “the need for energy and water policy, water and air quality issues in the Ohio Valley.” (National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) p.99). The area of Ohio is much polluted and creates an atmosphere of constant danger perception due to often complaints within-population about the cases of sudden problems with health.
The need for alternative ways of energy supply is very important for the area of the state and its immediate resolution may facilitate the process of energy accumulation and use for industrial and everyday use. The situation with Ohio should be worked out in a wide historical prospect with the reports of different time periods. Thus, in 1990 the current survey on the energy market of the US projected many problems as of the levels of taxation and amounts of profits which it could give to the budget. Peter Gray had fairly noted such problem and a dichotomy of local and federal governments’ attempts to find out the solution:
The problem is that the nation’s energy market is far from competitive. Department of Energy R&D funding for renewables in 1990 is 8 percent of the total for nuclear and fossil. Altogether, including loan guarantees, tax breaks, and other subsidies, nuclear and fossil receive $40-50 billion per year from taxpayers (Gray, p. 43).
Proposal
Taking into account facts of bygone energetic crisis in Ohio and contemporary problems concerning the way of nuclear wastes safety and new alternative ways of energy scientists concurred that the alteration prospects as of environment and the effective implementation in practice will be helpful for the population of the state, its economy, and the US, particularly. For this purpose there are several points of direct and indisputable actions for the improvements about current situation with energy resources in Ohio.
- Alternative and renewable energy sources.
The urge of modern people to search for alternative sources of energy is proved when taking into account the dependence of people on traditional kinds of energy sources as gas, nuclear power, petroleum, coal etc. “Any energy source that is classified as an “alternative energy source” is that because, at one time it was not selected as the best choice.” (Turner, p. 477). The development of more reliable energy systems presupposes the power of nature, first of all, and the use of wind, solar, and water potential for extracting energy. With a major use of fuel for cars it is necessary to invent ecological fuel that is not so harmful to the society. In case of Ohio such perspective touches upon clean diesel.
Due to the progressive trends of the government in making more direct efforts to work out the situation in Ohio huge amounts of financial aid are given to many funds responsible for the facilitation of environmental situation in the country. Thus, there are many grant programs, one of which is Clean Diesel Invention, which requires $300 million of governmental help for funds among different states and $1.73 million for Ohio, particularly (OhiEpa, 2009). These actions serve to be stimuli for inventing biologically non-harmful fuel in the country with the enormous number of cars and trucks using diesel with a great content of sulfur. Houses can be equipped with solar accumulating batteries and two main areas are suitable in Ohio for wind power stations: near Lake Erie and the region northwest Columbus.
- Rejection from placing depository tanks for wastes from nuclear plants.
This action is needful due to a fact that government cannot always control the state of depositaries with current and further estimation of probable risk. Still the world practice shows many examples when such measures can invoke more dangerous effects on people, such as in Chernobyl. The restructuring of repositories is not fully appropriate for Ohio, because of a high rate of radioactive decay with proper emanation in some areas of the state. It is better to use alternative ways of storing wastes of nuclear fuel, namely interim-storage technologies or legitimate disposal technology (Easterling and Kunreuther, p. 237).
- Awareness of population by means of mass media.
From times when Governor Rhodes was in office in 1977 and when Ohio was confronted with energetic crisis (Lamis and Sharkey 117) the necessity of energy expenditure became a core element of the societal discussion. Warning messages from screens should make people be aware of probable energetic hazards. Internet resources in the area of Ohio should also have more social advertisements. People will become more conscientious about the energetic problem felt in Ohio. Such measures can also provide a decrease in energy expenditure and shorten the volumes of industrial pollution in the state.
Counterview
Many people living in Ohio are dependant on their work in industrial enterprises and in excavation of coal or working at a nuclear plant. That is why many of them can suffer from reforms until the government will resolve such situation. Peter Gray comments on the situation with current and alternative sources of energy in the following way:
The words “Energy Policy” arouse fears–especially among those who make their livings from fossil and nuclear fuels–that established energy producers will be robbed in order to subsidize alternative sources unfairly (Gray, p. 42).
Nevertheless, such changes can be evaluated positively with more ways of industrial and environmental resolving for gaining profits from energy resources.
Works cited
- Easterling, Douglas, and Kunreuther, Howard. The Dilemma of Siting a High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository. NY. Springer, 1995.
- Gray, Peter. “Will the Department of Energy Finally Stop Nuking America? Prospects for National Energy Reform.” Washington Monthly 1990: 38+.
- Jaffe, Sam. “Independence Way: John Kerry Thinks We Can Innovate Our Way to Energy Security. We’re Closer Than He Knows.” Washington Monthly 2004: 17+.
- Knepper, George W. Ohio and its People. Columbus. Ed. 3. Kent State University Press, 2003.
- Lamis, Alexander P., and Sharkey, Mary Anne. Ohio politics. NY. Kent State University Press, 1994.
- National Academy of Sciences (U.S.). Coal as an energy resource: conflict and consensus. Washington. National Academy of Sciences, 1977.
- OhiEpa. State Clean Diesel Grant Program. 2009.
- Turner, Wayne C. Energy management handbook. NY. Ed. 5. CRC Press, 2004.