The future of Cleveland Public Power is important. The future of Cleveland Public Power should be about planning for the future.

We are on the verge of a planatary emergency based on the release of carbon. How can we enter into a 50 year contract to release carbon, when we know the consequences. What will our children say. What will our grandchildren say. “What were they thinking?” Do we really have the right to cause irrevocable harm to the earth, and to our children. Can we enter into a cheap power contract if we know the harm it will cause. Is it a moral question? What is the true cost?

Have we learned the lesson that cost and benifits can be measured in ways other than money.

Perhaps we should look at this as an opportunity. A five year opportunity to come on line with alternative sources of baseline and surge energy. Think of a wind farm tied to utility sized fuel cells. Imagine a concerted war like effort to get these fully on line by 2020. What would be the consequences of that type of effort. Say the payoff period was 50 years.
Perhaps we would have a expertise, a industrial base, a reputation for forward thinking.

Someday our children are going to regard our carbon base fuel dependence as a tobacco like dependence. We knew it was killing us but it was cheap and it seemed like we didn’t have a choice at the time.

I implore the fine intelligent people on council to save Cleveland Public Power by investing in the future rather than the past.

Jon Eckerle
Ohio City

The future of Cleveland Public Power is important. The future of Cleveland Public Power should be about planning for the future.

We are on the verge of a planatary emergency based on the release of carbon. How can we enter into a 50 contract to release carbon. What will our children say. What will our grandchildren say. “What were they thinking?” Do we really have the right to cause irrevocable harm to the earth, and our children if we fully know the consequences. Can we enter into a cheap power contract if we know the harm it will cause. What is the true cost? Have we learned the lesson that cost and benifits can be measured in ways other than money.

Perhaps we should look at this as an opportunity. A five year opportunity to come on line with alternative sources of baseline and surge energy. Think of a wind farm tied to utility sized fuel cells. Imagine a concerted war like effort to get these fully on line by 2020. What would be the consequences of that type of effort. Say the payoff pe

I really don’t see what all the debate is about at Cleveland City Council–for me, saying no to this con job is a no-brainer.

Having been in many parts of the state, growing up in a very affluent area of Ohio with great wealth and then learning what the poorest areas of our state are like, I can say it is shocking. Yes, here we deal with urban poverty, but nothing like our family in Appalachia.

We cannot abide that. I cannot sit by and see it happen. I won’t. Please let me know as there is any way I may help.

Thank you for this thoughtful piece - there is much to think about in what you have written.