Omaha World-Herald. April 26, 2015.
Reclaiming past prowess
Public power in Nebraska was built in part on the fact that too many rural homes, farms and ranches were too far from town for private power companies to profitably serve.
Public power’s long-term viability still rests on the other half of its foundation: that Nebraska and its economy benefit from locally accountable, low-cost electricity.
A Sept. 19, 1946, World-Herald editorial celebrated creation of Omaha’s public power company by looking to the day “when rates are reduced and service widened because of the economies possible under public ownership.”
In large part, it worked. Cheaper utility costs for decades afforded Nebraska a key economic advantage in recruiting out-of-state businesses and sparking home-grown companies.
Policymakers rightly required Nebraska’s public utilities to make low cost the primary consideration in judging new projects. It’s why the state relied heavily on coal. It was cheap. Adding to the rate advantage was the ability to subsidize rates by exporting some of that cheap electricity.
Unfortunately, that vital cost advantage has eroded in recent years. Now, the state needs to recapture low-cost power as a strong plus.
There’s no doubt that shifting federal regulation of coal and costly nuclear power plant repairs and upgrades have contributed. But public power also has been slower than some private competitors in practically and economically diversifying. They were late to the nation’s wind energy bandwagon and misgauged the natural gas boom.
Leaders need to adjust quickly - and are - because Nebraska electrical rates no longer are among the nation’s cheapest, as reporting by The World-Herald’s Henry Cordes found.
Neighboring states with private power, like Iowa, are cheaper. Nebraska’s public utilities need to step up and address this problem to reinforce the state’s economic competitiveness and ensure continued public support for public utilities.
The Legislature already has fielded a bill that proposed to sell off the Metropolitan Utilities District. Public power systems might not be far behind if electricity rates keep climbing unchecked.
That would be a shame. Nebraska remains the nation’s only state to provide its electricity exclusively through publicly owned power companies. To stay that way, cost must regain priority.
Here’s why, from Cordes’ research: Since 2008, only four states saw bigger electricity price spikes. Adjusted for inflation, Nebraska’s average residential rates are up more than 20 percent, adding more than $18 a month to a homeowner’s bill. Average industrial rates are up an inflation-adjusted 29 percent, even as rates fell more than 8 percent nationally. Only three states jumped more.
There are some signs that the public power ship is turning. Nebraska’s 2014 rate increases were below average nationally and below inflation for the first time in six years.
OPPD’s troubled Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station up and running. Utilities are looking at converting older coal plants to natural gas, a sensible step.
Smaller, local utility boards are putting pressure on big power producers like NPPD to get more competitive with rates or risk losing business to energy exporters in other states.
Such developments add pressure to keep prices down. But federal regulators could upend that progress with a harsh anti-pollution stance on coal-burning power plants.
Nebraska, which gets the majority of its electricity from coal, needs to proceed carefully on energy policy. Promoting diversification is a worthwhile goal, given federal regulation. Over time, Nebraska will need to gradually step up the share of our energy production from sources such as natural gas and, where practical, wind and solar. NPPD’s recent announcement that part of its Sheldon Station power plant technology will shift from coal to hydrogen is a sound example.
At the same time, our public utilities should make sure changes to the energy mix do not raise prices unnecessarily, worsen existing uncertainty or unduly complicate the reliability of supply. Local utilities also should retain the independence to chose the energy suppliers in their best interest.
The original mission of public power in Nebraska remains solid: That the lights turn on when needed and the bill be competitively inexpensive.
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Lincoln Journal Star. April 24, 2015.
The benefit of driver’s licenses
New support from three of the state’s major business groups shows growing awareness of how the state would benefit from allowing illegal immigrants brought here as children to get driver’s licenses.
The announcement came last Monday from the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
With their announcement, the three groups joined the Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Restaurant Association in support of LB623.
Nebraska is the only state in the union that denies licenses to young people allowed to stay in the country legally under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Opponents of allowing the youths to get driver’s licenses take positions like the one voiced by Sen. Beau McCoy, who says he is fundamentally opposed to “benefits” for illegal immigrants.
Admittedly, youths affected would benefit in the sense that a driver’s license in a rural state like Nebraska is almost essential to earn enough to cover the basic life necessities, such as food, shelter and medical care.
But the opponents’ line of thinking ignores the benefits that would accrue to the state as a whole if the bill passes.
In a release, the three business organizations listed some of the advantages. “We know that due to our low rate of unemployment, the search is constantly on for workers, especially those who are new to the workforce. LB623 provides a common sense solution and another tool to assist our small businesses in filling their existing talent needs,” said Clark Lauritzen, chairman of the Greater Omaha Chamber.
“LB623 would allow these young Nebraskans to contribute their talents more fully to our communities and to the state’s economy,” said Lincoln Chamber chairwoman Angie Muhleisen.
Another societal benefit is that licensed drivers are more likely to obtain auto insurance. This reduces problems and costs of accidents involving uninsured motorists and potentially lowers insurance rates for everyone.
To participate in the DACA program, a person must be in school, be a high school graduate or honorably discharged from the military and have a clean record with no felony convictions. Many were brought to America as infants or toddlers. This is their home.
The young DACA participants who testified in support of the bill introduced by Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha are the kind of hard-working, productive individuals who could do more to benefit themselves and the state if they had driver’s licenses. The bill, which now has 28 co-sponsors, deserves to become law.
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Kearney Hub. April 25, 2015.
Exports offer hope for stronger economy
According to the latest Gallup poll, 58 percent of Americans believe that increased trade is “an opportunity for economic growth.” Only one-third of Gallup’s respondents view trade as “a threat to the economy.” That’s the highest vote of confidence in trade in two decades, and yet President Obama has encountered stiff resistance from his own party as he pushes for the reinstatement of Trade Promotion Authority.
TPA authorization is a first step in getting the United States back on track to enter trade agreements with a number of overseas partners.
Many presidents have exercised TPA, but it lapsed in 2007. TPA is a fast track for approval because Congress can only vote for or against the pact that’s placed before it. No amendments are allowed.
Among lawmakers who are wary of TPA are representatives of states with heavy labor union constituencies. Unions claim that after many years of watching jobs shipped overseas for cheap labor, it’s against U.S. interests to hastily enter trade deals without first examining the effect on domestic industries.
Such protectionist attitudes ignore the fact that exports support 11.3 million good jobs, according to a recent report from the federal Export-Import Bank of the United States. The Ex-Im report says that exports now support more jobs than at any time in the past 20 years. Those jobs pay 18 percent above the national average, according to the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
The growth in export-related jobs signals that boosting trade is a wise way to boost the economy.
We in Nebraska understand how exports benefit our agricultural economy. Nebraska’s 3rd District Rep. Adrian Smith, noted in his weekly column how exports support one of every five jobs here. Smith supports TPA because it will clear the way for two mega agreements: the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union.
“Opening more markets to Nebraska products is essential to growing our rural economy,” Smith wrote. “These agreements also help maintain U.S. leadership in our global economy, rather than allowing countries like China to make the rules. If we do not step up and lead in the trade arena, American agriculture producers will be left behind.”
Obama must tell colleagues standing in the way of TPA to consider how trade can boost the U.S. economy. Expanded trade will create far more jobs than it will destroy, and lower-cost goods will stretch the budgets of American households.
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McCook Daily Gazette. April 23, 2015.
Are sugar, carbs really worse than smoking?
“I want that red velvet
I want that sugar sweet
Don’t let nobody touch it
Unless that somebody’s me”
It’s a catchy tune on the radio, but if Maroon 5’s weakness was really about sucrose, they’d be setting themselves for a whole range of illnesses.
In fact, according to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the sugar and carbohydrates that are staples of the modern diet are doing us more harm than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined.
And don’t think that you can run off that sugary soda or powder sugar-coated pastry with a few minutes of exercise. New research suggests that athletes would be better off adopting a high fat, low-carb diet rather than loading up on carbs before intense exercise.
Evidence suggests that up to 40 percent of the people within a normal body mass index range will have metabolic abnormalities similar to those with obesity, because of sugar and carbohydrates in the diet.
Diabetes increases 11 times for every 150 additional sugar calories consumed daily, compared to an equivalent amount of calories consumed as fat.
The publication called for an overhaul of food industry tactics, which it described as “chillingly similar to those of Big Tobacco,” deploying denial, doubt, confusion and “bent scientists” to convince the public that smoking was not linked to lung cancer.
It also called for an end to celebrity endorsements of sugary drinks and the association of junk food with sports, and said health clubs and gyms should remove those types of products from their premises.
Public health messaging should stop focusing on maintaining a healthy weight, and concentrate more on the source of calories, the publication contends, saying sugar calories promote fat storage and hunger, while fat calories induce fullness or satiation.”
We’ve watched public opinion swing from low fat to low carb to gluten-free and back, but in the end, we’re responsible for maintaining a healthy diet and adequate exercise for ourselves and our families.
Public policy, however, should make it as easy and economical as possible for us to consume as much fresh produce and unprocessed foods as possible.
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