If one word could sum up the 2024 Electric Cooperative Youth Tour for Ohio’s delegation, it would probably
be “more.”
The program is much more than a sightseeing trip. While delegates visit areas of civic, historical, and cultural importance, they also meet with their elected representatives and learn about electric cooperatives. Along the way, they network with other youth, make lasting friendships, build knowledge, and develop skills that will help them later in life.
Pat O’Loughlin’s first column in what was then Country Living magazine, upon his elevation to president and CEO of Buckeye Power and the co-op statewide association in 2015, took note of “interesting times.” Now, as he retires from the post, he says the times are b
Nevertheless, the U.S. EPA had just issued a set of new regulations that Cardinal was unlikely to be able to meet, and while the Supreme Court eventually struck down those rules, more have followed. The polarization that has divided the American public on so many issues put a focus on electricity generation — while the rise of data centers, electric vehicles, and the like has driven demand for electricity to an all-time high. Interesting times (to say the least) for O’Loughlin and the co-ops.
When electric cooperatives in North Carolina and South Carolina put out the call for help after Hurricane Helene barreled through in late September, Ohio answered.
When the Ohio group reached the Carolinas, what they found was shocking. In the western parts of those two states, Helene had left a mutilated landscape in its wake. Roads, bridges, power systems — in some places, even entire villages — had been washed entirely off Appalachian hillsides and into flooded valleys. Damage was widespread, and it was devastating.
Dorothy Montgomery is old enough to remember when the men from “the REA” (in this case, Guernsey-Muskingum Electric Cooperative) started digging holes, by hand, to set electric poles along her country road after the creation of the Ru
Montgomery recalls the excitement that spread among her family and neighbors as more and more signed up to join the co-op to bring electricity to their homes and farms — which had previously been lit by oil lamps or “Aladdin lamps.”
There’s one detail in particular, however, that is still fresh in her mind to this day. “I remember the shock if you stuck your finger in the socket,” she says. She’d been told doing that would hurt — “and it did,” she confirms. “Oil lamps never shocked you.”
In the early morning hours of February 28, an EF2 tornado ripped through London, Ohio. Winds as high as 130 mph tore off roofs, snapped trees, and battered barns and outbuildings. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
While Willie won’t be resurrected, the Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Education Center — free popcorn and all — will be back, joining hundreds of farm-focused exhibitors September 17 to 19 for the 2024 Farm Science Review.
“It may look a bit different, but we’ll be there,” says Missy Kidwell, manager of cooperative development for Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, noting that a new building, still under construction as of early August, was expected to be finished and ready to go in time.
The U.S.
“Buckeye Power has invested more than $1 billion in environmental controls over the past 20 years,” says Pat O’Loughlin, Buckeye’s president and CEO. “To put it in perspective, that’s over half of everything we’ve invested in the entire history of our company, and those investments have produced dramatic results in cleaner air, cleaner water, and significantly reduced solid waste such as ash.”
There’s an important debate going on currently about the best way to generate electricity to power America’s homes and businesses, framed something like this: Low- or zero-carbon-emission sources that are both generally expensive and only intermittently available on the one
“While coal and natural gas provide the bulk of our electricity supply in a reliable and cost-competitive manner, we continue to seek opportunities to develop renewable energy projects that make sense for our members,” says Pat O’Loughlin, president and CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the trade association that provides services to the 24 electric distribution cooperatives in the state. “Our hydropower, bio-gas, and solar resources are an important part of the mix. We’re always looking to grow and expand our supply resources in economical, practical, and beneficial ways.”
Electric-industry leaders nationwide are pushing back against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced regulations that those leaders say are a threat to the reliability and affordability of electricity in the U.S.
One of the new rules would require Cardinal and other coal-fired plants to be 90% carbon-emission free by 2032 and points to carbon capture and sequestration — technology that does not and is not likely to exist at a scale that would be necessary — as a means to achieve it. Generating facilities unable to meet the demands would be forced to close.
In early March, a spring storm ravaged much of the region served by Logan County Electric Cooperative in Bellefontaine.
“System reliability and safety are extremely important,” says Scott Roach, director of engineering services at LCEC. “With every new project, every work plan, it’s always with that in mind.”
One of the most significant factors affecting that reliability is the presence of trees. Of course, properly placed trees not only are beautiful to look at, but they also provide tangible benefits: increasing property values, reducing the cost to heat and cool a home, providing privacy, and even cutting stormwater runoff.
