The shadow over West Virginia’s solar future
The allure of solar energy captivates the individual homeowner through its offer of energy independence and environmental stewardship. While my solar array hasn’t met the 100% offset expectations, it has significantly reduced my electricity bills, especially during spring and fall. It may take longer to recoup my initial investment than envisioned, but the investment will see its return sooner or later as the price for kilowatt hours (kWh) continues to increase.
The proposed half-rate credit deduction on net metering by Mon Power poses a serious threat to the viability of current and future home-owned PV systems. This arbitrary reduction in credits would eliminate any annual surplus energy I could generate, preventing me from ever getting credit even during the sunniest of months.
Under the proposed credit reduction, excess energy I feed into the grid will essentially go next door, where a customer will be charged full rate and Mon Power will reap a 150% profit on energy they take from me.
Net metering has fueled the growth of West Virginia’s solar power industry, created challenging new job opportunities for our youth and retraining opportunities for those seeking career transitions into a stable job market.
However, the proposed credit deduction will dry up that market, rendering those jobs unstable, as it did in Nevada where a similar credit deduction led to a loss of 2,600 solar jobs.
The combined use of credit deductions on net metering along with solar renewable energy credits (SREC) could further consolidate power in the hands of large utilities and hinder the development of a more decentralized and competitive solar energy market. The attraction of self-reliance and energy independence to West Virginians will be pulled out of reach.
Urge our state leaders to reject this proposal and protect the future of solar energy in West Virginia.
Tom Wilson
Morgantown
Restructuring at WVU damaging community
It’s bad enough that this process has demoralized the students and faculty at our state’s largest university. As a member of the public, and a former city councilor in Morgantown, I’m concerned about what it’s doing to the community at large.
The people being laid off are our friends and neighbors: people we’ve grown to know and love. Their spouses have jobs here; they’ve bought homes, sent their children to school here and attend our houses of worship. Many of these people are the backbone of our community, an important link in our well-being, our sense of comfort in Morgantown.
To talk about “metrics” and “bond ratings” and “right-sizing” is insulting to people who have actual feelings. I guess people in the WVU administration don’t have feelings or have put them aside to advance their careers. I can’t picture Morgantown a few years down the road with the expulsion of so many people who make our city great.
Barry Wendell
Morgantown
Not a merry Christmas when there’s war
This is a difficult Christmas for many different reasons. One of the main reasons is that the land that Jesus walked is at war (again). Jesus lived in a land occupied by the Romans, which was later occupied by other nations. So it was a long-awaited “independence” that was declared in 1948. This had led many Christians to support the modern nation of Israel unconditionally.
The problem with this support is that it is not biblical. God did promise to bless Israel, and to bless those who also blessed Israel, but God’s support for the nation of Israel was not unconditional. The prophets of Israel testify that God only supported Israel when it followed the covenant. When Israel departed from the covenant, God fought on the other side. See Isaiah 8:5-8 or Amos 2:4-5 for two examples.
So if God’s support of ancient Israel was dependent on Israel doing justice, then our support of the modern state of Israel (or any other nation) must be as well. This is not different from our support of family and friends, whom we support unless they are actively doing wrong. It is not easy to judge the many realities of life in modern Israel/Palestine, but the death of 15,000 Palestinians, most of whom are civilians, calls for us to pull back our military and economic support. We are contributing to the destruction of the Palestinian church!
The ongoing killing in Palestine/Israel (by both sides) has also led to increases in anti-Jewish and anti-Arab attacks in our country. These actions are also against the teachings of Jesus. When we abandon love as the basis of our relationship with our neighbors and our enemies, we have abandoned Jesus.
So if your Christmas celebrations include ongoing support for the killing of Palestinians, Jews, or anyone, perhaps you should re-think your faith. And while we need to continue to pray for modern Israel as we pray for all nations, this does not mean we actively support all of its policies and actions.
Rev. Wes Bergen
Morgantown
