Metro 9/25/17

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K-9 unit learning the ropes By Press Staff Writer news@presspublications.com

Mayors call on Trump

EPA requirements hurting refinery

Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com

Financial burden The RFS, enacted in 2005 and expand-

The Toledo Refinery in Oregon employs 550 people and generates more than $5 billion annually in economic benefits to Northwest Ohio. Local officials are growing increasingly concerned that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is causing severe economic hardships on the Toledo Oil Refinery in Oregon, as well as other independent oil refineries across the country, They expressed those concerns at a press conference at One Government Center in Toledo on Monday calling on President Trump to fix the program. “A lot of people get their employment through the Toledo Refinery, but for the hundreds of thousands of people who buy gas, the independent market keeps it competitive,” Oregon Mayor Mike Seferian said at the press conference. “So it really reflects on everyone, not just the people who get their employment there, but for people who buy gas. The Toledo Refinery is a real important staple to the city of Oregon, but I really think it’s a big and important thing to literally everyone out there.”

...we could be at risk of losing all of those jobs...

Hicks-Hudson

Seferian

ed in 2007, requires refiners to blend corn ethanol into the nation’s gasoline supply in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Toledo Refinery complies by paying about $100 million annually to large oil companies or large gasoline marketers to blend the ethanol because it does not have the resources to do it on its own. Opponents of the RFS say it subsidizes large, multinational oil companies at the expense of independent, local refineries, and will eventually result in higher gas prices for consumers. A refinery in Delaware closed as a result of the heavy financial burden of complying with the RFS. And last year, a Philadelphia refinery blamed the costs of complying with the RFS for layoffs, benefit cuts, and investment delays.

Fix it Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson at the press conference called on President Trump to fix the RFS by changing the “points of obligation” for compliance to fuel marketers and blenders. “We call on President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency to change the points of obligation contained in the renewable fuel standards,” said Hicks-Hudson. “With the stroke of a pen, small refineries can be protected with good jobs. They can be preserved. Consumers can be safeguarded, and national security can be protected, all while maintaining the role that renewables have to play in our country’s fuel supply.” Justin Donley, president of the United Steelworkers Local 912, said 350 of its union members work for the refinery. “If a change is not made to this legislation, we could be at risk of losing all of those jobs - jobs that are today held by our family, friends and neighbors.”

Two months after starting his career with the Walbridge Police Department, Echo is becoming acclimated to his job, says his handler Officer Nick Colwell. The 34-pound German shepherd was 16 weeks old last week and divides his time between training sessions with Colwell in the Medina, Ohio area, riding on patrol, and living with Colwell when off duty.

He rides with me in the cruiser and is getting used to the sound of the siren and radio.

Echo, the Walbridge Police Department's new K-9 puppy with his handler, Officer Nick Colwell. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)

“He’s still a puppy but he’s coming along well. He officially started with us on July 23. He rides with me in the cruiser and is getting used to the sound of the siren and radio,” Colwell said. The training covers locating drugs and narcotics, tracking, biting and obedience. Colwell said he expects the required certification to be completed in February. Then Echo will be allowed to exit the cruiser while on patrol with Colwell. Former chief Walt Tylicki floated the idea of adding a K-9 to the department’s roster, citing the rising drug epidemic in the state as one reason a dog would be an asset to the village. “He asked me if I’d like to do it and I said I would,” Colwell said. “From there we went to Mayor (Ed) Kolanko and village council and they approved.” Echo was donated to the village by a breeder. Fundraisers have been held to defray other costs and a Pet Wants store in Perrysburg has agreed to donate some of his food.

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