How to submit a public comment on Ohio's E-Check Ease Act
The E-Check Ease Act, introduced by state Reps. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) and Steve Demetriou (R-Bainbridge Township), was incorporated into the state's biennial transportation budget bill signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine at the end of March.
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Under Ohio's E-Check program, residents in seven counties — Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit — who own cars that are between 4 and 25 years old are required to have their emissions inspected every two years. A passing inspection is required for vehicle registration in those seven counties.
The proposed change would expand the exemption for newer cars from four years old to six years old. Hybrid vehicles that are seven years old or newer would also be exempt.
The bill also allows vehicle owners to forego inspections entirely and obtain an 'alternative emissions certificate' from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, attesting that their car meets state emissions laws 'to the best of their knowledge.'
That attestation could be rejected if the EPA determines it was falsified or if the driver was cited in the past two years for excessive exhaust or a noisy muffler, or if their vehicle was in a collision in the prior two years which caused 'substantial' internal damage. Rejected owners would then have to get the car inspected.
The Ohio EPA is required to submit the new certification process to the U.S. EPA, which must decide whether it complies with the federal Clean Air Act before it can move ahead. If approved, the Ohio EPA would then implement the state-level changes.
The public comment period for the bill opened earlier this month and runs through June 2. Public comments can be emailed to DAPC-Comments@epa.ohio.gov through then. The Ohio EPA is then expected to respond to the public comments and submit the changes to the U.S. EPA.
'For 30 years, Northeast Ohio has been unfairly burdened by E-Check,' Roemer is quoted in a Wednesday news release. 'It is far past time to address this problem, and I encourage citizens to reach out to eviscerate this burden.'
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State Rep. Sean Brennan (D-Parma) in a Wednesday news release said the E-Check program 'may have been well-intentioned' when it was created in 1996, but there's no evidence it has actually reduced vehicle emissions since then.
He said drivers actually burn about 600,000 gallons of gas per year just to comply with the mandate.
'The $11 million the state spends would be better spent on conservation education and public transit,' he is quoted in the release.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Newsweek
25 minutes ago
- Newsweek
How Number of Journalists Killed in Gaza War Compares to WW2, Vietnam, Iraq
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. This is the "deadliest period for journalists" in decades, a press advocacy group has said, after six journalists were killed in an Israeli attack on northern Gaza on Sunday. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a U.S.-based nonprofit, made its assessment based on figures from its database, which includes publicly available information dating back to 1992. Anas al-Sharif, a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed along with another correspondent, Mohammed Qraiqea, and photographers Ibrahim Al Thaher and Mohamed Nofal in a drone attack on a journalists' tent outside the main gate of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, Al Jazeera said in a statement. A freelance cameraman, identified as Momen Aliwa, and a freelance journalist, Mohammed al-Khalidi, were also killed, the network said. The Israeli military confirmed it had targeted al-Sharif, saying that he was head of a Hamas terrorist cell and was involved in rocket attacks on Israel. "A press badge isn't a shield for terrorism," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. Filipino activists light candles as they hold photos of Palestinian journalists who were killed in a recent Israeli airstrike in Gaza, during a protest in Quezon City, Philippines, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. Filipino activists light candles as they hold photos of Palestinian journalists who were killed in a recent Israeli airstrike in Gaza, during a protest in Quezon City, Philippines, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Aaron Favila An Arabic-language spokesperson for the IDF had last month posted an image appearing to show al-Sharif alongside Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader killed by Israel in southern Gaza last October. The IDF had previously accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of working with Hamas. A Hamas official said of al-Sharif that they had "no knowledge of his affiliation with the movement or its military apparatus." Al-Sharif himself had denied he was a Hamas member shortly before his death. "The pattern of labeling journalists as terrorists before killing them, effectively granting themselves the authority to extinguish these journalists, has become a specialty of the Israel Defense Forces," Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, advocacy and communications director for the CPJ, told Newsweek. Israel has repeatedly denied targeting journalists and has said it "takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians including journalists." "Remaining in an active combat zone has inherent risks," the IDF said. It is difficult to accurately determine how many journalists are killed in a conflict, even in recent years. Those tallying often make a distinction between civilian and military journalists, as well as media representatives who are killed in the line of duty versus those who are killed away from the front lines. Others do not include those working for state-controlled outlets such as the Russian TASS news agency or the Hamas-operated Al Aqsa TV. Figures for the number of journalists killed in conflict zones before the early 1990s are even harder to verify. The CPJ has publicly available information stretching back to 1992. The Belgium-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it had compiled accurate lists of journalist deaths since roughly two years prior. Before this, counts of media representatives killed likely omitted local or less high-profile journalists not working for mainstream outlets, Anthony Bellanger, the IFJ's general secretary, told Newsweek. How Many Journalists Have Been Killed in Gaza? At least 192 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and in Lebanon since October 2023, the CPJ said in a press release updated on August 12 this year. The organization distinguishes between "journalists" (editorial personnel) and "media support workers" (such as drivers, fixers, translators, distribution staff). Its says its database does not include deaths in which "journalists are clearly not killed for their journalism." Nor does it include media support workers unless their death is confirmed as work-related. It is the deadliest period for journalists since its records began in 1992, the CPJ said. It said it is investigating another 130 potential cases of journalists being killed, arrested or injured, as well as media offices and homes being damaged. Of the 192 journalists killed in these areas in close to two years of fighting, 184 were Palestinian, according to the CPJ. Two were Israeli and six were Lebanese journalists. Israel does not allow international media to enter Gaza, with the exception of highly controlled trips stewarded by the IDF. "The abysmal situation faced by journalists in Gaza is an aberration in the field of conflict reporting," Guillén said. Nearly half of journalists killed in Gaza in 2024 were killed by drones, Guillén said, describing this as "a new and growing trend in conflict reporting." Roughly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive nearly two years ago, press freedom groups say. Roughly 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive nearly two years ago, press freedom groups say. Newsweek Illustration/Canva/Getty/AP Newsroom Other groups broadly agreed with the CPJ's figures. "Nearly 200 journalists have been killed" in this phase of hostilities from late 2023, according to International News Safety Institute. This is "an unprecedented toll in modern conflict reporting," the NGO said in a statement. The IFJ and the Paris-headquartered Reporters sans frontières (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders, both told Newsweek they had similar figures. "Unlike other conflicts in the past, where journalists were respected and often even welcomed to document the conflict because there were few or no means of communication, today in Gaza, journalists are very often targeted by the Israeli army," Bellanger of the IFJ said. Of the approximately 200 media operatives killed in Gaza in 22 months of war, around 50 have been deliberately targeted, while many others were killed in strikes impacting civilians in the strip, rather than while reporting, Thibaut Bruttin, RSF's director general, told Newsweek. The Israeli military has said it "has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists." Protection for journalists is enshrined in international law. As civilians, intentionally targeting members of the press is a war crime. Here, Newsweek uses available data from those monitoring groups to compare the death toll in Gaza to previous conflicts. Iraq A U.S.-led coalition of forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, and U.S. combat operations officially ended in 2010. Most Western troops had pulled out of the country by the end of 2011. Across these years, 228 journalists were killed in Iraq, according to the CPJ. Between 100 and 150 journalists were killed in Iraq between 2003 and 2006, Bellanger of the IFJ told Newsweek. The RSF's numbers put the number of journalists killed while reporting in Iraq at 242, making it the "the bloodiest war for journalists." "It was somewhat different, in the sense that journalists were really heavily targeted by the military forces," Bruttin said. This included terrorist groups that carried out strikes followed by attacks on the media and first responders arriving at the scene. In February 2007, RSF said it was "deeply concerned by repeated violations of journalists' rights in Iraq." At the time, at least 150 journalists and media workers had been killed in the country, it said. Afghanistan There are varying numbers on how many journalists were killed in Afghanistan. Following 9/11, the U.S. led efforts to remove the Taliban from power and set up a new government in Kabul, setting the stage for two decades of involvement in the country before the Taliban took back control in 2021. According to the CPJ, 76 international and local journalists and media workers were killed in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021. In 2018 alone, 16 journalists and two media workers were killed in the country, according to these figures. Other counts come in slightly higher. Between 2010 and 2021, 87 Afghan journalists were killed, according to the IFJ. At least six journalists were killed between the Taliban coming to power in Kabul in August 2021 and November of that year, according to the IFJ. Vietnam The communist regime in North Vietnam—backed by the Soviet Union and China—fought the government in South Vietnam, supported by the U.S., from 1955. The U.S. become directly militarily involved in 1965, until the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces in 1975. RSF research indicates around 60 journalists were killed during the Vietnam War, Bruttin said. One count referenced by the Associated Press in 2006 put the total number of journalists killed or presumed dead during the war at 71. Between 70 and 80 journalists were killed in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975, Bellanger said. Korea The Korean War began in 1950, when North Korean forces invaded South Korea in an attempt to unify the peninsula under communist rule. The North Korean forces were backed by the Soviet Union and later China. South Korea was supported primarily by the U.S. under the auspices of the United Nations. The Korean War lasted three years and was brought to a close with the signing of an armistice agreement in 1953. Approximately ten journalists died, Bellanger said. World War II It is "extremely difficult" to produce a casualty count for journalists during World War II, Bruttin said. Far predating meticulous records, the war sprawled across the civilian populations of many nations. Due to the unavailability of equivalent information, comparing these figures to more recent conflicts such as the war in Gaza is close to impossible. A total of 69 reporters covering the Allied campaign died during World War II, according to a count compiled by Ray Moseley, a former war correspondent. This number includes journalists who died in accidents or from disease. Moseley said that it is not clear how many journalists from the Soviet Union were killed, but that 16 reporters from the state-controlled Red Star newspaper died between mid-1941 and the spring of 1944. The IFJ estimates that between 60 and 80 journalists were killed between 1939 and 1945, Bellanger said. Ukraine A total of 29 journalists and media workers have been killed in Ukraine since 2014, when Moscow seized control of the Crimean peninsula to the south of the mainland and backed separatists in the country's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk region, according to the CPJ. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. Nineteen journalists and media workers have been killed since then, CPJ figures show. The RSF estimates that 15 journalists have been killed in the conflict, Bruttin said. Ukrainian authorities have said 57 journalists have been killed in the country, but the RSF does not include those working for the military or communications operatives into its tally, Bruttin said. Unlike Israel in Gaza, Bruttin said, "other countries have been able to open up to the press — [to] maintain a sense of military censorship to prevent jeopardising their own military operation." "But it has not resulted in the killing of as many journalists as might have been expected or feared," he added. At the same time, Bruttin said, "we're globally seeing an increase in safety for journalists." This is driven by newsrooms putting their teams through more training on operating in conflict zones and equipping them properly, Bruttin said, but also by a feeling among military commanders and politicians that the media should be shielded. From roughly 1985, approximately 100 journalists were killed while carrying out their duties each year, Bruttin said. There was a "sharp decline" from 2018, down to just over half of this number by 2024, he added. "We are in an era where we have more military means to have precision strikes," the RSF chief said. "We have more safety within the newsrooms and more culture of safety," he added. For the last seven years, most of the journalists who have died were killed in non-conflict countries, like Mexico, Bruttin said. "Journalists were collateral victims of war, especially in World War Two and in the Vietnam War as well," Bruttin said. "Now they are targets. They are targeted and hit because they're journalists."
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rumors of Shale's Peak Were Premature
During earnings season for the first quarter of the year, the message of the U.S. energy industry to the world was 'Peak shale is here.' Now, three months later, the message has changed. Now, shale drillers are signaling there is still space to grow, so those expecting a decline after the peak will have to wait a bit longer. 'We believe we are at a tipping point for U.S. oil production at current commodity prices,' said Travis Stice, chief executive of Diamondback Energy back in May in a letter to shareholders. 'The amount of capital required to get back to 13 million barrels a day or 6 million barrels a day in the Permian might be an untenable lift for the business model that we put in place,' Stice elaborated. Now, the new chief executive of Diamondback is signaling this may not be the case. In comments on the company's performance, Kaes Van't Hof said that Diamondback was 'pushing the limits of efficiency', drilling new wells faster and cheaper, Bloomberg's Javier Blas reported in his latest column, arguing rumors of shale's peak were greatly exaggerated. Indeed, earlier in the year, the Energy Information Administration reported estimates that total U.S. oil production would decline from 13.5 million barrels daily in the first half of 2025 to 13.3 million barrels daily by the end of next year. Drilling activity was slowing down faster than expected, the EIA said, citing rig count data. Prices were weighing on drillers, prompting revisions of new well drilling plans. Yet just last month, the EIA had to revise its own forecast—because real-world data about oil production for May showed that shale drillers had kept expanding their production despite weaker international oil prices and despite a lower rig count. Granted, the growth was not bombastic, at 0.2% from the previous month, but on an annual basis, U.S. oil production gained 2.2% in May. That, however, may not last very long. It normally takes several months before shale drillers respond to price weakness by curbing activity, and this year is no exception. Unless, that is, the demand outlook changes. For much of this year, like last year, oil market commentary has focused on predictions of oversupply with a few sharp price swings following geopolitical events, suggesting that oversupply may be in jeopardy. Then there have been signs that there is no oversupply. The oil market is relatively balanced, and the chances of that balance tipping into the shortage direction are not insignificant, as some analysts noted after Trump's latest tariff threat to India for its buying of Russian crude. A slowdown in the energy transition is not helping reinforce the bearish sentiment. In fact, the transition has slowed so much that Wood Mackenzie has warned the world may find itself in urgent need of additional oil barrels. From 2035 onwards, the energy consultancy said recently, global oil demand might require an additional 5% more oil annually than previously estimated, due to the slower-than-planned transition. By 2050, we would need an extra 100 billion barrels of both oil and gas to balance supply with demand. There is much talk about accelerating the transition, but the actual pace of switching oil and gas for wind and solar remains slow—which means there is a significant chance that the slowdown in U.S. shale is reversible as well. The moment prices tick up and stay up long enough, drillers will get their appetite for drilling back. This is not to say there are no challenges that will be tricky to overcome. For starters, some in the oilfield services industry are warning that they have reached the limit for efficiency gains. 'We've tripled oil production in the last 15 years, and we have doubled natural gas production.' But 'there's not a lot of gas left in the tank,' the chief executive of Quantum Energy Partners, Wil VanLoh, told Bloomberg back in September. 'The US shale revolution has run its course.' The limit of efficiency gains means there is no more space to lower costs by adding efficiency to drilling, which would make drillers more sensitive to prices. In other bad news for shale oil production growth, the Texas Railroad Commission has warned the industry that the amount of fracking fluid they were using was creating problems with ground pressure. For this reason, the commission earlier this year said it would restrict the number of new wastewater disposal licenses it issues to drillers. Indeed, part of the efficiency gains the shale industry has developed over the past decade or so includes a significant increase in the amount of fracking fluid used. Per Enverus, it has gone up seven times over 15 years. And now it has to be moderated to avoid bigger problems. All this limits the growth potential for shale deposits, for sure. But it does not cancel it altogether. Indeed, peak shale may get delayed yet. By Irina Slav for More Top Reads From this article on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
U.S. Gas Prices Poised To Fall Below $3 A Gallon This Summer
Long-suffering U.S. motorists are set to finally enjoy some reprieve at the pump, with indications that gas prices could decline to multi-year lows. U.S. gasoline prices appear poised to fall below $3 a gallon this summer, a level they last sank to more than four years ago, thanks to surging imports filling inventories at a time when bad weather events are dampening fuel demand. According to AAA data, the national average price of gasoline fell to 3.15 per gallon, the lowest level recorded during summer months over the past four years. Average gas prices across the country last fell below $3 a gallon in May 2021. However, many U.S. motorists are already enjoying gas prices below $3 per gallon, with GasBuddy reporting that most are paying $2.99 per gallon, with some paying as low as $2.79. Indeed, the median U.S. gas price currently stands at $2.97 per gallon. However, not everyone is smiling at the pump, with motorists in California ($4.49), Hawaii ($4.47), and Washington ($4.41) paying the highest prices for their gas. According to GasBuddy, the top 10% of stations in the country are selling a gallon of gasoline at $4.34, nearly $2 higher than the bottom 10% at $2.54 per gallon. Meanwhile, most U.S. motorists are paying $3.49 for a gallon of diesel, with the median at $3.59 per gallon. The top 10% of stations in the country are selling their diesel at $4.63 per gallon compared to an average of $3.07 per gallon for the bottom 10%.According to the latest Consumer Price Index, gasoline prices declined 8.3% Y/Y over the 52-week period ended June, with oil prices falling more than 20% amid concerns over lackluster demand and potential oversupply by OPEC+. Fuel demand fell 2.5% Y/Y in the week ended July 4, an ominous sign of waning demand in a high-demand season. Gasoline products supplied, a metric used as a proxy for fuel demand by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), averaged 9.2 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, good for a 1% Y/Y decline. Extreme heat has been blamed for the lackluster demand, with the experts saying high temperatures have discouraged driving. Summer is typically the peak driving season in the United States. But inclement weather is not solely to blame here. Improving fuel efficiency coupled with changes in driving patterns in the post-pandemic period--especially remote working--appear to have permanently depressed U.S. gasoline consumption, which is yet to eclipse its all-time high of more than 9.3 million bpd in 2018. "As we head toward August, I think gasoline will see additional weakness. The national average has a good chance of falling below $3 per gallon in September," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Another growing problem for the oil bulls–electric vehicles. Electric vehicles (EVs) are estimated to currently displace around 3.5 million barrels of oil per day globally, with a significant portion of this displacement occurring in the United States. This displacement is driven by the increasing adoption of EVs, particularly in China, Europe, and the U.S., where they are replacing traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. While the percentage of EVs on the road in the U.S. is still relatively small compared to the overall vehicle fleet, the impact on gasoline demand is growing as EV adoption accelerates. The IEA recently published its Global EV Outlook 2025 wherein it predicted that the global EV fleet will displace more than 5 mb/d of crude by 2030, with China accounting for half of that impact. Last year, the global EV fleet hit 58 million EVs, more than triple the tally just four years ago, making up 4% of the global passenger car fleet. The EV revolution is strongest in China, where roughly 1 in 10 cars is electric. However, oil demand destruction is most rampant in Europe, where EV adoption is most aggressive. Norway has been leading the continent in EV adoption, with 88% of new cars sold in 2024 fully electric, while 3% were plug-in hybrids. Not surprisingly, Norway's oil demand fell 12% from 2021 to 2024. Norway is a major supplier of natural gas to Europe, consistently ranking as one of the top, if not the top, suppliers of gas to the European Union. According to the European Commission, Norway supplied 52.6% of the EU's natural gas imports in the first quarter of 2025. By Alex Kimani for More Top Reads From this article on
