LETTERS: NV Energy doing disservice to ratepayers

NV Energy rates

I wanted to thank Kevin Geraghty of NV Energy for providing me with the joke of the day in his op-ed piece (“NV Energy aims to meet all customers’ needs,” Monday Review-Journal). Is he seriously stating NV Energy takes great care to provide its customers the best rates? I personally haven’t found that to be a factual statement.

I moved to Las Vegas in 1998. My electric bill in the dead of summer, with the air conditioner set at 72 degrees, was $110. Now, my bill in the summer with the thermostat set at 80 degrees is well over $300. That’s nearly three times as much! So excuse me if I don’t agree with the propaganda NV Energy wants the public to believe.

My perception is that NV Energy is a monopoly that finally has some competition, and the utility will do anything it can to get rid of the competition and continue to soak ratepayers with high bills. Does everyone remember the Public Utilities Commission granted rate increases in the early 2000s, and the increases were happening on a monthly basis? Ratepayers still haven’t recovered from all those increases.

Finally, Nevadans have a choice on affordable electricity. The PUC needs to do its job and start advocating for the ratepayers, instead of NV Energy.

Marlene Drozd

Las Vegas

College protests

It seems every day that another university has students demanding one thing and protesting another. I was always under the impression that a university was a place to exchange ideas and prepare oneself for life as an adult. These kids who want to live in a Pollyanna world are in for a huge culture shock.

The real world is far from being politically correct. These students’ so-called demands are laughable at best. Fire a tenured professor because you do not agree with his views? Change the name of a study hall because 150 years ago, this person disagreed with your views? Make all faculty and student bodies equally diverse? Shout down a visiting speaker because you disagree with their points of view? What ever happened to free speech? Is freedom of speech relegated only to students?

Personally, I would call each of these protesters into my office one at a time. I would hand them a copy of their transcripts and tell them that I am sorry they found my university not to their liking. Then I would wish them Godspeed and good luck finding another university to protest at.

It seems a minority of students at each of these schools think they are entitled to say what they want and disrupt the broad majority, just to be heard. There is a lot in the Constitution about free speech, but nothing about being automatically entitled to a college education.

Douglas Murphy

Las Vegas

Cryotherapy safety

As a physicist who frequently works with cryogenic liquids such as nitrogen, helium and oxygen, and as one who has been trained in their associated dangers, I was saddened to read of the death of a staff member at a cryotherapy center (“Las Vegas cryotherapy center worker dies at work,” Oct. 25 Review-Journal).

Low-temperature cryogens can rapidly warm, expanding roughly 1,000-fold in volume into gas, with occasionally explosive force. This process suddenly displaces air — in particular oxygen — causing immediate asphyxiation. Many of the facilities where I perform experiments using cryogens possess oxygen sensors, which sound alarms and alert safety personnel when the oxygen concentration dips below 20 percent.

Having read about a number of deaths due to cryogenic/industrial gas asphyxiation nationally over the years, I strongly urge lawmakers to enact legislation requiring the hardwired installation of oxygen alarms in facilities that regularly utilize cryogens.

Michael Pravica

Henderson

— The author is an associate professor of physics at UNLV.

Bring back Kalas

With all that has been coming to light for some time now about mental health issues, I find it confusing as to why the Review-Journal would choose to discontinue Steven Kalas’ weekly column (“Changes offer more options to readers,” Nov. 9 Review-Journal). His commentaries always had something positive to offer and learn from. In fact, I had always wished that he was published multiple days each week, instead of just one.

I’m sure that there was something else that the R-J could have cut instead, maybe from the entertainment coverage. Please reconsider and bring back Mr. Kalas’ column. We can never have enough people trying to help others, and that’s what his column offered.

Julie Fredericksen

Las Vegas