President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Moreno have both promised to see the SOBE Thermal Energy crisis resolved, keeping downtown Youngstown warm through the winter. Michael Neenan has more details on those promises.
President Donald Trump vows to find solutions to the SOBE Thermal Energy crisis at Monday night’s rally at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown.
This comes after SOBE Thermal Energy Systems is expected to run out of money this winter, which would leave several buildings in downtown Youngstown without heat.
Trump says he has directed the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Energy to work with U.S. Senators from Ohio Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted to find solutions.
This follows Senator Bernie Moreno’s visit to Youngstown in June to find solutions, though he told 21 News in September that there were no plans yet.
Moreno’s office released the following statement:
“Senator Moreno is committed to finding a solution for his constituents in Youngstown. He will exhaust all possible options and won’t rest until this issue is solved.”
Husted’s office released the following statement:
“Senator Husted and his team are seeking solutions to this situation and have been in touch with the Department of Energy about this matter to explore how they may be able to assist residents and businesses downtown Youngstown.”
Ohio State Representative Lauren McNally says she feels Trump’s comments are the latest in a series of false promises by federal politicians.
“It’s all just been either political rhetoric, or dangling promises that they’ve just been dragging us along,” she said,
She adds that several federal solutions that were explored turned out to be insufficient, and says she believes the state needs to provide support to prevent SOBE from closing this winter.
“It’ll at least give us some time because we know that no one’s gonna come in and help us overall restore the system; at least we can figure out a solution,” she said.
21 News attempted to reach out to Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell, but a spokesperson said he would not answer questions and pointed us to a social media post about the president’s comments.