Glass Companies Cope with Energy Prices

Fenton, like many other local hand-blown glass industries, are beginning to feel the energy crunch as factories struggle to stay in the marketplace. Although the natural gas has been an issue for awhile, many businesses are really beginning the feel the full effects. These businesses have to decide what to do between the high natural gas cost, which is needed to produce the hand-blown glass, and the number of employees they are able to support. According to Tome Fenton, plant manager and vice president of Fenton Art Glass Co. in Williamstown, "[w]e estimate that we will have paid 40 percent more for gas by the end of the year than we had budgeted.” “We had already budgeted a hefty increase." Although some of these businesses are doing what they can to stay in business, aka layoffs like Fenton has done recently, some businesses, like Davis and Lynch, are trying to get by through cut-backs on other ways instead of layoffs. "Natural gas is a large portion of our cost," said Charlene Geiger, office manager for Davis and Lynch. "We run the furnaces five days a week. Due to the increase in natural gas, we shut down one crystal tank for a few weeks in October." Shouldn’t the government or some other organization be looking into the natural gas increases? What about help from the Industries of the Future-West Virginia (IOF-WV)? An organization that works to help save energy at the state's energy-intensive operations. However, they could only go so far. "With energy efficiency measures, you can probably look at a 15 percent reduction of energy cost," IOF-WV Director Carl Irwin said. "If you're really good, maybe 20 percent if you implement everything you possibly can.” However, for businesses, it is sometimes hard to do these energy efficiency measures because of the cost. Like I have said before, when will the government look into this? Before of after the businesses go under?