Daily Archives: February 11, 2011

elections

Governor Corbett Where are the Jobs? Please sign petition.

2 Comments

Promises Broken: Where is the focus on jobs?

During the 2010 elections, Tom Corbett and the leaders of the General Assembly told us their number one priority was creating jobs and healing the economy. Since they took office they have ignored those promises.  Instead, they have pursued a highly partisan, radical agenda to turn back the clock on education, healthcare and civil rights.

To date, neither the Senate nor the House has held one hearing on creating new jobs or promoting Pennsylvania’s economy.  So what have they focused on?

  • The first hearing of the new session focused on cutting healthcare for women.
  • SB1 will cut funding to public schools by diverting tax money to parochial and other private schools.  This will mean either raising property taxes and/or cutting local education programs.
  • Governor Corbett plans to sell off the Commonwealth’s assets to the highest corporate bidders.  He plans to start with the Wine and Spirit Shoppes, resulting in the loss of 4,500 good paying jobs.
  • Even before his new term started, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe began his annual campaign to enshrine bigotry in the Pennsylvania Constitution by banning same sex marriage.

This doesn’t look like a focus on jobs to me. It looks like the same old partisan, ideological focus on wedge issues.  That’s why we’ve started a petition asking Gov. Corbett and the Republican leadership in both chambers to fulfill their promises.

We demand that Gov. Corbett and the House and Senate leadership fulfill their commitment to us and focus their attention on jobs and the economy. Sign our petition and add your voice. No more broken promises!

In Solidarity,

Michael Morrill
Keystone Progress

elections

Marcellus Shale Drillers in PA Out of Control

1 Comment

Guiding principles or guiding platitudes?

Natural gas companies haven’t set real standards for drilling in the Marcellus Shale

Thursday, February 10, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Mike Benard

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, representing nearly 40 U.S. and foreign gas and oil companies, announced with great fanfare its seven “guiding principles” in October.

To date, neither Kathryn Klaber, president of the coalition, nor former Gov. Tom Ridge, paid adviser and spokesman for the coalition, can explain what specifically the shale gas industry will do to fulfill its guiding principles.

This is significant for the industry coalition, headquartered in Canonsburg, because the drilling technique it advocates — high-volume, slickwater hydraulic fracturing — is highly controversial, and rightly so.

I’ve been met by silence when I have repeatedly posed the question: What will the shale-gas industry do to implement its principles?

In particular, the Marcellus coalition’s second guiding principle states: “We implement state-of-the-art environmental protection across our operations.”

Continue reading Marcellus Shale Drillers in PA Out of Control →