Still time to protect Pa.’s resources

A recent article that ran in the Centre Daily Times (“Senate jams shale tax, industry permits into unhappy package”) just scratched the surface of the harmful impacts that the Pennsylvania Senate’s budget bill would have on our environment and the well-being of residents.

This budget allows the state’s oil and gas industry to police itself. If this came to pass, the impact would be more toxic spills on top of the hundreds the state already experiences every year, as well as more air pollution, and continued environmental impacts when companies fail to account for aging infrastructure, with the burden falling on state residents and the communities in which we live. These burdens will not simply be monetary — the health and well-being of residents, their families and their children, will be negatively affected.

Measures that allow self-regulation of industry are harmful and have no place in a budget.

Although I’m disappointed by the recent Senate vote passing this disgraceful budget, Senate leaders Jake Corman and Joe Scarnati can still demonstrate leadership by working with the House and Gov. Wolf to assure the final budget protects Pennsylvania’s most precious resources: our air, our water, and our future.

This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Still time to protect Pa.’s resources."