Letters: Support for the Global Health Security Act; Unfair tax coming to Ferguson Township

Support for the Global Health Security Act

Five hundred thousand Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began last year. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is how truly interconnected we all are. If we want to end COVID-19, we must prioritize ending it everywhere around the world, not just in the United States. I am calling on Rep. Fred Keller to co-sponsor the Global Health Security Act.

This act bolsters the United States’ commitments to build countries’ capacity to fight infectious diseases and elevate health security as a global priority. It currently has bipartisan support from Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation, and I would love to see Rep. Keller add his support.

The passage of the Global Health Security Act would help ensure that the United States is best prepared to tackle any future global health challenges. Pandemics do not know or respect national borders. This is very much a situation where we are only as strong as our weakest link. The United States, as one of the most powerful nations in the world, has a responsibility to help strengthen that weakest link. Doing so will help save lives. It is irresponsible to ignore the health and well-being of everyone outside of our national borders. Not only are there humanitarian reasons to care about all inhabitants of our Earth, but doing so will also help keep Americans safe.

Unfair tax coming to Ferguson Township

Ferguson Township’s recent ordinance on storm water assessment is an unfair tax on residents with zero scientific backing. They are assessing property owners based on the amount of impermeable surface (such as roofs, driveways, etc.) However, there is no credit for permeable surface, so for instance if you have 3 acres of lawn or field and 1,000 square feet of driveway, you are charged the same amount as someone with 1/2 acre lot and 1,000 square feet of driveway. Residents that have environmentally friendly properties, where the storm water is returned to the aquifer, are being unfairly penalized. This is nothing more than another tax, not based on science or environmental concerns, only greed to fill the coffers of the township. This is not what the people of Ferguson Township elected the officials to do. They should instead being encouraging residents to implement sound environmental practices to properly manage rain water runoff.

High cost of keeping government ‘out of their business’

Rick Perry, former energy secretary in the Trump Administration, recently told House Minority Leader McCarthy, “‘Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.” I bet Mr. Perry, his family, and his major political donors haven’t been sleeping in their cars during the recent cold snap and power outages in Texas.

Many political analysts opine that Perry and current Texas Governor Abbott have been ignoring recommendations for weather-proofing and “outage-proofing” Texas energy infrastructure in order to keep costs low (and profits high) and, according to Perry, “to keep the federal government out of their business.” This is a glaring example of the uncritical, “less government is better” philosophy of many people. Governor Abbott even blamed the “Green New Deal” for the current outage, although he drew enough criticism that he retracted that statement.

Having worked for decades in environmental management, I can attest to the fact that some government regulations are cumbersome and/or costly, but I can also tell you unequivocally that private industry cannot be trusted to “self-regulate.” Environmental history is full of examples of disasters stemming from poorly-regulated industry activity: Love Canal, Bhopal, Minimata, Hanford, and now the emerging catastrophe of global warming; “We the people (taxpayers)“ wind up footing the bill in most cases.

We need government that is not indebted to special interests; will act in the best interest of “we the people”; and will objectively perform cost-benefit analysis for proposed regulations.

Enough grocery stores?

Really?

3 Giants

2 Weis

2 Aldi’s

1 Wegmans

2 Walmarts

Trader Joe’s

Nature’s Pantry

Several ethnic markets

Are we SURE we can find enough places to buy our food?