Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Glenn 'GT' Thompson today voted to support H.R. 3409, the Coal Miner Employment and Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act, a package bills that protect American jobs and support U.S. energy production. The measure passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 233-175. “This legislation will end overly burdensome regulations that are destroying jobs and business expansion across the commonwealth, guard against higher electricity rates for consumers, and promote states’ rights when it comes to environmental protections,” said Rep. Thompson. Thompson serves on the House Natural Resources Committee, one of three committees with jurisdiction over the legislation, in addition to the House Energy and Commerce and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. Joined by coal workers from across the country, members of all three committees, including Thompson, held a press conference before passage of H.R. 3...

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson today joined 182 Members in sending a bipartisan letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar requesting new, expanded access to offshore energy production in order to encourage new job creation, reduce America’s reliance on foreign energy and generate new revenue. Last November, the Obama Administration released a draft five year plan that closes the majority of the OCS to new energy production through 2017. The draft plan includes lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic—leaving portions of Alaska, the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts off-limits to new energy production. Next week the House is expected to consider the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7), which would lift President Obama’s offshore drilling ban and require the Administration to lease offshore areas containing the most oil and natural gas. Text from letter: “Dear Mr. Secretary: “With the release of the Proposed Outer ...

WASHINGTON, DC— A new report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) finds that eliminating or modifying several tax breaks currently benefiting the major integrated oil companies will reduce the deficit by $21 billion over ten years and encourage investments in alternative energy and energy efficiency. The report, “End Tax Breaks For Big Oil: Reduce the Federal Deficit Without Increasing Prices at the Pump,” further shows that the repeal of the tax breaks will not affect oil and gas production decisions in the near term and will have little or no impact on consumer energy prices in the immediate future. “This new JEC report makes clear that there are ways to bring down the deficit without harming our economic recovery,” said JEC Chairman Bob Casey (D-PA). “By repealing unnecessary tax breaks to the major integrated oil companies, we can reduce the deficit by more than $20 billion and speed the move to a clean energy economy without impacting prices at the pump.” The p...

Northern Potter School District in Ulysses has been awarded a $420,000 low-interest loan to make energy-efficient upgrades expected to save thousands of dollars a year. In making the announcement, Senator Joe Scarnati said the loan will enable the school district to make HVAC system improvements and upgrades, replace lighting, better seal and insulate the building, and install an energy management system to control and monitor the energy usage of the building. The upgrades will be made at both the Children’s School and Northern Potter High School “The improvements will enable the school district to save 27 percent of the current energy – for an annual cost-savings of $53,000,” Scarnati said. “It’s a great investment and one that will continue to reduce energy costs and make the school more energy efficient for years to come.” The school district is providing matching funds for the project.

Since Monday, I've been trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to write about the Department of Environmental Protection. For people who don't know, they're holding up at least two major projects here in McKean County. The two that got me thinking even more about this on Monday are the Foster Township sewer line extension and the Lafferty Hollow Industrial Park. During Monday's Foster Township Supervisors meeting, the board said different branches of the DEP are at odds with each other. For instance, once branch says the township must extend the sewer lines. Another branch won't give them approval on where to put the lines. I'm not surprised that a government agency is being that ridiculous, but before I wrote anything, I wanted to find out if other municipalities in the state are having similar problems. I got my answer while talking to Joe Scarnati Wednesday night. He said, "One thing about DEP is that they're equally abusive everywhere around the...

No new taxes. What is about that phrase that Governor Ed Rendell doesn't understand? He wants to impose a "modest charge" on electric bills to start an Energy Independence Fund – an $850 million pot of money that would be used as incentives for businesses and consumers to use alternative energy sources. First, what's the difference between a "tax" and a "charge?" No difference. And with rate caps coming off in a couple of years, do we really need another tax – Sorry – "charge" – added to our electric bills? I know that when the caps came off in the Pittsburgh area and in Maryland the result wasn't nearly as catastrophic as people had predicted, but are we willing to take that chance again? Second, I'm all for alternative energy but let's be realistic here. How many people in the northern part of the state are going to be able to benefit from solar energy? I'm sure Mike Cejka would tell you we have many more cloudy days tha...