Pennsylvania

=tag pa 1021bak 1020html jeopardyswing state? chem/plastic migrating there, need frack gas?==
<p class="date" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">RWW NOVEMBER 10, 2020 <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/notorious-voter-suppressor-kenneth-blackwell-denounces-pennsylvania-governor-and-his-legion-of-darkness/" title="Notorious Vote-Suppressor Kenneth Blackwell Denounces Pennsylvania Governor and His ‘Legion of Darkness’" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline-offset: 0.11111em; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.1; margin-top: 0px; padding: 15px;">Notorious Vote-Suppressor Kenneth Blackwell Denounces Pennsylvania Governor and His ‘Legion of Darkness’</a>==seems more snafu than evil<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/pennsylvanias-rejection-of-372-000-ballot-applications-bewilders-voters-and-strains-election-staff/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/pennsylvanias-rejection-of-372-000-ballot-applications-bewilders-voters-and-strains-election-staff/</a>=1020 an<h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 25px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">t<a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/trump-appointed-judge-smacks-down-campaigns-efforts-to-suppress-the-vote-in-pennsylvania/" aria-label="Trump-appointed judge smacks down campaign's efforts to suppress the vote in Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height">rump-appointed judge smacks down campaign's efforts to suppress the vote in Pennsylvania</a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/laura-clawson" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Laura Clawson</a> <a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Daily Kos</a></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2648188196" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; margin-bottom: 15px; display: -webkit-box; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 23px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description" style="">The Trump campaign and the Republican National Convention's efforts to steal the election in Pennsylvania were <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/judges-reject-trump-claims-mail-voter-fraud" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word;">handed a setback on Saturday by a Trump-appointed judge</a>.</div></div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/judge-considers-trump-campaign-lawsuit-based-on-his-claim-that-bad-things-happen-in-philadelphia/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/judge-considers-trump-campaign-lawsuit-based-on-his-claim-that-bad-things-happen-in-philadelphia/</a>
=<div>subpoena power </div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2020/10/pa-republicans-trying-hijack-election">https://crooksandliars.com/2020/10/pa-republicans-trying-hijack-election</a></div><div>
</div><div>... the video. That's state rep Malcolm Kenyatta, who's trying to stop Pennsylvania's Republican legislators from <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/wires/ap/house-gop-pushes-ahead-plan-election-integrity-panel-20200930.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">stealing our election.</a><div class="post-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75rem;">"No one is getting Malcolm under control. Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta is trying to stop what's happening in Pennsylvania. The Democrats and legislators there are trying to stop it," Rachel Maddow said."This is going to end up being a story of serious national significance. They are trying at this late date to create a brand new Select Election Integrity Committee that they're giving subpoena power to investigate the 2020 election in the middle of the 2020 election. You heard Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta there. This fight is getting hotter."Maddow said, "I don't know if we are seeing in any other state a last-minute move by a Republican-controlled legislature to try to institute a new body to control the vote and to potentially affect the way the presidential election is conducted. Is this something you guys knew was coming or was it as much of a surprise to you as to those of us outside the state?"Kenyatta said they usually get 24 hours notice before a committee hearing of any bills that are coming up."They put it in our inboxes, I think right before the presidential debate and for months now, Rachel, they have been trying to throw sand into the gears of our democracy. And now they're sanding out this election integrity committee that as I said, has no integrity to investigate the sand. They have parroted all of President Trump's fever dreams around voter fraud. But here's the reality. The only fraud I see is Donald Trump, he lies to the American people and cheats on his taxes and now he is trying to steal an election," he said."Unfortunately, Republicans in Harrisburg and across the country are more than happy to help him destroy our democracy. They have decided they're not going to contest this election on policy or on the progress we need to see on climate change and healthcare and this covid-19 pandemic. They're not going to have the election on those terms.<div class="clab clab-type-post_inline" data-clab-id="7" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">"They are doing everything they can to take away the power of our vote here in Pennsylvania to maintain their power."PA Republicans are just horrible. We used to have at least some semi-sane ones, but a few years ago, the Freedom Caucus types took over and I don't think they've done a productive thing since.</div></div>=an 920 (is this the 9 mil? not all for trump? wm barr jumped on?  in debate something bad in philly b/c "pollwatchers" not allowed to harass ppl applying for absentee ballot?  trump said kept out of poll, but not open and no GOP applied to watch?<h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text " href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/a-naked-ballots-crisis-triggered-by-the-pennsylvania-supreme-court-just-put-100000-votes-on-the-line-in-the-key-state/" aria-label="A 'naked ballots' crisis triggered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court just put 100,000 votes on the line in the key state" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" word-break="word-break" break-word="break-word" outline="outline" px="px" overflow-wrap="overflow-wrap" font-size="font-size" line-height="line-height"> 'naked ballots' crisis triggered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court just put 100,000 votes on the line in the key state</a></h1><div>
</div><div></div>920 salon
republicans to ask Supreme Court to restrict voting by mail in Pennsylvania in post-Ginsburg appealIGOR DERYSH
==920 an<div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/heres-why-pennsylvania-might-be-the-most-important-swing-state-in-this-years-election-polling-expert/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">here’s why Pennsylvania might be the ‘most important’ swing state in this year’s election: polling expert</a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Alex Henderson</a></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pennsylvania — which Democratic strategist James Carville famously described as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in between — is among the swing states that could…</div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.invisiblehandfilm.com/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="">INVISIBLE HAND is a “paradigm shifting” documentary about the creation of ‘Rights of Nature.’ The defining battle of our times where nature, democracy and capitalism face off in rural America.SHORT SYNOPSIS Produced by award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo, INVISIBLE HAND takes you behind the curtain of the global economy where ‘Rights of Nature’ becomes “capitalism’s one true opponent.”In the fall of 2014, for the first time in United States history, an ecosystem filed to defend itself in a lawsuit claiming its ‘right to exist' in Grant Township, Pennsylvania. For attempting such a radical act, Grant’s rural community of 700 people were sued by a corporation, then by the state government, and are now locked in a battle to defend the watershed they call home through civil disobedience. The water they drink, the Rights to Nature laws they've passed are all on the line in this exclusive story.In Toledo, Ohio an earth-shattering vote was passed to enact the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR), granting personhood to international waters.Half a continent away in Standing Rock, North Dakota, the same industry threatening Grant Twp. is using militarized force against indigenous tribes and allies fighting to protect Mother Earth.Activists leaving Standing Rock are rejoined on the Pennsylvania and New York border where the Seneca Nation of Indians aligns with communities in the Triple Divide to stop radioactive fracking waste from entering Ohi:yo’ waters. Terry Pegula, owner of Buffalo Bills and Sabres, threatens to sue INVISIBLE HAND filmmakers and whoever continues to speak out about his oil and gas company and their efforts.The four, Grant Township, Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Defend Oh:yo’ and Standing Rock, are joined in an international fight to protect more than just water. They fight for their community, democracy, and for Nature as a living entity unto itself.In the end, "Who will speak for Nature?"</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.investigativepost.org/2018/05/08/pegula-back-fracking-and-violating-regulations/</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div>no lnx audio</div><div>
</div><div>Pegula back fracking – and violating regulations</div><div>By Jim Heaney</div></div>=820Next week, our team will be in court for the voters of Pennsylvania, challenging dangerous election practices that threaten the health and safety of voters and undermine the constitutional right to vote. African American and Latino citizens, who have historically struggled for the right to participate equally in our democracy, have been disproportionately affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, making the risks of voting in an overcrowded polling place particularly severe and disparate for these populations. That’s why Free Speech For People, on behalf of the Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP, has sued Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar to challenge numerous unsafe and unequal election practices that violate the Pennsylvania Constitution’s guarantees of free and fair elections and equal protection of the law.But this case is bigger than Pennsylvania. Last month, the Trump campaign and the RNC filed a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xrEehLzXaVNNXBXW3RIfhEnDLyf6JTf9" style="">motion to intervene</a> in this case. They, along with the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, seek to oppose the Pennsylvania NAACP in this case and to block the remedies requested to help ensure a safe and secure election in Pennsylvania this November.<div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-promised-to-bring-back-manufacturing-in-pennsylvania-he-didnt-but-will-it-cost-him/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-promised-to-bring-back-manufacturing-in-pennsylvania-he-didnt-but-will-it-cost-him/</a></div><div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">120 bernie gaining ground in Iowa? corp press ignores? nader et al see corp dem bias to ctr?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While Sen. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Bernie-Sanders" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">Bernie Sanders</a> (I-Vt.) has been in Washington this week for the impeachment trial, he has put forth two bills to help the environment.On Tuesday, he pushed forward a bill to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/480777-sanders-introduces-bill-to-ban-hydraulic-fracking" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">The Hill reported</a>. The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3247/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Sanders%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">bill</a>, titled "A bill to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, and for other purposes," will go to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for review.<div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-5" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5">While the text of the bill is not yet available, Sen. Jeff Merkley from Oregon is a co-sponsor of the bill. On Thursday, Sanders <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1222960113910210561" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">tweeted</a> that he also worked on the bill with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Darren Soto (D-Fla.), as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/480777-sanders-introduces-bill-to-ban-hydraulic-fracking" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">The Hill reported</a>."I don't mind if <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">@MarkRuffalo</a> spoils his own movies. But please, don't ruin the surprise of our new legislation with Rep. <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">@AOC</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">@SenJeffMerkley</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/RepDarrenSoto" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">@RepDarrenSoto</a>. I don't want the dirty fracking industry CEOs to know what hit them," wrote Sanders in his <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1222960113910210561" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">tweet</a>, which embedded a video of the actor and activist, Mark Ruffalo, touting a potential federal ban on fracking.</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...<div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1">he bill drew support from several environmental activist organizations.
"Senator Sanders' bill names the problem and provides the only solution," Natalie Mebane, Associate Director of Policy at <a href="http://link.cvip.io/f/a/lI7Ag8jf6aY5chtEI04rzg/AAJ4uAA_{/RgRgFVhxP0RPaHR0cHM6Ly9jcm0uMzUwLm9yZy9zaXRlcy9hbGwvbW9kdWxlcy9jaXZpY3JtL2V4dGVybi91cmwucGhwP3U9MTE4NTgmcWlkPTgxMjU0NlcDc3BjQgoAAPEkNF5Ln7SPUhRqb25AY29tbW9uZHJlYW1zLm9yZ1gEAAAAAw}" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">350.org</a>, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/01/31/350-action-applauds-sanders-fracking-ban-bill?cd-origin=rss" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">said in a statement</a><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/01/31/350-action-applauds-sanders-fracking-ban-bill?cd-origin=rss" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">. "In order to avoid the worst of the climate crisis, we must rapidly transition off of fossil fuels, and end fracking and the dangerous pipelines that come with it."</a></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2">The ban on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">fracking</a> that Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren advocate has democrats concerned that such a policy could push Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, to President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">Donald Trump</a> in November."In Pennsylvania, you're talking hundreds of thousands of related jobs that would be — they would be unemployed overnight," said John Fetterman, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/us/politics/pennsylvania-democrats-fracking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>. "Pennsylvania is a margin play. And an outright ban on fracking isn't a margin play."Sanders not only introduced a ban on fracking. On Wednesday, he, along with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Ma), <a href="https://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/pfas-summary?id=B3C238FF-B9D4-4557-9DE9-D15CFEEFBA8D&download=1&inline=file" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">introduced The Preventing Future American Sickness (PFAS) Act</a>, which takes aim at 'forever chemicals' polluting waterways, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/480571-sanders-introduces-bill-to-clean-up-of-toxic-forever-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">The Hill reported</a>.As <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-drinking-water-2644897405.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">EcoWatch reported</a>, a recent study from the Environmental Working Group found that toxic forever chemicals, or PFAS, are far more prevalent in drinking water than previously thought."As hundreds of communities across the country are dealing with toxic PFAS contamination in their drinking water," Sanders says in a statement put out by <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/sanders-unveils-bill-combat-corporate-polluters-and-protect-drinking-water" target="blank" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-color="text-decoration-color" rgb="rgb" line-height="line-height" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Food and Water Watch</a>, "it is unconscionable that huge corporations like DuPont have, for decades, concealed evidence of how dangerous these compounds are in order to keep profiting at the expense of human health. Congress must pass this legislation to put an end to corporate stonewalling and criminal behavior and tackle this public health crisis. It is not a radical idea to demand that when people in the world's richest country turn on their taps, the water they drink is free of toxic chemicals."</div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3">The legislation would ban the chemicals from food packaging and ban the incineration of PFAS firefighting foam. It would also direct the Environmental Protection Agency to designate PFAS as hazardous under both the Clean Air and and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act — commonly called CERCLA or Superfund, as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/29/sanders-takes-aim-corporate-polluters-bill-clean-toxic-forever-chemicals-drinking" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams reported</a>.</div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-4" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-fracking-ban-2644992555.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem4">Labeling the chemicals as hazardous substances would force manufacturers to foot the bill for cleaning them up, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/480571-sanders-introduces-bill-to-clean-up-of-toxic-forever-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">according to The Hill</a>."Every American—regardless of the color of their skin, their zip code, or their income—has the right to be free from exposure to a slew of carcinogens and hazardous chemicals," said Merkley, as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/29/sanders-takes-aim-corporate-polluters-bill-clean-toxic-forever-chemicals-drinking" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams reported</a>. "But millions of people are ingesting dangerous PFAS chemicals against their will through the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the food they eat. Congress needs to come together to put the health of our communities above the wish lists of American's biggest polluters, and that means establishing and enforcing chemical standards that protect Americans from PFAS substances."Both bills face an uncertain future in a Republican-controlled senate. Even if they did get through the Senate, Trump has said he would veto them, as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/29/sanders-takes-aim-corporate-polluters-bill-clean-toxic-forever-chemicals-drinking" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams reported</a>.</div>=</div><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/11/22/coal-pennsylvania-beaver-county-natural-gas-shell-plastics" style="text-decoration-line: none;" open="open" sans="sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px">With Coal’s Decline, Pennsylvania Communities Watch the Rise of Natural Gas-fueled Plastics</a>
<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/11/27/clairton-pennsylvania-air-pollution-shell-petrochemical">https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/11/27/clairton-pennsylvania-air-pollution-shell-petrochemical</a><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">More States Join Northeast's Carbon Market</h3>With Congress dormant thus far on climate and the Obama administration's attempted executive action legacy unraveling, the most durable climate policies so far in the United States have been crafted by the states—especially when working together.The Northeast's carbon market, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), has <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03102019/pennsylvania-rggi-coal-gas-power-plant-emissions-carbon-cap-trade-regulation" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">helped to cut emissions</a> from electricity generation in the nine states involved by 47 percent in the past decade. The revenue generated by the carbon market has also allowed the states to invest in energy efficiency and utility bill assistance for low-income families.[nice map]Building on the success of RGGI, a dozen northeastern states hope to finalize plans in early 2020 to launch a Transportation Climate Initiative, tackling their now-largest source of carbon emissions—cars and trucks.  RGGI is now set to expand, with New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy bringing the state back into the fold in 2020, reversing the 2011 decision by his Republican predecessor Chris Christie. Partisan division in Virginia's state capital stalled the plan by Gov. Ralph Northam to join RGGI in 2019, but after <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06112019/2019-election-virginia-legislature-kentucky-knoxville-climate-change-clean-energy-democrats" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Democrats flipped the Legislature</a> in November, regional cap-and-trade is likely to extend its reach into the Old Dominion soon. The biggest development for RGGI is <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03102019/pennsylvania-rggi-coal-gas-power-plant-emissions-carbon-cap-trade-regulation" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf beginning the process of joining</a>, since his state's electricity market is larger than most of the other northeastern states combined.Pollution allowances will be auctioned to fuel suppliers in the region, with a declining cap on the number of allowances each year and the proceeds invested in electric vehicle infrastructure, mass transit, and other improvements designed to curb carbon emissions. As with RGGI, three Republican governors are on board—Massachusetts' Charlie Baker, who is chairing TCI; Maryland's Larry Hogan and Vermont's Phil Scott."It's very bipartisan, and I think that it just shows you that rational behavior is still alive in dealing with the threat of climate change," said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center at Georgetown Law School, which is providing research and other support for the TCI.Several of those states joined California and Oregon in December in committing to accelerate the shift to zero-emissions trucks and buses. California's Air Resources Board is <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/fact-sheets/advanced-clean-trucks-act-fact-sheet" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">considering  regulations</a> that would require an increasing percentage of heavy-duty truck sales to be zero-emissions.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Who's Missing?</h3>But can the United States fight climate change with only half the states engaged? America's Pledge stresses that, yes, it has the potential. The states, cities, businesses and other institutions in its coalition represent 68 percent of U.S. GDP, 68 percent of the population, and 51 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.But the most carbon-intensive economies in the U.S. are still not part of the fight.Sixty-five percent of the remaining U.S. coal power capacity, for example, is located in the 25 states that are not part of America's Pledge, led by Texas, Indiana and Kentucky. The America's Pledge analysis found that the U.S. could still make progress without the help of these states. It calculated that if just a handful of the states that have already shown some willingness to act adopted stronger policies, like those set by climate leaders like California, the U.S. could cut emissions up to 37 percent by 2030, even if the most carbon-intensive states and the federal government refuse to act. But that's not where the U.S. needs to be if it hopes to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, as the science says is necessary to stave off climate change's worst ravages."None of the states who are climate leaders would say that what they're doing is enough," said Arroyo. "But you've got to start to do what you can do, and prove the concept that you can do this without breaking the bank, and in fact you can do it while growing your economy, creating jobs and enhancing the quality of life."RMI's Frisch said the real lesson of the state and local climate effort so far in the United States is that it is essential, but not sufficient."The states are the reason for the progress that we've had so far," she said. "And their effort will still be fundamental going ahead. But we can't get where we need to be without the federal government, and the federal government can't do it without the states. We need to have both."icn 1019Pennsylvania, one of the nation's largest coal and natural gas producing states, is moving to join the Northeast's carbon market. It would mark the largest expansion of the multistate initiative since its inception a decade ago and a milestone in the drive by states to counter the impact of the Trump administration's retreat from climate action.Pennsylvania would become the largest member in terms of carbon emissions of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), now a nine-state compact to curb pollution from the electricity sector.Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday that joining RGGI would be a necessary step for achieving the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">targets for cuts in greenhouse gas pollution</a> he set earlier this year."If we want a Pennsylvania that is habitable for our children and grandchildren, where temperatures aren't in the 90s in October ... where flooding doesn't destroy homes and businesses over and over again, we need to get serious right now about addressing the climate crisis," Wolf said.It is not clear how far Wolf can go to join RGGI without action by the Republican-controlled state legislature. As buzz grew in the state capital earlier this year on a possible RGGI move, the Wolf administration<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/could-carbon-emissions-become-an-alternative-funding-source-for-gov-wolfs-restore-pa-infrastructure-program.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> reportedly</a> floated a proposal that indicated legislative action would be needed to authorize spending the hundreds of millions of dollars per year in proceeds from carbon fees that the state stands to receive from its involvement in RGGI. But Wolf signed an order Thursday to begin the process of establishing the rules to govern the state's entry to the RGGI market without waiting for the legislature."This is the beginning of the process," he said. "I'm looking forward to a robust conversation with environmental advocates, the General Assembly, Pennsylvanians all across the state to figure out how we do this right." Wolf said he expects Pennsylvania to be a RGGI member within the next two years.New Jersey, an original RGGI member that dropped out under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, is currently moving forward with establishing the rules to rejoin RGGI, a months-long process that it expects to have in place by <a href="https://www.rggi.org/sites/default/files/Uploads/Press-Releases/2019_06_17_NJ_Announcement_Release.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Jan. 1, 2020</a>. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat, tried to bring his state into RGGI but was blocked earlier this year by the state's Republican-controlled legislature. <div>=</div><div>NB also black kids get arrested at school in way higher numbers:</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/school-district-threatens-parents-their-children-may-be-put-in-foster-care-over-unpaid-lunch-bills/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/school-district-threatens-parents-their-children-may-be-put-in-foster-care-over-unpaid-lunch-bills/</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>School district threatens parents their children may be put in foster care over unpaid lunch bills</div><div>
</div><div>Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement July 20, 2019</div><div>
</div><div>A Luzerne County, Pennsylvania school district is under fire for sending letters to parents who owe money for their children’s lunches. The letters threaten that if the bills remain unpaid their children could be removed from their homes and placed in foster care.</div><div>
</div><div>“Your child has been sent to school every day without money and without breakfast and/or lunch. This is a failure to provide your child with proper nutrition and you can be sent to Dependency Court for neglecting your child’s right to food,” the letter reads, as NBC News reported.</div><div> </div><div>“If you are taken to dependency court, the result may be your child being removed from your home and placed in foster care,” the letter (below) adds.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Andy Mehalshick</div><div>
</div><div> Foster Care fallout! More reaction today to a letter sent to parents in the Wyoming Valley West School District threatening to send their kids to Foster Care unless they make good on delinquent lunch bills. A State lawmaker weighs in. Eyewitness News. http://PAhomepage.com </div><div>
</div><div>View image on Twitter]</div><div>
</div><div>The school district solicitor, Charles Coslett, appeared gleeful over the letter, saying, “Hopefully that gets their attention, certainly did, think about it,” he told NBC News.</div><div>
</div><div>Related: School Cafeteria Confiscates Lunches From Hands of 40 Kids for Insufficient Funds</div><div>
</div><div>PAhomepage reports many are upset over the letter, and not just parents.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s just not true. We do not remove children from families for unpaid bills,” Luzerne County Children and Youth Services executive director Joanne Van Saun told the newspaper. “I found it very disturbing. Upsetting. It’s a total misrepresentation, a gross misrepresentation of what our agency does.”</div><div>
</div><div>Luzerne County Manager David Pedri called it “a gross misrepresentation as to what we do. What you are really doing is weaponizing the good things we are doing in Luzerne County. I’m asking the school district to retract the letter.”</div><div>
</div><div>The school district is facing $20,000 in unpaid school lunch bills.</div></div><div></div>=PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH SHAPIRO WILL SUPPORT REPEAL OF CONTROVERSIAL LAW STRIPPING LARRY KRASNER OF AUTHORITYAkela LacyJuly 12 2019, 1:18 p.m.PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL Josh Shapiro on Friday said he would support a repeal of a controversial law that stripped Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner of the sole authority to prosecute certain firearms violations in his home county.
Shapiro’s new stance on the bill, which was reported by The Intercept on Monday, came in response to protesters at the annual Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia. During a panel with Democratic Attorneys General Kathy Jennings of Delaware and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, organizers from the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration and Reclaim Philadelphia took over a microphone and interrupted Shapiro’s introductory remarks. “The people of Philadelphia demand your attention right now,” an organizer with Reclaim Philadelphia told Shapiro. 
Activists pressed Shapiro on whether he’d support the progressive momentum Krasner’s office had brought to the district attorney’s office, if he’d support second chances for people sentenced to life without parole, his support for the death penalty, and why he’s stymied efforts to open additional safe injection sites in the city. 
Their most pressing concern, though, was whether he’d commit to not using Pennsylvania’s newly passed HB 1614, which gave the attorney general’s office concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute certain firearms violations in Philadelphia County — and no other county in the state. The law allows the attorney general’s office to cut Krasner out of the prosecutorial process, something Shapiro said he would not do after facing criticism over the measure’s passage. 
“I didn’t ask for it, nor did I advocate for it,” Shapiro told the activists, pointing to his office’s collaboration with the Krasner’s office on the Philadelphia gun violence task force. “I will not change how that works. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office will continue to prosecute those cases,” he said. “I didn’t ask for this law, I don’t want this law.” ....viral on left anyway video of him trying to shout down dem woman reading ltr from ex-homeless AApow<a href="https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/23839/jake-corman-iii/#.XRtnL-tKiM8">https://votesmart.org/candidate/political-courage-test/23839/jake-corman-iii/#.XRtnL-tKiM8</a>Jake Corman III has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.<div>----</div><div><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012019/pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-reduction-target-natural-gas-fracking-climate-change</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">In Pennsylvania, a coal-mining state where the fracking boom has also pushed natural gas production to the second highest levels in the nation, Gov. Tom Wolf is launching into his second term with a conspicuous move on climate change.Wolf issued an executive order on Tuesday to set the state's first economy-wide targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.His goal to <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/executive-order-2019-01-commonwealth-leadership-in-addressing-climate-change-and-promoting-energy-conservation-and-sustainable-governance/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">cut greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent by 2025</a> compared to 2005 levels mirrors the commitment the U.S. made as part of the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Paris climate agreement</a>. And his longer-term target—an 80 percent reduction by 2050—is in line with the decarbonization that scientists have said will be needed to keep global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.But meeting that target is easier said than done with Republicans in control of both chambers of the legislature, as the Democratic governor pointed out.  The governor can set energy efficiency targets for state agencies, take steps to increase the number of electric cars in state fleets, and increase purchases of renewable energy, but those moves would be insufficient on their own to curb Pennsylvania's emissions.Pennsylvania now ranks fourth in the country, behind Texas, California and Florida, in <a href="https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">carbon emissions</a>. <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022018/methane-leaks-oil-natural-gas-data-global-warming-pennsylvania-edf-study" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Methane</a>, a short-lived climate pollutant, is also an issue. The state is second behind Texas in natural gas production and the third-largest <a href="https://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">coal</a> producer after Wyoming and West Virginia.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">'Not Too Much, But Not Too Little'</h3>Wolf cautioned that it was unlikely that legislative action would be forthcoming to accomplish his greenhouse gas reduction goals. He also said he did not have any regulatory actions in mind and did not want to be punitive to industry."What I try to make sure is that what I do is not too much, but not too little," he <a href="https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2019/01/08/Wolf-Pennsylvania-greenhouse-gas-carbon-climate/stories/201901080082" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">said</a>. Wolf used the signing event at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh to hail a local utility, Peoples Natural Gas, for a commitment to cut its methane emissions in half, calling it a model for industry and government cooperation.By setting the targets, Pennsylvania joins 16 other states that as part of the <a href="https://www.usclimatealliance.org/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">U.S. Climate Alliance</a> have pledged to meet the U.S. climate commitment despite President Donald Trump's vow to exit the Paris accord.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">States Stepping Up on Climate Policies</h3>The announcement comes at a time when <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112018/state-carbon-pricing-tax-fee-climate-change-washington-oregon-new-jersey-virginia-hawaii-massachusetts-new-york" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">states are stepping up</a> on a wide variety of fronts to counter Trump's moves to promote fossil fuels and end climate action.On Tuesday, legislators in <a href="https://www.ncel.net/2019/01/08/legislators-from-eight-states-announce-coordinated-effort-to-block-offshore-drilling/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">nine coastal states </a>announced they would introduce legislation to try to block Trump's plan for a major expansion in offshore drilling.Pennsylvania joined eight eastern states and Washington, D.C., late last year in committing to cut <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20122018/climate-change-solutions-transportation-cap-and-trade-northeast-states-washington-california-model-rggi" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">transportation emissions</a> in the region by designing a new cap-and-trade system.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">Pennsylvania Hasn't Joined RGGI</h3>But Pennsylvania has been out of step with neighboring states when it comes to power plant emissions.When New Jersey rejoins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) later this year, Pennsylvania will be the only northeastern state led by a Democratic governor not to be a part of the market-based program to reduce utility emissions.More than 60 Pennsylvania businesses, communities and faith groups in November petitioned Pennsylvania's Environmental Quality Board to initiate an economy-wide "cap-and-trade" program. Although the board rejected a similar petition before, the new effort relies on a 2017 state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a broad interpretation of the Environmental Rights Amendment in the state's constitution.</div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;">PUBLISHED UNDER:</label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/natural-gas-and-fracking" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">NATURAL GAS AND FRACKING</a></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/global-climate-treaty" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">GLOBAL CLIMATE TREATY</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT</a></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/short-lived-climate-pollutants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">SHORT-LIVED CLIMATE POLLUTANTS</a></div></div></div></div></div><div></div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/23/headlines/court_rules_pennsylvanias_congressional_map_is_unconstitutional">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/23/headlines/court_rules_pennsylvanias_congressional_map_is_unconstitutional</a><div>=</div><div><div class="coverage_header_bar coverage_header_bar_news-politics" style="text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: bold; width: 944px; margin-left: 1px;">ELECTION '18</div><div class="region region-content"><div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system first last odd count-1" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1086859" class="node node-story view-mode-full clearfix=" about="/election-03918/republicans-fear-they-are-about-lose-another-longtime-gop-seat-after-nominating-wacky" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="headline"><h1 class="node-title" style="line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both;">Democrats Could Flip Another Longtime GOP Seat, As Republicans Nominate a 'Wacky' Candidate in Pennsylvania</h1></div><div class="teaser" style="margin-bottom: 15px;"><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden" style=""><div class="field-items" style=""><div class="field-item even" style="">Republicans also have doubts about their nominee.</div></div></div></div><div class="byline news-politics" style="margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 350px; float: left;">By <a href="https://www.alternet.org/authors/bob-brigham" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Bob Brigham</a> / <a href="http://rawstory.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Raw Story</a></div><div class="story-date" style="float: left; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 15px; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);">December 23, 2017, 8:04 AM GMT</div><div class="authors_signup" style="clear: both;"><div class="item-list"><ul style="list-style-type: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;"><li class="first last" /></ul></div></div><div class="top-tools" style="clear: both; padding-top: 15px;">
</div><div class="the_body body_news-politics clearfix" style="line-height: 25px;">Fired up after a remarkable victory in the Alabama special election, Democrats are setting their sights on a western Pennsylvania congressional election in March as their next opportunity to capitalize upon the backlash against President Donald Trump, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/23/republicans-brace-for-competitive-pennsylvania-house-race-316206" rel="noopener" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Politico reports</a>.<div>Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA) resigned in October after it was revealed that the “pro-life” politician asked a mistress to get an abortion, resulting in the March 13 special election for Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district.</div>Democrats nominated Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine veteran and former assistant U.S. attorney who hails from a prominent Allegheny County political family. Republicans nominated state Rep. Rick Saccone, who has billed himself as a strong support of President Trump.“Rick, with his age and experience, is more than qualified, but he isn’t the sparkle of everyone’s eye, while Conor is a tall, blonde, blue-eyed stud of a Marine,” said William J. Green, a political analyst on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh. “There’s no question that Republicans are worried about the contrast.”Republicans also have doubts about their nominee.Citing two GOP sources, Politico reports some local Republicans are anticipating Rep. Saccone could lose the special election and are seeking to draft state Senator Guy Reschenthaler to run in the regular primary in May. Senator Reschenthaler lost the nomination to Saccone at the GOP convention in November.Rep. Saccone has “never raised any money and he’s never had any real organization before,” one Republican strategist who works on Pennsylvania races said. “There’s enough out there with Saccone to make him so wacky that Republicans — particularly moderate Republicans in the suburban areas — say this isn’t my cup of tea.”Democrats, meanwhile, are excited about their nominee....</div></div></div></div></div></div><div>=</div>=<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/22/exclusive-pa-lawmaker-working-curb-pipeline-protestors-tied-shadow-lobbyists-company-behind-project">https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/06/22/exclusive-pa-lawmaker-working-curb-pipeline-protestors-tied-shadow-lobbyists-company-behind-project</a>
recent intensification in protests against Williams Partners’ planned

Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Pennsylvania prompted a state senator to

propose legislation aimed at limiting demonstrations.

Last month, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Scott Martin <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=23839" target="_blank">announced</a>

his intention to introduce legislation that would pass the costs of law

enforcement responding to protests onto the demonstrators. Martin also

helped introduce a different bill that would criminalize protests at

natural gas facilities.

A DeSmog investigation has found, however, that Martin is intimately

tied to an obscure group of lobbyists recently hired by

Williams Partners.

State Legislators Against Pipeline Protestors

The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Partners plans to construct the

Atlantic Sunrise pipeline through its subsidiary, Transco. The $3

billion 200-mile project, which would transport fracked gas from the

state’s northern shales southward to the company’s interconnecting

pipeline systems, received federal approval earlier this year but still

requires several state permits.

Grassroots and citizen opposition to the pipeline, which has been

ongoing since the project’s original proposal in 2014, has intensified

in recent months. In February, activists built an <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2017/02/17/atlantic-sunrise-pipeline-opponents-begin-encampment/" target="_blank">encampment</a> on the planned route near Conestoga in Lancaster county, which Scott Martin represents.

Led by the group Lancaster Against Pipelines, they signaled their willingness to engage in nonviolent direct action.

Yet in early May, a day after <a href="http://www.senatorscottmartinpa.com/2017/05/05/protest-preparation-seminar/" target="_blank">arranging</a>

a conference call between local first responders and North Dakota law

enforcement officials who dealt with the Dakota Access pipeline

protests, Senator Martin published a <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20170&cosponId=23839" target="_blank">legislative memo</a>

detailing his plan to propose a bill penalizing protestors. The memo,

which directly referenced the Dakota Access pipeline demonstrations, is

aimed at “shielding taxpayers against the additional costs resulting

from protests.” Martin is currently seeking cosponsors for

his legislation.

Two weeks earlier, Martin was among a group of senators advancing a <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=PDF&sessYr=2017&sessInd=0&billBody=S&billTyp=B&billNbr=0652&pn=0752" target="_blank">bill</a>

sponsored by Republican Senator Mike Regan seeking to essentially

criminalize civil disobedience and other forms of demonstrations at

critical infrastructure sites, including gas pipelines and facilities.

According to the bill, those who “impede or inhibit” the operations of

the facility will be charged with a felony, face imprisonment, and pay

hefty fines.

<h3>Williams Hires Secretive Group with Ties to Sen. Martin</h3>

A recent disclosure by Transco to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reveals that last year the company hired an entity generically called the Pennsylvania Advocacy Group LLC.

<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%201_0.png" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%201_0.png" style="width: 810px; height: 292px;" /></a>
From Transco’s latest financial report to FERC, showing a payment to Pennsylvania Advocacy Group LLC

State corporate records reveal that Pennsylvania Advocacy Group LLC was created in 2014 by five lobbyists from two different firms: <a href="http://novakstrategic.com/alan-novak/" target="blank">Alan Novak</a>, <a href="http://novakstrategic.com/angela-leopold/" target="blank">Angela Leopold</a>, and <a href="http://novakstrategic.com/dan-hayward/" target="_blank">Dan Hayward</a> from Novak Strategic Advisors, and David Feidt and Michael Musser from Community Networking Strategies LLC.

Novak, Leopold, Hayward, and Feidt are also long-time top

Pennsylvania republican operatives. Musser runs a political action

committee that supports politicians from both parties.

Although it does not have a website, state corporate records indicate

that Community Networking Strategies is a subsidiary of the

Harrisburg-based legal and lobbying firm <a href="https://www.mcneeslaw.com/" target="_blank">McNees, Wallace & Nurick</a>.

While Community Networking Strategies is not officially registered as a

lobbying firm in Pennsylvania, state disclosure records show that

McNees, Wallace & Nurick is currently

lobbying for several fossil fuel entities, including Gulf Oil Ltd,

Industrial Energy Consumers of Pennsylvania, and Sunoco Logistics.

Scott Martin is closely tied to Community Networking Strategies.

According to his state senate financial disclosures, Martin worked at

Community Networking Strategies immediately before starting his tenure

as legislator in January this year.

Disclosing a position of “vice president,” Martin described his

professional activities in the company as “business development.” The

address he provided on the disclosure matches McNees, Wallace & Nurick’s address for the firm’s Lancaster Pennsylvania branch.

<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%202_0.png" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Image%20%23%202_0.png" style="width: 810px; height: 289px;" /></a>
From PA

Senator Scott Martin’s financial disclosure, showing his work for the

lobbying firm Community Networking Resources, a subsidiary of McNees,

Wallace & Nurick

Martin’s LinkedIn <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-martin-a1b2755" target="_blank">profile</a> states that he worked for Community Networking Strategies between January 2016 and January 2017.

<h3>Community Networking Resources Fundraises for Senator Martin</h3>

Apart for its business lobbying, Community Networking Resources also

engages in political campaigning. According to Pennsylvania campaign

finance records, in recent years the company has provided political

support and fundraising services – including for Scott Martin.

Michael Musser, whose two hats include Community Networking Resources and Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, runs a PAC called <a href="https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/pages/CFAnnualTotals.aspx?Filer=2008059" target="blank">Better Government for PA</a>. A review of the PAC’s records show that since 2008 it has contributed over $36,000 to Martin’s PAC, Friends of Scott Martin. At the same time, Friends of Scott Martin <a href="https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/pages/ShowReport.aspx?ReportID=135575&isStatement=0&is24Hour=False" target="blank">hired</a>

Musser’s Community Networking Resources on several occasions for

fundraising services when Martin served as Lancaster

County Commissioner.

Lobbyist David Feidt, also of both Community Networking Resources and Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, is <a href="https://www.pavoterservices.pa.gov/ElectionInfo/CommitteeInfo.aspx?ID=3340" target="_blank">registered</a> as the treasurer of Better Government for PA PAC.

By contracting with Pennsylvania Advocacy Group, Transco can potentially benefit from its deep ties to the state’s GOP.

From the Novak Strategic Advisors side of the firm, Alan Novak is

former chairperson of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, while Dan

Hayward served as the party’s Executive Director. Angela Leopold served

in the past in the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania.

From the Community Networking Resources side, David Feidt currently

serves as chairperson of the Dauphin County Republican Committee.

Feidt’s twitter account continuously promotes the use of natural gas,

including <a href="https://twitter.com/davefeidt/status/819190834893615104" target="_blank">support</a> for the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline.

In a conversation with DeSmog, Michael Musser confirmed that

Pennsylvania Advocacy Group was formed jointly by the firms Community

Networking Resources and Novak Strategic Advisors, but said his

involvement in the company is minimal. He referred DeSmog to Dan Hayward

from Novak Startegic Advisors. Hayward did not reply to several

requests for comment. A spokesperson for Transco did not provide

comment either.

Senator Martin denies his previous work for Community Networking

Resources had any effect on his legislative efforts concerning pipeline

protests. In an email to DeSmog, Martin responded to a series

of questions:

Have you ever provided work for Transco as part of Pennsylvania Advocacy Group and/or in any other capacity?

“I have never provided work for Transco in any capacity and haven't done work for Pennsylvania Advocacy Group.”

As senator, were you ever contacted by employees of

Pennsylvania Advocacy Group and/or Community Networking Resources and/or

Novak Strategic Advisors in relation to Transco's gas projects?

“As Senator, I was never contacted by these groups in relation to Transco's gas projects.”

Did your ties to Community Networking Resources have any

effect on your recent legislative efforts related to pipeline

protesting?

“No, Community Networking Resources had no

effect or involvement on my protestor legislation being worked on. I

started that initiative to try to be proactive in our community having

seen the aftermath and costs of the NDAPL

protests. Having been heavily involved with Emergency Management as a

commissioner and concerned about costs and impacts on our community is

what motivated me to look at this legislation.”

Do you currently receive any compensation from Community Networking Resources and/or its parent firm, McNees, Wallace & Nurick?

“I receive no compensation from any source except for my job as State Senator.”

Can you describe your relationship with Mike Musser of

Community Networking Resources? According to state campaign finance

records, Musser's PAC contributed to your PAC in the past, while Community Networking Resources provided political consulting and fundraising for your PAC.

“Mike helped organize my annual fundraisers throughout my time as county commissioner. I was employed by CNR [Community Networking Resources] for a year after I left being a county commissioner, before starting with the Senate.”
recount 2016pbs...Trump’s victory in Pennsylvania was particularly stunning: the state’s fifth-most electoral votes are a key stepping stone to the White House, and no Republican presidential candidate had captured the state since 1988.In seeking the recount, Stein has noted hackers’ probing of election targets in other states and hackers’ [vote wyden letter to NO]accessing the emails of the Democratic National Committee and several Clinton staffers. U.S. security officials have said they believe Russian hackers orchestrated the email hacks, something Russia has denied.Lawyers for Trump and the Pennsylvania Republican Party argued there was no evidence, or even an allegation, that tampering with the state’s voting systems had occurred. Further, Pennsylvania law does not allow a court-ordered recount, they said.The state case also had threatened Pennsylvania’s ability to certify its presidential electors by the Dec. 13 federal deadline, Republican lawyers argued.GOP lawyer Lawrence Tabas said Saturday the case had been meant “solely for purposes to delay the Electoral College vote in Pennsylvania for President-Elect Trump.”The state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Pedro Cortes, a Democrat, has said there was no evidence of any cyberattacks or irregularities in the election. And any recount would change few votes, Cortes predicted.=rnla<table style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, " sans="sans" serif="serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr valign="Top"><td style="line-height: 18.2px;">
<h3 style="">Mr. Lawrence J. Tabas</h3>Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP

General Counsel to Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania
Contributing Member
Office:<div class="indent" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px;">One Penn Center, 19th floor
1617 JFK Blvd.
Philadelphia, PA 19103</div>
Phone: 215-665-3158
Fax: 216-665-3165
Email: <a href="mailto:lawrence.tabas@obermayer.com" style="text-decoration: none;">lawrence.tabas@obermayer.com</a>Law School: Georgetown University (1978)<div class="bold" style="font-weight: bold;">Practice Areas:</div><div class="indent" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 20px;"><a href="https://www.rnla.org/Bio/PracticeAreas.asp?PracticeID=11" style="text-decoration: none;">Bankruptcy</a>
<a href="https://www.rnla.org/Bio/PracticeAreas.asp?PracticeID=33" style="text-decoration: none;">Election Law</a>
<a href="https://www.rnla.org/Bio/PracticeAreas.asp?PracticeID=49" style="text-decoration: none;">Healthcare</a></div></td><td style="line-height: 18.2px;" width="1%"><img src="https://www.rnla.org/bio/images/1PIXEL.GIF" width="1" hspace="15" height="1" border="0" /></td><td style="line-height: 18.2px;" valign="top" align="left"> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="4" style="line-height: 18.2px;" valign="top" align="left">
Senior Partner and Chair of Healthcare Group of Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP27 years of experience in Election Law, including election law litigation in federal and state courts. Primary areas of concentration: recounts, election contests, campaign finance issues (state and federal), PACs, nomination petitions and ballot access and redistricting. Clients include: candidates (state and federal), PACs, and political party committees.Chairman Pennsylvania Litigation Team for Bush Cheney 2004General Counsel, Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania (previously, Special Counsel for Election Law Matters) 
Special Counsel to Montgomery County Republican Committee 
Redistricting counsel for two townships 
Cousnel to numerous PACsRepublican Candidate for City Controller of Philadelphia 1985 
Republican Candidate for City Coucil at Large of Philadelphia 1991 
Republican Candidate State House of Representatives 1980Elected as a Republican to a School Board of a local township (1997-2001)Law Practice includes bankruptcy, corporate law and healthcareEducation: University of Pennsylvania B.A. 1975 and M.A. 1975; Georgetown University Law Center J.D. 1978</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/03/politics/jill-stein-drops-pennsylvania-recount/index.html</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div>Jill Stein says she'll 'escalate' Pennsylvania recount case after earlier plans to drop it</div><div>By Caroline Kenny, CNN</div></div>--<div>4:30 p.m.</div><div>
</div><div>President-elect Donald Trump’s margin of victory in Pennsylvania is shrinking as more counties finish tallying their votes.</div><div>
</div><div>An updated count Friday by state election officials shows Trump’s lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton has shrunk to 49,000, from 71,000.</div><div>
</div><div>That puts Trump’s lead at 0.8 percent, down from over 1 percent, out of 6 million votes cast. It’s still shy of Pennsylvania’s 0.5 percent trigger for an automatic statewide recount. Trump’s Pennsylvania victory was crucial to his capturing the White House.</div><div>
</div><div>The update comes as Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein spearheads recount efforts in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump narrowly beat Clinton in all three states.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania dropped as counties wrapped up the counting of overseas ballots and settled provisional ballot challenges.</div><div>
</div><div>Some counties are also fielding precinct recount requests, and final counts are outstanding in some places, including Philadelphia.</div><div>
</div><div></div>--...no linkFriday is the deadline for requesting a recount in Wisconsin, where Trump’s winning margin stands at 0.7%. In Pennsylvania, where his margin is 1.2%, the deadline falls on Monday. In Michigan, where the Trump lead is currently just 0.3%, the deadline is Wednesday 30 November.
The Guardian previously disclosed that a loose coalition of academics and activists concerned about the election’s security is preparing to deliver a report detailing its concerns to congressional committee chairs and federal authorities early next week, according to two people involved.
“I’m interested in verifying the vote,” said Dr Barbara Simons, an adviser to the US election assistance commission and expert on electronic voting. “We need to have post-election ballot audits.” Simons is understood to have contributed analysis to the effort but declined to characterise the precise nature of her involvement.
A second group of analysts, led by the National Voting Rights Institute founder John Bonifaz and Professor Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan’s center for computer security and society, is also taking part in the push for a review.
In a blogpost on Wednesday, Halderman said paper ballots and voting equipment should be examined in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. “Unfortunately, nobody is ever going to examine that evidence unless candidates in those states act now, in the next several days, to petition for recounts,” he said.
Clinton’s defeat to Donald Trump followed the release by US intelligence agencies of public assessments that Russian hackers were behind intrusions into regional electoral computer systems and the theft of emails from Democratic officials before the election.
Advertisement
Curiosity about Wisconsin has centred on apparently disproportionate wins that were racked up by Trump in counties using electronic voting compared with those that used only paper ballots....http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/24/pa-oil-gas-regulations/Thanks to a bill passed this June by the state legislature,

Pennsylvania now has the dubious distinction of being the only state in

the nation to abandon oil and gas regulations after they’ve been fully

developed and publicly reviewed. While other states have modernized oil

and gas oversight in the wake of the <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/fracking-2/">shale boom</a>, no other state has exempted a major part of the oil and gas industry in the process.

<figure id="attachment_385933" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="max-width: 760px">map: <figcaption id="figcaption_attachment_385933" class="wp-caption-text">The

Oil and Gas Threat Map shows where all areas across the country within

1/2 mile of an active oil and gas well, and counties with elevated

cancer risk due to oil and gas air toxics.</figcaption></figure>

But that’s exactly what SB 279 does. Called the <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?sYear=2015&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=279" target="blank">Penn Grade Crude Development Advisory Council bill</a>, it <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/oil_and_gas_rules_wolf.html" target="blank">wipes out</a>

updated environmental protection requirements for conventional oil and

gas operations (known as Chapter 78). In effect, 178 state

representatives and senators just overturned what it took five years, 12

public hearings, 30,000 public comments and affirmative votes by public

regulatory commissions and the legislature to accomplish.

Unfortunately, Gov. Wolf just signed SB 279 into law, sounding the

death knell for Chapter 78 in the process. Equally unfortunate, official

statements from his administration have completely <a href="https://www.governor.pa.gov/governor-wolf-signs-bill-allowing-new-fracking-rules-to-be-finalized/" target="_blank">ignored</a>

the negative impact SB 279 will have on Pennsylvanians—even as the

Governor declares victory for new rules that will go into effect only

for unconventional oil and gas operations.

Such political spin may be Harrisburg’s status quo, but in this case

it’s a dangerous affront to Pennsylvanians whose air, water and health

is damaged by oil and gas development..

On the same day as the SB 279 vote, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), Earthworks and the FracTracker Alliance released <a href="http://oilandgasthreatmap.com" target="blank">OilandGasThreatMap.com</a>. Using state well location data and U.S. Census Bureau data, it shows that nearly 25 percent of Pennsylvania’s population <a href="http://oilandgasthreatmap.com/threat-map/pennsylvania/" target="blank">lives within a half-mile of oil and gas wells and facilities</a>—a distance at which serious health impacts are most clearly linked, according to the majority of peer-reviewed science.

Threatened residents include large proportions of several

Pennsylvania counties including Warren (86 percent); McKean (72

percent); Venango (58 percent); and Forest (30 percent). Data from the

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) show that in 2014, those

four counties comprised more than 90 percent of all the conventional oil

and gas wells drilled statewide.

According to the accompanying report, <a href="http://oilandgasthreatmap.com/fossil-fumes/" target="_blank">Fossil Fumes</a>

(by CATF with support from the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy

Environment and Earthworks), eight Pennsylvania counties have an

elevated cancer risk directly attributable to toxic emissions from oil

and gas operations (Armstrong, Clarion, Fayette, Forest, Greene,

Indiana, Jefferson and Washington). DEP data indicate that 60-99 percent

of all active oil and gas wells in these counties are conventional

ones.

Throughout the long debate over Chapter 78, the oil and gas industry

and its legislative champions propagated the fantasy that conventional

operations have limited, if any, environmental and health impacts. Yet

just like their shale-drilling cousins, modern-day conventional

activities rely on hydraulic fracturing and chemicals, generate toxic

waste, and cause hazardous spills and air pollution.

In fact, between 2008-2014, conventional operators were responsible

for 60 percent of the cases in which oil and gas activities contaminated

the private water supplies of Pennsylvanians. In 2014, conventional

drillers were responsible for three-quarters of regulatory violations

issued by DEP. Conventional operations are clearly a big problem with

which a vastly understaffed DEP will have to continue to contend, though

now without the benefit of stronger regulations.

Another part of SB 279 requires the use of public funds to run an

advisory council made up primarily of oil and gas industry

representatives.

So not only does the bill eliminate environmental protections from

oil and gas operations, it holds any future attempts to improve them

hostage to oil and gas industry interests. This runs directly counter to

the public interest and epitomizes the misplaced legislative priorities

that SB 279 represents.

One can only hope that going forward, elected officials will find the

courage to stand up to this undue industry pressure and finally give

Pennsylvanians the respect and environmental protections they deserve.=http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/04/fracking-bill-of-rights/penn frack
Grant joins growing numbers of communities across Pennsylvania and the U.S. that are coming together in a community rights movement to stand up to a system of law that forces <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/fracking-2/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">fracking</a>waste wells and other practices into communities, and protects corporations over people, communities and nature. The passage of the Grant charter comes fourteen months after the township was sued by Pennsylvania General Energy Company (PGE) and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA). PGE proposed a fracking wastewater injection well for the community against the wishes of township residents. Injection wells have <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=fracking+drinking+water" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">polluted drinking water</a> and triggered <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=earthquakes" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">earthquakes</a> in several states.In June 2014, the elected officials of Grant Township adopted a Community Bill of Rights Ordinance, which prohibited the injection well as a violation of the community’s rights to clean air and water and local self-government.In its lawsuit, <a href="http://celdf.org/2015/08/grant-township-pa-refusing-to-be-poisoned-and-demanding-democracy/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">PGE claimed</a> that it had a right to inject wastewater into the township. PIOGA has also declared that there is “no constitutional right to local self-government” or to be free from the harms associated with oil and gas production. Although a recent ruling in mid-October invalidated a portion of the ordinance, the people of Grant Township have now reinstated the ban that the judge overturned. Transformation of the community into a home rule township now invalidates most of that court ruling.Stacy Wanchisn Long, local resident and member of the commission that drafted the charter, stated, “Today’s vote reaffirms what our residents have been saying for the past year: we are standing up to protect our rights, and we reject the proposed injection well. All of this is possible because of the support and involvement from so many Grant Township residents over the past year who have been unwavering in their commitment to ensure the people of Grant have more of a say over what happens in our community.”Chad Nicholson of the <a href="http://celdf.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;">Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund</a> (CELDF), served as a consultant to the commission that drafted the charter. CELDF has assisted close to 200 communities across the U.S. in advancing community rights. “Tonight, the people of Grant Township spoke loud and clear: They have rights, and they will protect those rights. We at CELDF congratulate the people of the Township on becoming the first municipality in the nation to draft and adopt a local, rights-based constitution,” Nicholson said.==

<strong style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">TOWNSHIPS FIGHT BACK<br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" />

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">N 2001 SEVERAL TOWNSHIPS IN PENNSYLVANIA PASSED ORDINANCES FORBIDDING CORPORATIONS FROM OWNING OR CONTROLLING FARMS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“THEY CHOSE TO GO THAT ROUTE INSTEAD OF THE REGULATORY ROUTE,” SAID ATTORNEY THOMAS LINZEY OF THE COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND (CELDF). “IF WE JUST GOT A REGULATION PASSED ABOUT, FOR EXAMPLE, ODOR FROM FACTORY FARMS, THEN THE ENTIRE DEBATE FROM THEN ON WOULD BE ABOUT ODOR. BUT WHAT WE WANT TO CHALLENGE IS THE RIGHT FOR THESE HUGE CORPORATE FARMING OPERATIONS TO EXIST IN OUR COMMUNITIES IN THE FIRST PLACE.”<a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/4663-end-corporate-personhood#[3]" style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[3]</a><br style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" />

===

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/education/how-gop-and-education-privatizers-are-using-charters-bleed-pennsylvania-schools-dry">http://www.alternet.org/education/how-gop-and-education-privatizers-are-using-charters-bleed-pennsylvania-schools-dry</a>

==

9/15

===

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/fracking-linked-increased-infant-mortality-alarming-new-study">http://www.alternet.org/environment/fracking-linked-increased-infant-mortality-alarming-new-study</a>

==

corbett beat by green dem?  he was not in koch midwest gov club? just ran state into gnd with tax cuts like?

ALEC did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that have already enacted rules requiring legislative approval of the state plan to cut carbon emissions. The law does provide a loophole that allows the governor to submit a compliance plan without legislative approval. The legislation was signed last October under then Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who <a href="http://powersource.post-gazette.com/powersource/policy-powersource/2014/09/15/Corbett-other-governors-oppose-greenhouse-gas-controls/stories/201409150016" style="text-decoration: none; outline: medium none;">had been vocal in his opposition to the Clean Power Plan</a>.

Since then, polls have confirmed that Pennsylvanians believe climate change is a real and immediate threat that requires swift action. A <a href="http://docs.nrdc.org/globalwarming/files/glo_15020401a.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; outline: medium none;">recent survey conducted by a bipartisan polling team</a> found that 82 percent of Pennsylvanians want their state to implement its own plan to reduce carbon pollution. A majority support clean energy and doubt that renewable energy will mean burdensome costs to consumers.

Pennsylvania's newly elected governor, Tom Wolf, a Democrat who ran on a pro-environment platform, has indicated that he will engage with the EPA to meet the state's targets under the Clean Power Plan.

"It's depressing that groups like ALEC have so much influence," said Masur. "When hundreds of thousands of people say that the time to tackle climate change is now and the state legislature and governor [Corbett] ignore that and say we will still do what we want, that’s a bad signal for democracy."

==

<h2 class="yiv8822244868null" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 32.5px; outline: none medium; letter-spacing: -0.75px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=871d18587d&e=06876ede6b" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: medium none; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-weight: normal;">In Pa.'s Governor Race, It's Drill, Baby, Drill...and Tax, Maybe, Tax</a></h2>

Fracking has become a prominent issue in this year's Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, energizing ads, debates and campaign appearances.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=ee001dcf5a&e=06876ede6b" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: medium none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Read more</a>.

==

trend?

Pennsylvania’s Office of General Counsel “serves as the Governor’s in-house legal counsel,” providing the executive branch with “expert, responsive and cost-effective legal services … for the benefit of the public.” In addition to the 498 attorneys employed by the state, the handling of legal business is frequently outsourced to outside counsel. Last year, the total bill for private law firms – footed by the taxpayers – amounted to a whopping $32.7 million in 2013 and $100 million over three years, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

</h1>

<h1 style="margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none medium;">Power Players Behind the Corporate Takeover of Pennsylvania Schools</h1>

NEW REPORT FROM CMD! In 2007, Philly rolled out the red carpet for state legislators and lobbyists attending the annual “State and Nation” policy summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council. Pennsylvania legislators appropriated a whopping $50,000 of taxpayer money to help pay for the event, including $3,000 for cheesecake lollipops.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=mTk0dkt%2BbMseMcluUktf85%2B99yUMU%2FN8" style="line-height: 1.2em; outline: medium none;">Read our new report on power players in Pennsylvania.</a>

The event apparently had a lasting impact as the ALEC agenda has continued to roll though the hallways of the state capitol in Harrisburg in the years since. After Governor Corbett took office in 2010, ALEC bill after ALEC bill was introduced and signed into law. To accomplish this feat a well-orchestrated cast of characters -- including politicians, state “think tanks” and advocacy organizations -- are singing from the same hymnal, and being bankrolled by the same interests. Behind the scenes, we find charter school magnates, ideological interests and deep-pocketed investors pumping millions into campaign coffers while playing the education “market” like a game of poker.

With this report the Center for Media and Democracy puts a spotlight on some of the power players behind Corbett’s dramatic moves to reshape state education policy for the benefit of corporate interests. A surprising number of these groups are reportedly under investigation by federal officials or have been charged with wrongdoing.

from rept:

Profiles of Pennsylvania Power Players Behind The Push For Privatization..........................................8

Power Player 1: American Legislative Exchange Council...............................................................................8

Selected Pennsylvania Bills Based On Alec Models.................................................................................. 10

Power Player 2: Commonwealth Foundation For Public Policy Alternatives............................................11

Power Player 3: Charter School Magnate Vahan Gureghian........................................................................12

Power Player 4: Failing Cyber Schools Cashing In On Kids.........................................................................14

K12 Inc. Joins The Corbett Administration.............................................................................................. 14

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School CEO Allegedly Stole Millions......................................................... 15

Power Player 5: American Federation of Children and Students First PAC ...................................................16

Power Player 6: Susquehanna International Group Principals ...

==

intersex fish see atrazine

===

<a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/12/20/supreme-court-sends-act-13-doctor-gag-rule-challenge-back-to-lower-court/">http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/12/20/supreme-court-sends-act-13-doctor-gag-rule-challenge-back-to-lower-court/</a>

Supreme Court sends Act 13 “doctor gag rule” challenge back to lower court

DECEMBER 20, 2013 | 4:11 PM

BY KATIE COLANERI

This week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/12/19/state-supreme-court-strikes-down-act-13-local-zoning-restrictions/" style="text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; font-weight: bold;">ruled on some controversial provisions</a> of Act 13, the 2012 overhaul of the state’s natural gas drilling laws.

The justices also weighed in on one provision of the law that makes some medical professionals nervous. They call it the “doctor gag rule.”

Act 13 allows physicians to see a full list of the chemicals used in natural gas drilling, including those that are deemed a trade secret, in order to treat patients who may have been exposed. But some doctors say language in the law prohibits them from sharing that information with their patients and with other doctors. <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/02/06/here-it-is-the-impact-fee-bill/#more-6790" style="text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; font-weight: bold;">You can read our annotated version of Act 13, including the “doctor gag rule” here.</a>

Attorneys for Dr. Mehernosh Khan, a primary care physician who worked for more than 30 years in the Pittsburgh suburbs, doesn’t think the law adequately protects doctors.

“I need to be sharing that information with other physicians who might be able to help me in taking care of the patient and not feel like I could be sued or threatened, so I feel that this is definitely a step in the right direction,” said Dr. Khan, who moved to Massachusetts one year ago.

The Commonwealth Court ruled last summer that Khan did not have grounds to challenge the law because he had not requested information about chemicals used in natural gas drilling or been blocked from providing proper medical care to his patients.

In the majority opinion, the Supreme Court ruled Khan has standing to challenge the law and sent the case back to the lower court. <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/960821-act-13-local-zoning-majority-opinion.html#document/p134/a138000" style="text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; font-weight: bold;">You can read our annotated version of the ruling here.</a>

“I feel that this is definitely a step in the right direction,” said Khan.

The Corbett administration has expressed disappointment in the ruling. In the past, the Department of Health has tried to assure doctors <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/04/19/pennsylvania-health-secretary-act-13-wont-muzzle-doctors/" style="text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s; font-weight: bold;">that they are protected </a>under the law.

“The petitioners who have made the assertion that this law precludes sharing of information with either the patient or other physicians are absolutely wrong,” Corbett’s Energy Executive Patrick Henderson told StateImpact Pennsylvania in an e-mail. “Moreover, they continue to harm the importance of this provision in protecting public health by furthering such false claims.”

Henderson said this provision was based on a similar law in Colorado and was brought to the state’s attention by two environmental groups, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Environmental Defense Fund.

“It’s worth noting that, nearly 19 months after enactment, we are unaware of any actual problems that have been encountered,” Henderson wrote.

But Dr. Amy Pare, President of the Allegheny County Medical Society, says she has seen patients who may have been exposed to proprietary chemicals in gas drilling, but because she fears the law would not protect her, she does not share that information with her patients. That makes them nervous.

“They can’t Google it, they can’t search it because they don’t know what they’re looking for,” Dr. Pare said. “They freak out.”

==

<a href="http://www.globalpossibilities.org/handouts-for-frackers-the-pennsylvania-plan-to-give-drillers-1-billion/">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/handouts-for-frackers-the-pennsylvania-plan-to-give-drillers-1-billion/</a>

==

dn 7/12/13

JOSH FOX: Well, Tom Ridge had a $900,000 contract to be the chief spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition. At around the same time, we noticed that the Department of Homeland Security, which—of course, Tom Ridge was the first Department of Homeland Security chair—the Pennsylvania Department of Homeland Security started circulating bulletins to law enforcement that listed anti-fracking organizations as possible ecoterrorists, which had no basis in reality. There had never been anything at all violent. These were people doing democratic organizing and organization. But then it was discovered that the Department of Homeland Security was actually circulating those bulletins directly to the Marcellus Shale Coalition and to other gas industry lobbyists and stakeholders. This was a scandal in Pennsylvania, which ended up with the DHS head resigning. But Tom Ridge and a lot of—three Pennsylvania governors in a row—Tom Ridge, Ed Rendell and now Tom Corbett—have heavy ties to the gas industry and go on to advocate for fracking and drilling without disclosing those ties in the media. It’s a situation where, in a <a href="http://public-accountability.org/2013/02/fracking-and-the-revolving-door-in-pennsylvania/" style="line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px none;">report</a> by the Public Accountability Initiative called "Fracking and the Revolving Door in Pennsylvania," they describe as having the regulatory agencies and the democracy itself being taken away from the citizens

===

<h1 class="title-news">Fracking's Toxic Secrets: Lack Of Transparency Over Natural Gas Drilling Endangers Public Health, Advocates Say</h1>

Posted: 11/21/2012 4:13 pm EST Updated: 11/21/2012 5:27 pm EST

</div>

Some frustrated residents and anti-fracking activists are finding new names to call the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) -- "Don't Expect Protection," "Department of Energy Production" -- according to Dana Dolney of <a href="http://www.shaletest.org/" target="_hplink">ShaleTest</a>, a nonprofit that provides free air and water quality testing for low-income residents near natural gas wells.

The department is <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/111821139/Krancer-Letter" target="_hplink">taking heat</a> for providing what critics see as incomplete water quality test results to property owners who are concerned about pollution from nearby fracking operations. Withholding such information, the critics say, could endanger residents' health.

"Based on what is happening in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellus_Formation" target="_hplink">Marcellus Shale</a>, we saw a huge desperate need for this kind of testing," Dolney said. "We wouldn't have to do what we do if it wasn't for the failures of the DEP."

The DEP and natural gas companies are defending the testing methods, asserting that the contaminants most likely to be associated with fossil fuel extraction are included in what is shared with the DEP and, subsequently, with homeowners....<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/natural-gas-fracking-chemicals-testing-disclosure_n_2170030.html?view=print">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/natural-gas-fracking-chemicals-testing-disclosure_n_2170030.html?view=print</a>

</div>

===

dot earth

Air and water problems mainly make headlines these days when extraordinary pulses of pollution surge in places like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/sunday-review/life-in-a-toxic-country.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Beijing</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/world/asia/thousands-of-dead-pigs-found-in-chinese-river.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Shanghai</a>. But there are still enormous, if largely hidden, health and environmental costs in many parts of the United States that have failed to meet the goals set decades ago under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act (e.g., see <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.5.1649" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Muller, Mendelsohn, Nordhaus, 2011</a>). Sometimes the issue is visible. I <a href="http://www.chemheritage.org/visit/events/public-events/2013-10-24-chao-symposium.aspx" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">visited Houston briefly</a> this week and snapped the photo above on the airport approach. Not pretty.

Read on for excerpts from two relevant articles. The first, from the Allegheny Front, explores how lessons learned in trying to cut pollution from natural gas facilities in Houston can be applied in Pennsylvania’s fracking zone. The second, by my Pace University colleague and longtime water analyst John Cronin, digs in on the gap between Environmental Protection Agency statements on water pollution and the results in America’s waterways.

Here’s “Houston Air Pollution: Preview for Pennsylvania?” It’s the second article in a planned four-part series, “The Coming Chemical Boom,” that was in part paid for by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

HOUSTON – The largest chemical hub in the Americas courses through this city in a seemingly unending line of plants that produce about a quarter of the country’s petrochemicals.

These plants have helped fuel the city’s economic rise. But they also have added to its poor air quality, with emissions that have been linked to asthma, cancer, and heart attacks.

In recent years, Houston has found ways to reduce air pollution, in part by zeroing in on chemical plant emissions. Experts say Houston’s experience may show others how to keep chemical emissions down, even as the industry expands along the Gulf Coast, and possibly into Pennsylvania. [<a title="air pollution in Houston and Pennsylvania" href="http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/houston-air-pollution-preview-pennsylvania#sthash.9YTTnoH2.dpuf" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px none; outline: 0px none; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Read the rest here.</a>]

</blockquote>

[There's a valuable update below related to Pennsylvania's air pollution issues.]

==

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania’s eleven Dirty Air Villains are Senator Patrick Toomey (R-PA) and

Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA3), Glenn Thompson (R-PA5), Patrick Meehan (R-PA7) and Joseph Pitts

(R-PA16) (whose districts include the Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA

which is ranked 16th worst for ozone pollution and 10th worst for year-round particulate pollution

and #22 for Short-term particulate pollution), Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA8), William Shuster (RPA9),

Thomas Marino (R-PA10), Lou Barletta (R-PA11), Charles Dent (R-PA15) and Timothy

Murphy (R-PA18)( whose district includes the Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA MSA which is ranked

20th for ozone pollution and 6th for Year-round particulate pollution and #6 for Short-term

particulate pollution).

Pennsylvania’s four Clean Air Heroes are Robert Brady (D-PA1), Mike

Doyle (D-PA14), Chaka Fattah (D-PA2) and Allyson Schwartz (D-PA13).

==

voter ID upheld 8/16

===

The state of Pennsylvania hired an Israeli-American company with extensive military and intelligence ties to put out “terror” alerts. The company – ITRR – <a title="describes" href="http://www.terrorresponse.org/" target="_blank">describes</a> itself as:

The preeminent Israeli/American security firm providing training, intelligence and education to clients across the globe.

</blockquote>

ITRR <a title="explains" href="http://www.terrorresponse.org/images/stories/press_room/press_release/The_Institute_of_Terrorism_Research_and_Response_background_information_16Sep2010.pdf" target="_blank">explains</a>:

The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response’s research and analysis center, known as the Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C), is located in Israel. The Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center is staffed with former law enforcement, military, and intelligence professionals experienced in the production and utilization of intelligence products.

</blockquote>

ITRR <a target="_blank" title="considered" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20100926050924/http://www.weny.com/News-Regional.asp?ARTICLE3890=9156026">considered</a> opponents of fracking to be potential terrorists.

see also <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/furor-builds-over-anti-terror-bulletins-264843/?p=0">http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/furor-builds-over-anti-terror-bulletins-264843/?p=0</a>  no bid

===

<h1 class="asset-name" style="">Mystery Super PAC and Nonprofit Network Spent Big In PA Senate Race</h1>

<div class="asset-meta"> By Dan Glaun on July 18, 2012 4:29 PM

</div>

<div>More than half the outside spending in Pennsylvania's Senate GOP primary <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=PAS2&cycle=2012">race</a> was funneled through a chain of groups that haven't disclosed the original source of the funds.

The financial gymnastics appear designed to avoid revealing the donors behind campaign advertisements while adhering to the letter of campaign finance law. Furthermore, a lobbyist for a Fortune 500 energy company played a role in the scheme.

<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/">OpenSecrets Blog</a> has <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/07/stealthy-super-pacs-influenced-prim.html">written</a> about <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00516112&cycle=2012">Freedom Fund for America's Future</a>, a super PAC that spent about $175,000 on ads attacking Republican candidate Tom Smith in the primary campaign. Because of a loophole in the disclosure schedule, Freedom Fund didn't have to disclose its donors until after the April 24 primary election.

Freedom Fund's <a target="_blank" href="http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00516112">report</a> to the Federal Election Commission last weekend showed that almost all the money it spent -- at least $165,000 -- came from another super PAC: <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00519793&cycle=2012">Fight for the Dream</a>. And Fight for the Dream, while registered with the FEC as of April 26, has disclosed almost nothing other than being registered to a UPS mailbox in an Allentown, Pa., shopping mall. OpenSecrets Blog has learned that the box is rented by Wayne Woodman -- a former finance co-chairman for <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/alsorun.php?cid=N00030953&cycle=2012">Steve Welch</a>, Smith's opponent in the primary.

Woodman confirmed in an interview that he organized Fight for the Dream. Asked why the group hadn't submitted a response, now overdue, to an FEC request for additional information or filed a quarterly report that would disclose its donors, Woodman referred us to Anthony Ferate, who he said was his legal counsel.

Ferate -- who is also a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000046209L&year=2012">lobbyist</a> for <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00354753&cycle=2012">Devon Energy</a>, a natural gas and oil company based in Oklahoma, and is counsel to the Oklahoma Republican Party -- said in an interview that the filing had been sent to the FEC, and he forwarded us a copy. (Several hours after OpenSecrets Blog received the copy, the report appeared on the FEC's website).

But that report shows that the entirety of Fight for the Dream's funding came from a group called Restore the Dream -- which uses the same UPS mailbox as Fight for the Dream.</div>

<div>

</div>

</div>

Here the chain ends, though: Restore the Dream is a 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofit (so called because of a provision of the Internal Revenue Code), and doesn't have to disclose its donors. OpenSecrets Blog has written about politically active 501(c) groups in its continuing "<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/reports/moneytrail.php">Shadow Money Trail</a>" series. Restore the Dream will have to file a Form 990 report with the IRS, but not until 2014, and even then it won't have to reveal its donors.

When asked if the Restore the Dream and Fight for the Dream pass-throughs were designed to avoid disclosing donors, Ferate maintained that the organizations were above board.

"This was set up within federal election laws," he said. "I would disagree that there's anything to question about transfers between super PACS. In fact, the Democrats are coordinating between their super PACs."

Woodman denied direct responsibility for the manner in which the groups were set up, and said there was no link between the groups and his work on Welch's campaign.

"The structure of this thing was given through legal counsel," he said in a phone interview.

To recap, then: Woodman, after resigning from his position in Welch's campaign, set up the super PAC Fight for the Dream and the nonprofit Restore the Dream in April with the help of Ferate, his legal counsel. Restore the Dream made transfers to Fight for the Dream totaling $174,800 on April 11, 19 and 20. One day after each transaction, Fight for the Dream gave the money to Freedom Fund for America's Future, which used those funds to make nearly all of its $175,000 in ad buys against Welch's opponent Smith on April 19 and 20.

The transactions between the two super PACs and the nondisclosing nonprofit provide a stark example of how disclosure requirements are sometimes rendered meaningless. By law, super PACs must reveal their donors to the public via their reports to the FEC. But when the donor is ultimately another group or an LLC that is under no legal mandate to say where its money is coming from, voters actually learn very little.

Even though Freedom Fund reported its donors in accordance with FEC regulations, the real source of its funding -- in fact, the largest source of outside spending in the Pennsylvania Senate race -- is still effectively unknown.

Smith, a former coal company owner who <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=PAS2&cycle=2012">self-financed</a> his campaign to the tune of $5 million, survived Freedom Fund's attacks, which highlighted Smith's history as a Democrat and accused him of raising taxes as a local official. He defeated Welch, who was backed by Pennsylvania's Republican governor and the state party, and several other candidates in the primary and faces Democratic incumbent Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00027503&cycle=2012">Bob Casey</a> in November.

According to both Woodman and Ferate, Fight for the Dream's efforts did not end with Welch's defeat, and the group will continue to raise and spend money on political campaigns.</div>

</div>

<h4 class="entry-categories-header">Categories:</h4>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/outside-money/501c-groups/">501(c) groups</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/politicians-elections/congressional-elections/">Congressional Elections</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/influence-lobbying/">Influence & Lobbying</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/outside-money/">Outside Money</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/politicians-elections/">Politicians & Elections</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-category"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/outside-money/super-pacs/">Super PACs</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=dan%20glaun&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">dan glaun</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=disclosure&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">disclosure</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=fight%20for%20the%20dream&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">fight for the dream</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=freedom%20fund%20for%20america%27s%20future&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">freedom fund for america's future</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=Pennsylvania&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">Pennsylvania</a>,</li>

<li class="entry-tag"><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/MT/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=8&tag=super%20pacs&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=8" rel="tag">super pacs</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

----

<h2>"Voter ID is going to allow Gov. Romney to win"</h2><h2>This week, the House Majority Leader in the Pennsylvania Congress, Rep. Mike Turzai (R), made headlines when he explained the reasoning behind the state's new law requiring certain forms of ID at the polls. Voter ID, he explained bluntly, "is going to allow Gov. (Mitt) Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."</h2><div style=" margin: 10px 0px 4px 10px; float: right; width: 250px;">

===

Instances of voter fraud may be rarer than <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/06/495769/voter-fraud-extremely-rare-in-florida-state-data-reveals/">lightning strikes</a>, but in Pennsylvania more than 758,000 voters may be disenfranchised this election season because lawmakers insist on solving the “<a href="http://www.aclu.org/voter-suppression-america">problem</a>” of voter fraud. Pennslyvania’s <a href="http://www.padems.com/content/voteridinfo">new voter ID law</a>, which will take effect for the first time this November, may prevent 758,939 otherwise eligible voters, who do not currently have an acceptable ID, from voting.

A comparison, carried out by state officials, of registered voters and PennDOT ID databases show that only <a href="http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-voter-id-20120705,0,6568681.story">91 percent</a> of Pennsylvania’s 8.2 million voters have an acceptable voter ID. In Philadelphia, where voters will be hardest hit by the new law, 18 percent of voters lack proper ID. <a href="http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/07/04/reports-show-many-local-voters-lack-proper-photo-i-d/">State officials</a> had previously estimated that 99 percent of voters had <a href="http://triblive.com/news/2147298-74/law-voters-state-voter-county-penndot-vote-disenfranchised-election-percent">acceptable IDs</a>:

<a href="http://grist.org/natural-gas/for-pennsylvanias-doctors-a-gag-order-on-fracking-chemicals/">http://grist.org/natural-gas/for-pennsylvanias-doctors-a-gag-order-on-fracking-chemicals/</a>

<h1 class="headline">For Pennsylvania’s doctors, a gag order on fracking chemicals</h1>

By <a href="http://grist.org/author/kate-sheppard/" title="Posts by Kate Sheppard">Kate Sheppard</a>

Under a new law, doctors in Pennsylvania can access information about chemicals used in natural gas extraction—but they won’t be able to share it with their patients. A provision buried in <a href="http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/LI/US/HTM/2012/0/0013..HTM">a law passed</a> last month is drawing scrutiny from the public health and environmental community, who argue that it will “gag” doctors who want to raise concerns related to oil and gas extraction with the people they treat and the general public.

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Don Dixon

<a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/alec-and-exxonmobil-push-loopholes-in-fracking-chemical-disclosure-rules/#43900">Yesterday, 4:06 p.m.</a>

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In Pennsylvania, in order for a doctor to find out which hazardous chemicals have poisoned one of their patients, they must sign a confidentiality agreement with the involved driller. This is in Act 13 that passed the state legislature recently. How can the state government put the health of their residents in jeopardy in order to make profits for energy companies easier?

This recent ALEC legislation is just another way for big energy to make money without concern for the people who live in proximity to the wells. Where is it going to stop? When Pennsylvania becomes a toxic industrial wasteland, no doubt. Tom Corbet and his ilk are more concerned with lining their pockets at the expense of their constituents than making sure we are safe.

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