Yesterday, here in Chester County, PA, a group of activists, elected officials and concerned citizens met with Governor Tom Wolf about the Mariner East pipeline. You can watch the video here. Bottom line: people spoke about the impacts to themselves, their homes, their families. Above all, they spoke about the lack of an evacuation plan. And with Mariner, it is not an issue of whether it will blow, but when, and how many will die. They called on the Governor to halt construction of Mariner. He said no. Emphatically.

You may think that this does not affect you because you don’t live in the blast zone. And when you check the map, you may well be outside the ring of death. But there is a piece of legislation winding its way through the PA State House called “Restore PA” — one of the things it allows is more pipelines carrying fracking by-products comprised of volatile gases, headed for Europe to make single use plastics. Ergo “coming soon to your town, too.” And yeah, the pipeline purveyors have the right of eminent domain so they can just come for you….just sayin’. That link is to the text — it’s only 28 pages — you should read it because it’s the details that will tie Pennsylvania to fossil fuels for the next 20 years, and put taxpayers on the hook to pay off a huge bond if fracking decreases across the state.

So, what to do? We know that Wolf won’t change his mind. His plan IS “Restore PA”. And we know that this comes from his ties to the monies he has raised in his four races. You can see who has contributed to Tom (and any other state candidate) at this site. Two caveats: if donors give under $200, often they are often not mentioned, or are lumped together. Also – the most recent data on the site is from 2018 – they won’t post 2019 until the cycle is complete. And so, you can see information on candidates, and their PACs from previous elections and get a sense not only of who they received money from, but also to whom they donated. You will need to set up an account to download data. Continue Reading...