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Protect PA’S Public Lands!
Recent émigrés from the Keystone State – as well as keen environmentalists – we at the AITA Farm are aghast at recent developments that threaten our state’s natural splendor. Recent months have witnessed increased exploration and drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests, encouraged by minimal taxation meant to “nurture” the industry. This year Governor Rendell and state Republicans are seeking to reap over $180 million dollars by leasing state forests to the natural gas industry, and of Pennsylvania’s two million acres of state forests, nearly 700,000 are under lease for gas production. If Rendell succeeds, that number will increasedramatically. Yet the environmental impact of drilling is poorly understood at present and so the escalation of drilling poses a terrible risk. We believe that these moves betray PA’s citizens and best interests, and stand with representative David Levdansky, who calls Rendell’s plan a political “double-cross.”
As Levdansky told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, “We are rapidly approaching the point where we will have leased everything that is conceivable to lease. And, you know, God isn’t making any more forest land.”
Written by robin on 02/01/2010 in Activism | Blog | Causes | News | Philadelphia | Politics | Theory/Criticism
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