A recently released scorecard by the Pennsylvania League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action, and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club reported the voting records of Pennsylvania’s representatives and senators on conservation matters. Those from our area demonstrated an almost abysmal record on environmental matters. Their ratings were:
- Senator Gordner- 13%
- Senator Yaw-13%
- Representative Culver-25%
- Representative Keller- 8%
- Representative Masser-42 %
All the above elected officials are Republicans and their scores should be no surprise. I read only one score above 50% for any Republican. In the late 1960’s protecting the environment was a bi-partisan issue. Since the advent of the Reagan Administration and the unholy march of free-market, deregulated capitalism, that bipartisan effort has disappeared. Why should the protection our public health with air that doesn’t poison us, water that doesn’t sicken us, and food that is free of pesticides and other contaminates be a bipartisan issue? What is conservative about destroying our home planet?
The Writer Barbara Kingsolver has written, “Global commerce is driven by a single conviction, the inalienable right to earn profit, regardless of any human cost.” The Republican Party is a party of business and anti-government regulation. So those like the elected officials above almost as a reflex vote for corporate profits over public health. Why should corporations increase profit by dumping their wastes into our air and water? When did they become the owners of our atmosphere and streams and bodies of water? Shouldn’t cleaning up your own mess be part of the costs of doing business? 10 million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into our state’s water last year.
A look at the votes on which this scorecard was based shows that with the exception of Rep. Masser, those listed above and their fellow Republicans believe that a state struggling to balance its budget should give tax breaks to gas industry and to balance the budget by the destruction of our state forests and parks. Pennsylvania is blessed with high quality and exceptional value streams, but they are now more endangered by all of those listed above. They have also voted to make it more difficult for us to be protected from the filth produced by coal powered power plants. Filth that costs us $200 billion each year in medical costs.
Too many of us forget that there are always limits on freedom. The right to free speech doesn’t allow for slander. Religious freedom doesn’t allow for human sacrifice. The advocates of a free enterprise economic system often fail to recognize that they should not be free to externalize their cost to the rest of us. They can be free to make their profits but not at the costs of public health, the environment, and the health and safety of workers. All freedoms must be balanced by the responsible exercise of our freedoms.