Oppose anti-RGGI bills in PA

Pennsylvania is creating a program to cut the carbon pollution that comes from electric power plants. This pollution is a leading contributor to climate change, and Pennsylvania produces more of it than all but four other states in the country. This program would be part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state, bipartisan program that is a success in 10 other states.

Pennsylvania needs these pollution cuts now more than ever. The impacts of climate change, like stronger storms and more flooding, are already hitting our state. Climate change also is harming Pennsylvanians’ health. Higher temperatures make smog worse, threatening children and adults with respiratory and cardiac problems. Heat-related deaths are expected to increase as well.

RGGI would make a major dent in Pennsylvania’s carbon pollution, reducing it by 25 percent by 2030. Since power companies would pay under the program for the pollution they create, funds would be available to invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy, which would cut pollution even further, reduce consumers’ electric bills and create jobs. That is exactly what’s occurred in the other RGGI states.

Cleaner air, better health and new investments to boost Pennsylvania’s economy: exactly what we need right now. There’s no reason our legislators shouldn’t do everything in their power to ensure RGGI proceeds are invested in sustainable, clean energy projects in our communities.   Unfortunately, my legislators, Rep. Mike Peifer and Sen. Lisa Baker, are against this program and want to continue investing in fossil fuels. I strongly urge all PA state legislators to oppose anti-RGGI bills like HB637 and SB119.

John Hahn

Shohola, PA

Join the Upper Delaware Litter Sweep

The lovely Delaware River is calling on you to participate in the second annual Upper Delaware Litter Sweep, April 22-30, in celebration of Earth Day 2022.

It is time to shake off the cobwebs of our long COVID sequester and sweep the river corridor clean by removing the unsightly trash left to us by thoughtless visitors and also our own residents. Litter Sweep initiatives will take place on both sides of the river. You can contact the Upper Delaware Council for what’s being coordinated in your area; call Ashley Hall-Bagdonas at 845/252-3022. We will be able to assist you with safety equipment, bags and pickers and disposal support for collected trash.

You don’t need a special invitation. You can work on your own or as part of a group. If everyone does “something” we will all have a cleaner Delaware River corridor that we all can be proud of. You might just litter-pick your own road frontage. The brilliant novelist, scientist and philosopher Johann Goethe said it best two centuries ago, as chief minister at Weimar: “If everyone sweeps before his own front door then the street is clean; the whole world would be clean.”

I invite all Delaware River friends, users and neighbors to “sweep” your own properties or join a group. We will take care of your collected trash if you give us a heads-up. Let’s make this year a special celebration of Earth Day.

Andy Boyar

Eldred, NY

A yearly cycle to break

It happens every year at this time. The snow melts revealing a large amount of trash along our roads. I am still shocked to know that people just throw their garbage out of a car window. This has to stop.

Let’s be sure to thank all the folks and organizations that put together litterplucks.

Connie Lloyd

Beach Lake, PA