Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.
New Poll Finds Pa. Voters Pessimistic About Direction of Country and Economic Future
A new poll of Pennsylvania registered voters released today by the Commonwealth Foundation found inflation and rising costs are top concerns and elections for federal and state executive offices are up for grabs as Election Day inches closer.
Nearly seven-in-ten registered voters say inflation and price increases impact their family’s ability to maintain their standard of living (34 percent responding “a great deal” and 35 percent “a fair amount”). Over half of all registered voters surveyed say their economic conditions are worsening.
Of the 800 commonwealth registered voters surveyed between September 26–29, 57 percent believe the state has “gotten off on the wrong track.” Nearly six-in-ten (59 percent) say the Pennsylvania economy is “not good.”
A Tale of Two Philadelphia Schools
A seven-minute walk separates Kensington High School and Liguori Academy, two high schools serving the East Kensington neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia.
Kensington and Liguori have a few things in common. Both schools serve diverse populations—92 percent and 70 percent of which are students of color, respectively.
Both student bodies demonstrate significant financial need. All Kensington students qualify for free and reduced lunch, while all Liguori students qualify for and receive needs-based scholarships.
Solar Protectionism Is Anything But Sunny
Bipartisanship is supposed to be sunny, but at the October 1 vice-presidential debate, it took a dark turn. J.D. Vance and Tim Walz both endorsed boosting solar panel production in the United States. The only way to achieve that goal is through massive protectionism, including costly taxpayer subsidies and tariffs. Even then, Americans would throw more money at a failing industry and pay more for less reliable power.
Vance and Walz backed U.S. solar manufacturing out of obvious political calculation. Vance and Donald Trump get to appear moderate on energy while appealing to working-class voters in the upper Midwest with the promise of more factory jobs. Walz and Kamala Harris also want to appeal to those workers while alleviating widespread regional concerns about her earlier promise to ban fracking. The current vice president and her running mate also want to turn out progressive environmentalists who fervently believe solar power can save the world from climate change.
Regulations Subvert ‘Environmental Justice’
Thirty years ago, more than 800 waste coal piles marred the Pennsylvania landscape, poisoning streams and emitting gaseous odors, including the rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide.
Then, as part of a statewide cleanup, power plants capable of burning low-quality coal began turning the waste into electricity. Indeed, some waste piles still smolder from spontaneous combustion, polluting air long after mining ceased.
However, waste coal plants have reclaimed more than 7,200 acres and 1,200 miles of streams. Once barren landscapes and contaminated streams teem with wildlife because of the ongoing reclamation.
Tell Governor Shapiro that Pennsylvania doesn't need a new energy tax here!
