Fair elections are not a red or blue issue

Pennsylvania legislators are working hard checking and ensuring election procedures are transparent and have proper oversight and standards. The drawing of districts sets the stage for elections for the next 10 years and is key to election integrity. That process has begun (March 19 editorial, “Redistricting Must Include the Public”).

In the past, the drawing of legislative districts has been behind closed doors. There are encouraging signs that may be changing. Recently, an updated redistricting website was unveiled, sharing shape files and data of district maps going back a century.

The Legislative Reapportionment Commission has been formed and the four legislative leaders assigned. The fifth tiebreaking member and chair has yet to be selected. Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, has proposed nonpartisan qualifications for the LRC chair through Senate Bill 441 now on the Senate floor.

Several redistricting bills will be considered this year. The Legislative and Congressional Redistricting Act (H.B. 22/S.B. 222) introduced by Rep. Wendi Thomas, R-Bucks, and Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Lehigh, insists criteria already specified in the Pennsylvania Constitution, like compactness and contiguity, be enforced.

Other criteria are considered if they can be accommodated: Communities of interest such as school districts would be kept whole, natural boundaries such as rivers and mountains should be respected, and districts should be “responsive” where possible. Responsiveness measures seats won to votes cast.

Ask your legislators to support and promote passage of H.B. 22/S.B. 222. Thank them, if they do.

Pennsylvania voters want free and fair elections. This issue is not red or blue. It is just fair. Election integrity starts now.

CONNIE HESTER Ross The writer is a volunteer for Fair Districts PA Allegheny. The letter was also signed by Amy Ruffo, a coordinator for Fair Districts PA Lancaster.

Minimize pollution

Now is the time to make sure that Pennsylvania residents and workers are protected from the oil and gas industry and receive needed government funding to expand renewable energy and increase resilience to the increasing effects of climate change.

The Biden administration has committed to propose new standards for methane and volatile organic compound leakage from new and existing oil and gas facilities by September. The administration has also raised the social cost of carbon to $51 a ton compared with the Trump administration’s low of $1. The Methane Emissions Reduction Act has been proposed in the Senate to establish a fee system starting at $1,800 per ton of methane from the oil and gas industry to benefit the National Coastal Resilience Fund or the

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The administration directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider a proposed fossil fuel pipeline’s contribution to climate change. FERC also recently unanimously voted to reconsider a 1999 policy statement that guides how the commission approves gas infrastructure.

The deadly Texas blackouts during the winter storm there in February were documented failures of the natural gas industry. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas expected wind turbines to fail during subzero temperatures, but not the gas industry. The ERCOT drastically underestimated the impact that subzero temperatures would have on natural gas transmission lines and power plants. ERCOT’s worstcase extreme-winter analysis predicted losing 14 gigawatts of thermal resources (read: fossil fuel-fired power plants). At a peak electricity demand of 66 GW, Texas lost approximately 30 GW of thermal resources.

Pennsylvanians must demand that the Biden administration invest significant resources to minimize air pollution from the oil and gas industry while expanding renewable electricity and energy efficiency. Wind and solar have the advantage of on-site battery storage, and retrofitting existing buildings to be more energy efficient can’t be outsourced. Pennsylvania workers must be included in the Biden administration’s commitment to 2050 carbon neutrality.

RUSSELL ZERBO

Advocate Clean Air Council Philadelphia, Pa.