Expand landfill
Editor: I think Dunmore Borough Council made a mistake by opposing the proposed expansion of Keystone Sanitary Landfill.
People forget all the help that landfill owner Louis DeNaples has provided to Dunmore. If he didn’t provide it, council probably would have had to raise taxes to get things or would have had to do without.
I believe there are more people who want the landfill expansion than those who oppose it.
If council opposes the expansion, it only hurts the citizens of the borough. If the majority of Dunmore citizens want the expansion, then council should get behind it.
By supporting the expansion, Dunmore could get out of a financial hole.
By going against the landfill, Dunmore would have to pay for much more, including garbage disposal, and council would have to raise taxes.
The same people who oppose the expansion would complain the most, but it would be too late if the expansion is rejected.
Isn’t it better if the landfill lasts 50 more years instead of five?
JOE BARONE
DICKSON CITY
McCaffery’s shame
Editor: Courtesy of Justice Seamus McCaffery, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has become a laughingstock anew, a comedian’s punchline.
As Justice McCaffery accuses Chief Justice Ronald Castille of improperly targeting him over sexually explicit emails that McCaffery received and forwarded on his court computer, he asserts hypocrisy while it is he who is the hypocrite.
Justice McCaffery, a former Philadelphia police officer, asserts that coarse language and crude jokes were part and parcel of his former job. I do not doubt it, but that type of comportment is something that a Supreme Court justice must shed long before ascending to the bench.
The public has every right to believe that it is electing individuals of dignity, integrity and character to such lofty positions. If Justice McCaffery was not willing to behave like a gentleman and to adhere to reasonable policy, he could and should have remained a Philadelphia police officer.
State employees are told repeatedly that their employer email carries no expectation of privacy, that it may be reviewed and that disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment may ensue for its misuse. Apparently, the high and exalted justices of the Supreme Court are not required to adhere to the same standards that are expected of a rank-and-file clerk.
Perhaps all state employees should now be held only to the Justice McCaffery standard: that they may lash out against their accusers when they are caught violating a policy, say that they are sorry, that they had a lapse in judgment and then be permitted to go on with their careers.
Is it any wonder that there is citizen apathy, if not contempt for the charlatans whom we elect to high office?
OREN M. SPIEGLER
UPPER SAINT CLAIR,
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Trailing on emissions
Editor: It was encouraging that Gov. Tom Corbett’s energy executive, Patrick Henderson (Your Opinion, “Emissions Managed,” Oct. 18) recognizes the importance of reducing methane pollution from the natural gas industry.
Unfortunately, his claim that Pennsylvania is “leading the way” on methane regulations is not true. Under Mr. Corbett, Pennsylvania has taken a Swiss cheese approach to addressing methane and the commonwealth lags behind other states. Pennsylvania has no regulations directly regulating methane emissions. Instead, Pennsylvania has a patchwork of policies and federal rules that result in some reductions, but fall far short of the comprehensive regulations citizens deserve.
Instead of directly regulating methane, Pennsylvania has a voluntary permitting option — one that only applies to drillers who elect to follow it. For new Marcellus wells, an exemption says wells that meet some basic standards don’t need to be permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection’s air program. The exemption calls sources of methane emissions “trivial activities” that don’t require preconstruction approval.
While the current exemption is an improvement over a prior blanket exemption, many loopholes remain. For example, it applies only to new wells, not thousands of existing wells.
Other states show leadership on this issue. Ohio adopted rules that require oil and gas operators to conduct quarterly leak and repair inspections — in contrast to Pennsylvania’s once-a-year requirement. Industry and environmental groups came together in Colorado to enact a comprehensive set of methane regulations for oil and gas operators. The bulk of operators have to perform quarterly methane leak inspections, with monthly inspections at the largest well sites.
The Times-Tribune’s recent editorial was spot on: Methane pollution from our natural gas industry is a serious threat and the time to take action is now. Our next governor must take necessary steps on methane pollution to truly claim a leadership role.
ANDREW SHARP
OUTREACH DIRECTOR, PENNFUTURE,
HARRISBURG
Respect Old Glory
Editor: Oh, say, does that start-spangled banner yet wave?
Yes, but there are times when it should not be atop the flagpole, such as during hours of darkness without being illuminated.
Every Friday night at Riverside football games in Taylor, our flag hangs forlornly in the dark, which is against the rules of flag etiquette. The flag should either be taken down the pole at sundown or illuminated if it is to stay up during darkness.
It is a shame that the flag, the symbol of our wonderful country, does not get proper respect from the leaders of the Riverside School District.
JOHN NAPE
TAYLOR
