Rendell to chair McGinty's Senate campaign

[Divernan]

earlyreturns.post-gazette.com/home/early-returns-posts/6597-rendell-to-chair-mcginty-s-senate-campaign

Katie McGinty will get help from an old boss as she seeks the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Ed Rendell will serve as Ms. McGinty's campaign chairman, her campaign announced ths morning.
Ms. McGinty served as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection during Mr. Rendell's tenure as governor. She recently resigned from her post a chief of staff for Gov. Tom Wolf to enter the Senate race.

In the comments section of this Post-Gazette article is this statement from Doug Shields.

(Doug Shields, former Pittsburgh city council member & president, introduced an ordinance banning corporations from natural gas drilling in the city, the first of its kind nationwide to pass. This was back in 2010. He remains actively involved in opposing fracking.)

Ed Rendell & Katie McGinty illegally orchestrated the leasing of over 300,000 acres of state forests and parks - the "common property" of the People. No consultation with the people. No hearings. No environmental impact studies. No regard to the PA Constitution's provision at Article I, Section 27.

Natural Resources and the Public Estate
Section 27.
"The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people."

Ed Rendell is now a lobbyist for the Oil & Gas industry. McGinty also has close industry ties. I have no inclination at all to cast my vote for those who don't know the difference between governing by the people and governing by fiat. I find no need to have another U.S. Senator who takes their lead (and their campaign money) from those who despoil our natural resources and purchase our government and have no respect at all for the health, welfare and safety of the people of PA.

[Divernan]

1. Rendell Intervened For Oil Company to Stop EPA Contamination Case vs. Range Resources

http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/02/05/ed-rendell-range-resources-obama-epa-texas-fracking-water-contamination-lawsuit

A breaking investigation(note: this was back in 2013) by EnergyWire appears to connect the dots between shadowy lobbying efforts by shale gas fracking company Range Resources, and the Obama EPA's decision to shut down its high-profile lawsuit against Range for allegedly contaminating groundwater in Weatherford, TX. At the center of the scandal sits former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, the former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the National Governors' Association.

The new twist exposed by EnergyWire's Mike Soraghan is that Ed Rendell, acting “as a spokesman for Range” Resources, “proposed certain terms” to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Exactly what was said remains unclear, but the EPA ultimately dropped its case against Range.

According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, Rendell took almost $200,000 from the oil and gas industry in the run-up to his 2006 electoral victory and while governor, he described himself as the industry's “best ally.”

Upon completion of his gubernatorial stint, Rendell immediately fled to the private sector. He currently works both as an Operating Partner at Element Partners and as a Senior Advisor at Greenhill & Co., Inc. He is also listed as Special Counsel at the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP.

Element Partners describes itself as a firm that, among other things, provides “services to the energy, industrial, and environmental markets” and “capital for growth, acquisitions, shareholder liquidity, recapitalizations, and buyouts.” It provides investment capital for numerous oil and gas industry clients.

Greenhill is a similar firm, describing itself as a “leading independent investment bank focused on providing financial advice on significant mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, financings and capital raisings to corporations, partnerships, institutions and governments.” Like Element, Greenhall also provides investment capital for numerous oil and gas corporations.

Prior to the completion of Rendell's final term as governor, three of his former aides abruptly left their jobs to work as shale gas industry lobbyists. Their names: Kenneth Scott Roy, Barbara Sexton, and Sarah Battisti.

Sexton, Rendell's former Executive Deputy Secretary of the PA Department Environmental Protection (DEP), transitioned into a gig working as a lobbyist for industry giant Chesapeake Energy. Battisti, another of Rendell's cadre of Deputy Chiefs-of-Staff, became a lobbyist for BG (British Gas) Group.

The third, K. Scott Roy, wound up as a lobbyist for Range Resources as Vice President for Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs.

[Divernan]

2. McGinty contributor got fast-tracked permit for coal plant when she ran DEP

It's pay to play with McGinty and her paymasters are the same folks who
paid off Rendell and the hated Corbett.

https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/03/03/mcginty-contributor-got-fast-tracked-permit-for-coal-plant-when-she-ran-dep/

In 2005, as the head of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie McGinty fast-tracked a permit for a controversial waste coal power plant in western Pennsylvania. In recent months, McGinty has accepted $120,000 in campaign contributions from a coal executive behind the project.

The Beech Hollow power plant was ultimately never built. But emails obtained by StateImpact Pennsylvania show an effort by McGinty to expedite the plant’s permit and approve it just before more stringent federal air quality regulations were going to be implemented.

Ray Bologna Sr.’s family owns the site of a massive pile of waste coal in Washington County– said to be the largest east of the Mississippi. The plan was to use it as fuel for the power plant. Over the years, the Bologna’s have given generously to many political campaigns, including those of former Governor Ed Rendell and Governor Corbett.

“My phone is ringing off the hook”

“Guys, I want a quick update on all four priority projects we are trying so hard to move,” McGinty wrote to DEP staff in a January 2005 email, referring to the plant. “My phone is ringing off the hook with legislators who are concerned re the April 5th deadline.”

The emails show DEP staff were intent on approving the permit by April 4, 2005–the day before tougher federal rules were to take effect. On April 5, the federal Environmental Protection Agency designated Washington County as a non-attainment area for soot. Local residents had raised concerns the plant could exacerbate existing air quality problems.

[blue neen]

3. Ed Rendell tried several times to get a gas severance tax enacted before he left office.

"Gov. Ed Rendell pronounced the push to enact a severance tax on natural gas production dead this year - a tacit recognition that the legislative session is effectively over until January and his term in office ends that month, too."

"Mr. Rendell said the unwillingness of Senate and House Republican leaders to negotiate in good faith on a compromise tax is responsible for the breakdown. But leaders of those caucuses took sharp issue with the governor's assessment."

"Mr. Rendell gave his verdict one day after receiving responses from the four caucuses to his request for counterproposals to a compromise tax plan he floated last week."

"It is irresponsible for Senate and House Republicans to refuse to compromise and simply turn their backs on these negotiations after days and weeks and months of work," he said in a statement. "Their clear unwillingness to change their previous proposal or to resolve differences with the House Democrats and with my administration makes it obvious that they have killed the severance tax in this legislative session."

Read more at:

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/rendell-calls-gas-severance-tax-dead-this-year-1.1052137