Sunday, April 14, 2013
As the Marcellus Shale industry expands in western Pennsylvania—and individual property owners start to benefit—issues often become controversial, especially when it comes to the environment.
Marcellus Shale is here to stay. Like its natural resource predecessors—coal deep mining and strip mining, natural gas and oil wells, and logging—Marcellus Shale drilling brings jobs and a source of energy for businesses and consumers. Like its predessors, Marcellus Shale drilling also brings and will most likely leave behind environmental concerns. Today, there's mine insurance today for those who own homes and businesses above areas that were mined for coal 100 or more years ago. Reclamation efforts were mandated in 1977 to restore areas destroyed by strip mining and why there's always a danger of an oil or gas well fire or leak into waterways. Reforestation replaces trees lost to the logging industry. Already, Marcellus Shale has raised…
Friday, November 30, 2012
The state representative calls for new direction in Harrisburg.
State Rep. Martin Michael Schmotzer has issued a news release to thank the residents of Pennsylvania's 22nd House District for the opportunity to serve them. Schmotzer's term in the House comes to a close today, Nov. 30. "It's been an honor to serve and represent the people of the 22nd District," Schmotzer said, "from Brookline and Beechview to Baldwin (Township) and Whitehall (Borough). I kept all my promises to you. I had a 100-percent voting record, I didn't take the health care coverage, and I showed up for work every day. "The most important votes I cast were probably those dealing with the (state) budget," the Democrat and longtime Baldwin-Whitehall School Board member from Whitehall said. "I was adamantly opposed to locking in last …
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Kevin Rice wants to help students to prepare for careers, not debt.
The measure of a school district's success has long been how well it prepares its students for college. But with the rising costs of higher education and the emergence of new, domestic energy jobs, perhaps that measurement is changing. Such was the theme of Kevin E. Rice's presentation to the Baldwin-Whitehall School Board on Wednesday night. Rice has been the director of the Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School in Jefferson Hills Borough since January, and as the school's director, Rice oversees the career/technical education (CTE) of students from 11 nearby school districts, including Baldwin-Whitehall's, by using those districts' public tax dollars. Rice said on Wednesday that he takes those public tax dollars to heart and …
40.323142
-79.940455
565 N Lewis Run Rd, Jefferson Hills, PA
Steel Center Area Vocational Technical School
/articles/steel-center-director-aims-to-remove-stigma
/locations/9326417
40.352561
-79.992891
Baldwin-Whitehall School District Office
4900 Curry Rd, Pittsburgh, PA
/articles/steel-center-director-aims-to-remove-stigma
1833949
/locations/9326418
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Baldwin-Whitehall receives around $800.
Gov. Tom Corbett announced on Monday that Pennsylvania's Act 13 has generated more than $204.2 million through a new Marcellus Shale natural gas impact fee. Most of that money will be distributed directly to local municipalities across the state within the next 10 days. Baldwin-Whitehall's slice of the pie amounts to $795.26. Baldwin Borough gets $444.69, Whitehall Borough gets $304.55, and Baldwin Township gets $46.02. Corbett said that county and municipal leaders may use these funds for various expenses related to impacts from natural gas development, including: Under Act 13, state agencies with responsibility and oversight of natural gas development will receive $25.5 million in funding, including the Pennsylvania Department of …
Friday, August 17, 2012
'Jason Coll Day' will be proclaimed on Aug. 25.
Saturday, Aug. 25, will not only be Community Day for Whitehall Borough; it will also be "Jason Coll Day." Coll—a composer, a musical director and a member of South Hills Area Against Dangerous Drilling (SHAADD)—has been chosen by Whitehall's elected officials as the borough's 18th annual Citizen of the Year. Coll will officially be crowned on Aug. 25 at Snyder Park at around 10 a.m., as Mayor James F. Nowalk and the Whitehall Council will proclaim that day "Jason Coll Day" in front of finishers and spectators of the borough's annual 5,000-meter race and 1-mile fun walk. Coll, a 1989 graduate of Baldwin High School and a 1993 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, is the founder of Frog Prince Theatricals. He served as …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
The state Commonwealth Court issued its opinion on Thursday morning, calling those provisions unconstitutional.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Thursday struck down portions of the state's newly enacted legislation governing Marcellus Shale operations—also known as Act 13—as unconstitutional. The 54-page opinion filed by President Judge Dan Pellegrini states: "Petitioners allege that they have close to 150 unconventional Marcellus Shale wells drilled within their borders, and Act 13 prevents them from fulfilling their constitutional and statutory obligations to protect the health, safety and welfare of their citizens, as well as public natural resources from the industrial activity of oil and gas drilling. Petitioners allege that Act 13 requires them to modify many of their zoning laws." The petitioners, which included a cluster of western …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
'I'm saving the cheers ... until some experts can assure me that drilling for natural gas in residential neighborhoods and state parks will not further pollute my already polluted air and water.'
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Responding to news that Shell Oil has selected western Pennsylvania as the home for a natural gas plant, Whitehall Borough resident Laura L. Leete wrote a July 14 letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in which she expresses deep concern for the possible negative effects of Marcellus Shale drilling. "I'm saving the cheers for the Pittsburgh Pirates and not the Marcellus Shale-related industries until some experts can assure me that drilling for natural gas in residential neighborhoods and state parks will not further pollute my already polluted air and water," Leete writes, "that my property value will not be lowered, that the noise level caused by drilling that used to be enforced by local ordinance will not be deafening, and…
Friday, July 6, 2012
Republicans Tim Pawlenty and Bobby Jindal stopped in Oakland Friday on their bus tour of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Pittsburgh was a political playground Friday, with the Democratic and Republican parties rallying only hours apart. U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair), former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal stopped by Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland to show their support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. All three spoke mainly about jobs and the economy. Pawlenty and Jindal, both Republican vice presidential hopefuls, are touring Pennsylvania and Ohio on the tail of President Barack Obama's “Betting on America” bus tour, which stopped just blocks away on Friday at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland. During the rally, Murphy spoke out about the importance of this upcoming election…
Friday, June 29, 2012
Republicans call spending plan responsible; Democrats decry social service cuts.
The Pennsylvania Senate is expected to vote on Friday on a $27.66-billion spending plan that holds the line on taxes for the new fiscal year, which begins on Sunday. The state House of Representatives approved the measure by a vote of 120-81 on Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The new budget increases spending by less than 2 percent over this year's budget, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported. The spending plan maintains current funding for public schools and colleges. However, it eliminates the state Department of Public Welfare's cash assistance program and cuts $84 million—half of what Gov. Tom Corbett had proposed cutting for county-provided human services. The budget also includes a tax break that could exceed $1…
Friday, June 15, 2012
The candidates and issues most important to B-W voters this fall.
As we look ahead to November's elections, the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch remains devoted to bringing you the information that you need about every race in town. Here's our start on some of the candidates and issues that we'll be covering as November draws near. President Barack Obama vs. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney History Pennsylvania has delivered its 20 electoral votes to the Democratic nominee for U.S. President in each of the past five elections, and if current polls hold steady, incumbent Barack Obama will make it six in a row in November. Obama has not taken Pennsylvania's support for granted and has made several trips to the western Pennsylvania area in the past several years, even going as far as choosing Pittsburgh to host…
Tom Barchfeld
8:38 am on Thursday, April 18, 2013
Mike, the EPA head herself could not find 1 instance of pollution in 60 years of fracking history. more ›