Just when we had the opportunity to create jobs and spur manufacturing ingenuity here in the Lehigh Valley PA-15 home to regional electric utility PPL and manufacturer Mack Truck, our Washington Rep. Congressman Dent voted against it.
No surprise that Dent has one of the poorest environmental voting records in Congress – 7% lifetime from LCV that just got worse. No surprise that I am running against him for Congress. We can do better. It’s a shame really – he’s a nice guy, we go to the same church, share many friends. But since he’s gone to Washington, this recent vote is typical. Dent gone Washington and away from us, the folks he is supposed to represent.
Ironically, Dent is voting against the best interests of our local business community. PPL is wisely and clearly committed to renewable energy – their new building in downtown was awarded the Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program — one of only eight privately owned buildings in the nation to achieve this honor. Increasing fleet mileage will go a long way towards making our American auto manufacturers like Mack Trucks far more competitive abroad. Small businesses get hammered by Dent also -- guess he doesn’t like the idea of small businesses getting help in reducing energy costs or spurring investment in small firms/entrepreneurs developing renewable energy solutions.
Once again, instead of exercising vision and leadership to move PA-15 and the nation forward towards energy independence, a HUGE national security issue, a HUGE business advantage, not to mention the environmental imperatives of global warming Dent goes with Bush, Big Oil and the Status Quo...again.
Looking at this bill you gotta be proud it passed the House. I particularly like the incentives for entrepreneurs for developing renewable energy solutions. Somewhere out there are the next Thomas Edisons – we just need to find them and incentivize the heck out of them finding us creative solutions. The best solutions come out of many, many attempts. There is no silver bullet on achieving energy independence that is positive environmentally and doesn’t compromise food supplies. Legend holds that it took Edison 99 tries till he came upon tungsten as the proper filament for his electric bulb. Spurring innovation is something that government CAN do well. And now is the time.
Okay, so Oil Companies want to fight to preserve inadvertent tax breaks – the rollback of 2005 Energy Bill tax break for geological and geophysical expenditures -- I suppose I can’t blame them but I’m disappointed. In a time where they are posting record profits while we pay $3 + at the pump -- here’s a perfect time for them to position themselves as the good guys and push for the needed change and innovation to move the nation forward. And I’m disappointed in Dent, who ONCE AGAIN, ignores common sense and fails all leadership tests to vote with BUSH. Dent, Bush and Oil could come out winners on this one – if they suppported this legislation with some backbone and vision.
Other part of bill that display some common sense -- Title XIII for modernizing and strengthening the reliability and energy savings of our electricity supply – of huge importance on business and national security fronts.
Overall, we have a piece of innovative, visionary legislation that makes our nation safer and its citizens more prosperous that is funded by rolling back unneeded tax breaks -- in a time of record profits for the industry benefiting from those tax breaks.
I have a great button that I gave to a friend in choir -- shows George Bush as a puppet on the lap of Dick Cheney. We need a version with Charlie as Bush's puppet. Sadly, Charlie Dent has gone Washington, just when we needed him most. That's why I'm running against him for Congress. Time for a Change. Time for Sam.