Editorials from around Pennsylvania

WHY DOES PENNSYLVANIA MAKE IT SO HARD TO VOTE?
Voting is the most basic right that a citizen enjoys in a representative democracy. It is the fundamental act that drives our entire system of government.
So why does Pennsylvania make it so hard to vote?
Our state is one of only 13 that makes citizens vote under old-fashioned rules that date from the time when presidents gave fireside chats on the radio.
In Pennsylvania, you have to travel to a polling place and cast a ballot in person on Election Day (which happens to be a work day and a school day). The only exception? If the state decides you have a good enough excuse for not voting on Election Day and deigns to let you have an absentee ballot.
Otherwise, would-be voters have to squeeze a trip to the polls around everything else in a typical day. For millions of Pennsylvanians, that means getting to the polling place while also commuting to and from their jobs and getting the kids off to school or daycare.
And that presumes people are paying enough attention to be registered to vote 30 days in advance.
It’s a wonder voter turnout isn’t even lower, given the hassle factor.
Other states have decided that voting is important enough to help more people do it. Thirty-three conduct early voting for days or a couple of weeks before an election.
At least 27 automatically allow absentee voting, without an excuse. Three states – Colorado, Oregon and Washington – conduct all elections by mail.
All have figured out ways to do so while maintaining the integrity of the election system.
Several bills to make it easier to vote outside of Election Day were introduced in the last session of the Pennsylvania Legislature. They were promptly shuffled off to committee and were never seen again.
That indifferent response to the logistical difficulties of voting seems to reflect an elitist attitude. It’s an attitude that says, “Voting should be hard to do, and if it’s too hard for you, tough. Apparently you don’t care enough, so we don’t want you voting.”
It’s an attitude that allows those in power to put their interests – primarily staying in power – above the interests of the citizens they supposedly serve.
While making it easier to vote, Pennsylvania lawmakers should make it easier to register to vote, too.
You wouldn’t know it from the way Pennsylvania does things, but computers and a thing called the Internet have made it possible to transact important business without pushing around a lot of paper or making a special trip to a specific place.
Somehow, 21 other states have figured out efficient, secure ways to allow voters to register or update their information online. At least 10 states even allow voters to register on Election Day, and cast a vote that undergoes further checking to guard against fraud.
In Pennsylvania, we take pride in being the cradle of our democracy – home of the Declaration of Independence and the greatest governing document in all of human history, the U.S. Constitution.
Pennsylvania was in the vanguard of this country’s democratic revolution during the 18th century. Let’s be true to that admirable tradition and make it easier to vote in the 21st century.
– PennLive.com
TURNPIKE HIKES A TOLL ON FAIRNESS
The cost to travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Lancaster to Harrisburg or Lancaster to Philadelphia has more than doubled over the past seven years and has risen 45 percent for those using E-ZPass.
Those toll increases are just plain unfair – a result of Gov. Ed Rendell’s failed bid to toll I-80 and thus spread the pain of paying for Pennsylvania’s infrastructure needs to the north as well.
When the tolling plan failed, the turnpike commission’s contribution to PennDOT was reduced to $450 million per year in 2011, down from $750 million in 2008, $850 million in 2009 and $900 million in 2010. The turnpike share of PennDOT’s road and bridge funding – nearly $2.3 billion last year – will sunset in 2021.
Still, turnpike drivers are paying for work on other roads and bridges – and that cost is being borne by those driving between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia while I-80, the state’s other major interstate, is unaffected.
A gasoline tax would be the fairest way to fund road and bridge projects.
It is a user tax, higher on diesel because the large trucks that put the most wear and tear on the roads are mostly fueled by diesel. And, minus those who make quick trips in and out, it is paid by drivers from out of state as well.
In 2013, Gov. Tom Corbett signed a gradual elimination of the state’s cap on its Oil Company Franchise Tax. Corbett was trying to keep his no-tax-increase pledge of 2010, so a straight per-gallon tax on gasoline and diesel was not on the table.
The lifting of the cap is expected to raise gasoline prices by about 10 cents per gallon and the price of diesel by about 13 cents per gallon this year, and could raise those per-gallon prices by 28 cents and 40 cents, respectively, over five years.
The first of those increases took effect Jan. 1 but most drivers probably didn’t notice it thanks to falling oil prices – which make up more than 60 percent of the price of gasoline at the pump.
Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges still need work, so we should accept the impact of the lifting of the franchise tax cap.
The increase in turnpike tolls, on the other hand, is not fair, and Pennsylvanians who travel it would be right to ask their lawmakers in Harrisburg to take non-turnpike roadwork off the commission’s books.
– LNP
SHALE TAX NEEDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED
Expect the issue of a severance tax for the Marcellus Shale gas-drilling industry to heat up later this month when Tom Wolf replaces Tom Corbett as Pennsylvania’s governor.
On last fall’s gubernatorial battlefront, Wolf campaigned heavily in favor of such a tax, which he said would provide badly needed funds for education.
Corbett consistently has opposed the tax.
With that issue having encompassed so much of Wolf’s campaign message, look for the new governor to press ahead to make good on that campaign promise.
He should. Pennsylvania has been giving that industry sweetheart treatment, while other Marcellus states have been responsible in representing their residents’ interests by putting in place fair tax policies governing it.
The industry didn’t pull out of those other states when they imposed their taxes; it’s foolhardy to think it would leave and give up profits from the Keystone State if similar fair taxation is imposed here.
“Merits of natural gas severance tax debatable” was the headline of an article in the Dec. 31 Mirror. The article focused initially on a call hosted by leaders of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association.
Predictably, the leaders of the three organizations displayed a united front in voicing opposition to Wolf’s proposed severance tax on fracking.
Dave Spigelmyer, Marcellus Coalition president, noting financial benefits that the industry brings, said the absence of a severance tax provides the opportunity to “build a manufacturing base that has been declining for the last four decades.” But the industry has yet to show that it is having much effect in reversing that decline, while potential tax revenue continues to elude Harrisburg’s coffers.
Lou D’Amico, Independent Oil & Gas Association president and executive director, said regardless of the rate of a severance tax, “How is any tax a fair tax?” He argued that “this is the only extractive industry in the state that’s looking at an extraction tax.”
That’s a reasonable point with which other Marcellus states have dealt, but different factors and considerations apply to different industries. Pennsylvania can justify the Marcellus tax in ways other states have done.
Points like D’Amico’s make good fodder for debate, but those points can’t be aired if Keystone State lawmakers choose to avoid the issue in the way they’ve done up to now.
The Dec. 31 article also included information about a new study by the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative that focuses on the negative “human impacts” that communities experience as a result of increased drilling. Among those listed were increases in property crimes and traffic fatalities.
Stephen Herzenberg, an economist and executive director of the Keystone Research Center, a self-described nonpartisan research organization, says the study is a validation of the idea that some revenue from the industry should, by way of impact fees, return to the community. However, he said a severance tax could gather more revenue to help with those impacts.
But in his campaign Wolf emphasized funneling extraction tax money into education, although he didn’t emphasize every dollar.
The proposed severance tax debate is likely to be heated. Giving the Marcellus industry a tax break while it was getting its “feet” planted in Pennsylvania might have been reasonable, but the sweetheart treatment now should end.
– Altoona Mirror
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WHY WE’RE CRAZY FOR SNOWY OWLS
We are accustomed to boasting about Erie’s popularity as a magnet for tourists in summer, and we know that outsiders and locals enjoy our region in the cold months, too, because of the many opportunities available for winter recreation.
But who knew that winter in Erie would also beckon visitors willing to tramp along the beaches and out to the North Pier at Presque Isle State Park in search of snowy owls?
We first learned about the lure of the snowy owl in the winter of 2013-14, when what is known as an irruption brought a record number of the birds to the U.S. from the Arctic. The irruption began right after Thanksgiving 2013 and continued into the spring. Our “Nature Watch” column, which runs on Saturdays with our weather package, noted on April 5 that a “lingering” snowy owl had been spotted at Mount Saint Benedict on March 30.
It’s appropriate that one of these birds, with white feathers and golden eyes, was seen at a monastery, known for its tranquil setting. Birder Susan Smith even says the snowy owl looks “like a little white Buddha.”
But snowy owls were also seen at Erie International and at other airports in the Midwest and Northeast in 2013-14. U.S. birders say that runways look like Arctic tundra to the owls.
Scientists attribute the large number of snowy owls that flew south in 2013-14 to conditions in the Arctic. Snowy owls had more food, such as lemmings, to eat, and well-fed, fertile owls produced more offspring. Last season there were a phenomenal number of snowy owls to see, and this season is good, too. “I think we’re still seeing the result of a peak from last year,” said Anne DeSarro, environmental education specialist supervisor at Presque Isle State Park, where up to a half-dozen snowy owls have been spotted this season, including four last week.
Passionate bird-watchers have flocked to Gull Point, Beach 11 and other spots at Presque Isle to see and photograph snowy owls. The chance to see a snowy owl prompted Bruce and Barbara Kiester to drive to Presque Isle from New Brighton, in Beaver County, on Dec. 29. It’s helped that our winter has been relatively mild. Those searching for snowy owls might be less inclined to make the trek to Erie in a raging blizzard.
DeSarro said that the birds, which have wingspans up to 5.5 feet, can sit for hours. This unflappable nature brings out the best in humans. Gina Pascarella and her family spotted snowy owls on Beach 11, at Gull Point and at the North Pier in late December. She found two of them because birders shared their scopes.
Snowy owls generate excitement in labs, not just on beaches. At the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, Project SNOWstorm allows scientists to track snowy owls, including one named Millcreek, that have been equipped with transmitters. Millcreek traveled more than 1,200 miles and visited 1,800 locations since it was tagged at the Erie airport on Jan. 20.
Visit www.projectsnowstorm.org to learn more about snowy owls and Millcreek’s far-flung travels.
– Erie Times-News