Outside Erie

When Kathy Dahlkemper embarked on her campaign for Pennsylvania’s 3rd House District more than a year ago, the country wasn’t facing the economic meltdown.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers were not on the verge of bankruptcy.
Credit was easier to access. Unemployment was low.
Now, as she prepares to take office after her victory over incumbent Phil English, […]

I had the opportunity to interview incoming U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper this morning about her agenda and what she’s been learning as she prepares for her new job.
I’ll be posting a longer q-and-a from her and from my recent interview with outgoing U.S. Rep. Phil English soon.
But I do want to pass along a theme […]

If you think the debate over plans to build a tires-to-energy plant on the Lake Erie shore has been intense, brace yourself for what could be an even more caustic battle over the possibility of wind farms on the Great Lakes.
The Washington Post reports on the early efforts to develop offshore wind farms in Michigan, […]

If you watched any of the early speeches during last night’s Democratic National Convention, you likely noticed that there was a lot of discussion about investing in green technologies.
The idea that, as a nation, we should prioritize technologies that reduce our dependence on foreign oil and would have the added benefit of creating new domestic […]

We’ve discussed the concept that inner ring suburbs like Millcreek are in the early stages of what could be a long decline.
And that trend is not unique to Erie if you take a look at a really interesting discussion on the New York Times’ Freakonomics blog.
The item talks to several planners who say that American […]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette raised some interesting points in its story Sunday about the proposed Erie Renewable Energy plant.
We’ve covered this issue exhaustively here, but I hadn’t yet come across this nugget:
The only other tire-to-energy plant operating in the United States is the Exeter Energy Limited facility in Sterling, Conn., which burns more than 10 million […]

This week’s top comment comes from Ed Tonkin, who proposes the government creates $25-billion prize to those who develop a solution to the problem of U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Here’s an excerpt from his recent comment:
Fear and environmental politics have made various energy solutions untenable such as nuclear, offshore drilling, and explorations in Alaska. Within […]

U.S. Rep. John Peterson of Pleasantville is quoted in the Buffalo News this morning saying that he supports drilling for oil and natural gas in Lake Erie.

A ban on drilling in the lakes “makes no public policy sense,” given that the Canadians are already doing it, said Peterson, a Republican from Pennsylvania.

Peterson has been pushing […]