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, […]

The USA Today has an interesting feature on the air quality at schools nationwide.
As part of its package, it has an interactive database that allows readers to see where individual schools rank nationally in terms of air quality.
Not surprisingly, many Erie schools grade quite poorly.
The lower the percentile, the worse the air.
Check out the air […]

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, […]

This week’s top comment comes from regular poster AM, who wrote the following during the recent debate over the runway extension project:
This makes me think of a similar situation in Millcreek that makes me very sad, where the school board decided to rebuild J.S. Wilson Middle School with completely GREEN building design. Yet, all taxpayers […]

I spend a lot of time talking about how it makes smart economic sense for Erie to embrace environmentally friendly manufacturing as a centerpiece of its business strategy.
I usually hold up companies like GE Transportation and Spinworks LLC as prime examples of why this makes sense.
Today, I’d like to hold up another new example — […]

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 […]

In 1969, Chattanooga, Tenn., was known for having the worst air quality in the United States.
Today — with much cleaner air — the city is celebrating the arrival of a $1-billion Volkswagen plant that will bring 2,000 jobs.
For those who argue that those who are against the Erie Renewable Energy plant are against economic development, […]

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 […]

John Horan at the Erie Housing Authority has been kind enough to provide us with a link to Erie Renewable Energy’s application with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Here’s the report.
You can read it for yourself and make your own determination on what it means.
I’m not an expert on these issues, so I’m hoping […]