Rendell does bidding of polluting paymasters in Schuylkill County

During a press conference earlier this month, Gov. Ed Rendell expressed his enthusiasm for a waste coal-to-oil facility planned for Schuylkill County. The project near Gilberton would dramatically increase toxic emissions in an area already experiencing unusually high cancer rates that researchers believe are linked to environmental factors.

And Rendell doesn't just support the idea of private investors undertaking the project: He wants the very people who would be hurt by the plant's pollution to subsidize its construction, the estimated cost of which has more than tripled since the proposal was first unveiled. The Pottsville Republican Herald reports:

... Rendell was asked about the proposed $1 billion coal-to-liquid fuels project in Mahanoy Township, proposed by John W. Rich Jr., president of Waste Management and Processors Inc.

Rendell said he would be open to providing more funds to help put the waste coal-to-oil plant "over the top."

"Yes, that's a project that we would be very interested in," Rendell said.

Rich and other members of his family who do business together as part of the Rich Family Companies -- which include a local sewage sludge dumping operation, two waste-coal burning power plants, and a mining company -- are major political benefactors for Rendell, having contributed at least $68,000 to his political campaigns since 2001, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics' database. Those include contributions of:

* $8,000 on Nov. 14, 2001;
* $10,000 on Feb. 21, 2002;
* $10,000 on Aug. 6, 2002;
* $7,500 on Sept. 25, 2002;
* $10,000 on Oct. 30, 2002;
* $500 on Dec. 31, 2002;
* $1,000 on April 15, 2004;
* $1,000 on March 3, 2005;
* and a whopping $20,000 on Sept. 21, 2006.

If Schuylkill County residents suffering from cancer and other environmental illnesses want the governor to take action in their behalf, perhaps they'll have to come up with some campaign cash, too.

(Photo of John W. Rich Jr. by The News-Item via UltraCleanFuels.com)