A natural gas power plant has been proposed for a Brownfield site in Birdsboro, PA. The plant, to be operated by Birdsboro Power LLC, will be served by a proposed natural gas pipeline, and connect to the grid via a new 230 kV transmission line. Permits are pending for some of the structures associated with the power plant, but the power plant site itself has largely escaped scrutiny, despite being used as a steel foundry for decades including serving as a military tank assembly operation for some of that time. The site is known to be contaminated with PCBs and asbestos. Radioactive materials, including cesium and uranium, are known to have been used on the site in the past. During a remediation effort currently underway, buried canisters of chlorine gas were uncovered. Numerous buried items have been uncovered during remediation, but the community was not been informed. Little information on the condition of the site has been made public in the years since the site operated as a foundry. In November 2017, when buried chlorine gas canisters were found, one was punctured by a worker who had to be hospitalized. In the event of a small chlorine spill, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends isolation and initial protective action distances of 100 feet in all directions with subsequent protection of anyone downwind for 0.2 mi (during the day). Yet people living 500 feet from the site where the proposed power plant will be built were not informed. Five days after the release of chlorine gas, Birdsboro Power sued the federal government for the cost of the “significant remaining contamination” on the site. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued the power plant’s air quality permit long before the chemical release in November and had just concluded the public comment period on the remaining permits for the power plant, gas pipeline, and electric transmission line. The public couldn’t comment on information it didn’t have. Toward the end of informing the public, we are calling on state legislators representing the affected communities and Governor Wolf to require Birdsboro Power to make public the Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments completed in 2016. The public must be given the opportunity to provide informed comment. We also ask them to require the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection re-open comment periods on all state pending permits and certificates required for this project to allow an informed public to weigh in.

The current municipal code allowing dogs off-leash at the local park is overly restrictive. People are not able to enjoy their public park with their dog due to the limited times, and the park is basically empty in the time dogs are not allowed.

If we continue to do nothing, nothing will change.

I am a disabled veteran and a current employee at the Bedford VA in Bedford, Massachusetts and want these people and any others at any other VA hospital that steals from my fellow disabled veterans to be fully prosecuted. http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_31622260/probe-va-hospital-employees-bought-1m-equipment-family http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/01/25/report-says-bedford-officials-ignored-costly-ethics-violations-for-years/0JAaTfG1b9mM8iNfmG5I5M/story.html

My petition is to stop the removal of roadside memorials. Don't take this last remaining piece of our lost loved ones

Both Senators Heinrich and Udall have been outstanding supporters of our wild public lands, but have been disturbingly quiet on this issue (they have both supported getting the additional training squadron to Holloman AFB, but now this squadron needs a place to do their training). The Gila Wilderness and Forest is a place for quiet solitude, not for training F16s at 500 feet elevation.

So national elections accurately reflect the will of the people.

As we enter the third week of the 2018 legislative session, we need to move key legislative leaders to throw their support behind redistricting reform.

I believe in justice served, which our Florida law does not!

I am resisting Jeff Sessions inflammatory hate-filled speech by starting this petition and I'm asking you to sign it and pass it on asap. I urge good people of conscience to stand with me to tell Congress and the President that we stand against Session's racism, anti-human hate speech. People need to know that we stand with America's immigrant population. America is a nation of immigrants past and new and we extend the welcome mat to those who have the courage to leave behind all that that have in order to chase the American dream. We say: Dream-ON! We're with you!

I am sick and tired of Republican politicians playing politics with our health care and going out of their way to target women’s constitutional right to choose in the process. We deserve better. I’ve spent my career in office fighting those who want to roll back decades’ worth of progress on women’s health and reproductive freedom. Together we fought to require employers to provide employees with no-cost coverage for contraception and 55 million American women benefitted. Together we advanced legislation in my state of California to ensure that so-called crisis pregnancy centers provide women with accurate information about the full range of reproductive services available to them. Together we defeated every attempt by Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood since Trump’s election, and we’re never going to stop fighting to make sure those doors stay open and women get the care they need. And next week, we’re going to defeat this 20-week abortion ban if enough of us make our voices heard right now: Sign my petition today if you agree that the Republicans 20-week abortion ban is immoral and must be defeated in the Senate next week.

My name is Phil Plaza and I am an Oregon resident. I welcome the opportunity to offer my comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. I would like to begin by asking this question: Were any of you present when the drunken captain of the Exxon Valdez let his ship crash upon a charted reef, spilling almost 11 millions gallons of crude oil upon the shorelines of Prince William Sound? Well I was there. I have witnessed not only the polluted beaches and sub-soils, which remain polluted to this day, I also saw the dead seals, sea birds and aquatic life. And I also witnessed first hand, the livelihoods, the health and the economy of a fishing industry collapse. I have witnessed the dramatic impact upon the fishing town of Cordova, a once thriving fishing community and have seen their lives changed, disrupted forever. It was a disaster of enormous consequences. And through the courts, it took years of litigation before Exxon finally paid all of the punitive damages. For many folks they never did recover from the consequences of that spill. This Exxon oil company fought these assessed damages for over 10 years. Will Oregon residents have to wait for ten years or more before a settlement from an oil spill disaster is offered? The second question I pose to you is this: How many of you have actually traveled the Oregon Coastal Highway101? Considered one of the most scenic and beautiful coastal highways in the world, the Highway 101 drive, with is beaches and vistas are visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world. If you doubt this, just try to find a vacant campsite during the busy summer months. This 2 lane highway is packed, at times bumper to bumper, from the northern to the southern borders of Oregon, a distance of 363 miles. Thousands of campers, trailers, Rvs, bicyclists, hikers and tourists follow the shoreline, providing a significant boost for many of the economically challenged small communities that depend on these coastal tourist dollars in order to survive the rest of the year. One spill, as we have previously witnessed, one disaster, will forever disrupt lives and livelihoods of Oregonians, just as it happened in Alaska or along the Texas/Louisiana shores. But the real kicker, the most dangerous aspect of this off shore oil drilling proposal has to do with something we can not mitigate, control or even prepare for appropriately. To think of drilling an oil well near the Cascadian Subduction Zone, an active earthquake zone, as close as 35 miles from Oregon’s shoreline with the potential of a 9.1 or greater earthquake is criminally negligent to say the least. Have any of you spoken with the earthquake and tsunami professors at Oregon State University? As a firefighter, first responder and community organizer for our emergency prepared response plans, we understand that there is a better than 38% chance of the “Big One,” a 9.1 or greater earthquake occurring within the next 50 years and indeed we are already overdue for the “Big One” according to past records. And we know it could happen any day. This is scientific and historical fact not fiction. And just where will this oil be stored if any is even found? There are presently no facilities nor infrastructure except in Portland to transport and store this oil. The present fuel storage tanks in Portland sit upon unstable silt and mud and are in such a danger of collapsing that they are being retrofitted to withstand a large quake. Portland is not ready to receive this oil and has already been legally approved to ban any future fossil fuel infrastructure. Portland already knows a 9.1 earthquake has the potential danger of oil tanks rupturing, collapsing and thereby disrupting 7 million people. The great Republican Governor Tom McCall understood just how important Oregon’s beaches are, from lighthouse to lighthouse, for both the health and economy of our State. Governor McCall passed a law that gives us complete access to all of Oregon’s beaches, they belong to the public not the private sector. Oregon citizen’s consider our beaches and shore line a treasure. Oregon passed the first bottle bill in no small measure to keep our beaches free from plastics and glass. For me it is extremely short sighted, simply foolish and definitely dangerous for the lives and wellbeing of Oregon’s coastal residents. And for me it is morally shameful to be even thinking of such a proposal for our coastal waters. There is only one sane mitigation measure, No Drilling off of Oregon’s treasured shoreline. I urge the Bureau of Coastal Energy Management and our Oregon Governor Kate Brown to deny this ill-advised off shore oil lease proposal. After all we deserve the same consideration as Florida received. Thank you, Phil Plaza