Colin McNickle At Large

More public policy perversions

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There are more than a few eyebrow-raising public policy issues in a recent Post-Gazette story detailing how “Pennsylvania convened a group of 35 people” in the summer of 2017 “to envision the state’s energy future.”

The confab was organized by Royal Dutch Shell, the company, backed by $1 billion in public incentives, now building a $6 billion ethane “cracker” plant in Beaver County.

“The group’s assignment was grand,” the P-G reported: To imagine “how might Pennsylvania’s energy system evolve in 25 years and what it might mean for Pennsylvanians.”

And, per the media account, there was plenty of gobbledygook discussed. Things like “economic equity between urban and rural areas” and refusal to use the phrase “climate change” because it represented a “trigger” phrase.

The group agreed to a euphemism as a replacement – “extreme weather variability.”

Good grief.

From the reportage, it almost seems as if there is an aura of only “The State” can ensure the kind of “energy future” this group envisions. Indeed, state government has a role in any marketplace. But that’s primarily to do so with the least-onerous rules and regulations that facilitate, not attempt to command, that marketplace. Put another way – to preserve it, not pervert it.

Additionally, there’s a downright derisive reference to, sans “The State” direction, the “artisan economies” that would develop. Supposedly, they would be “disconnected” and lead to “stagnant” economic growth. Yet they would be economies in which people learn to enjoy their “grounded, connected and self-sufficient lives.”

Whew.

And then there was this curious nugget:

There apparently now is, in state government, an entity called the Office of Energy. “It is housed in Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development – to create a new stand-alone state agency would require approval of the Legislature – and is, thus far, an amorphous entity with six employees and no publicly disclosed mission statement,” the P-G reported.

“Its formation was not announced,” the newspaper adds.

How’s that work?

There’s another eyebrow-arching nugget in a second Post-Gazette story about a public transit advocacy group urging Gov. Tom Wolf to replace a Port Authority board member.

A group led by Pittsburghers for Public Transit wants Robert Kania booted for alleged violation of state campaign laws. An attorney says the matter – Kania being part of a group that failed to register with the state – has been rectified.

But the public policy nugget is how the public transit group characterized the criteria it sought for any new board member.

In part, the group contends that Port Authority board members “should have a deep understanding of the importance of transit in advancing equity and economic development.”

Additionally, the group says, “board members must be regular users of the transit system which they oversee, in order to understand and uplift the grassroots expertise of fellow riders and operators.”

More good-grief gobbledygook.

And here we thought the prototypical Port Authority board member should have some modicum of understanding of the importance of delivering public transit in the most economical and timely fashion possible.

Ahem.

From Fox News and for local advocates of a government-mandated $15 hourly minimum wage:

“Small business owners across the country are beginning to feel the pinch as more states move toward a $15 minimum wage.

“While proposals to raise pay are intended to help workers, several mom-and-pop coffee shops as well as restaurants are responding by cutting hours, eliminating jobs or closing down entirely because they can’t keep up with rising wages under the law.”

This result was predictable. That those making public policy continue to refuse to acknowledge such a basic economic fact is an evolving national tragedy.

Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

 

 

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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