Talk about chutzpah.
The same Josh Shapiro who blamed the nation’s top electricity grid operator for the economic failings of Gang Green — then browbeat it into a faux “win” for consumers – is doubling down on his utopian energy policies.
As a Wall Street Journal editorial characterized it, the Pennsylvania governor has “pitched an energy plan to fast-track the construction of renewables and a cap-and-trade program that would effectively subsidize them by punishing fossil fuels.”
“Such policies would likely lead to the retirement of more base-load fossil fuel generators, resulting in higher auction prices and electric rates,” The Journal opines.
Mark our words, if Shapiro’s plan wins the day, it will fail. And the governor will find some other bogeymen to blame and some other taxpayer pocket to pick.
For it is the standard operating procedure of those who lack any understanding of fundamental economics but who believe they can command the economy and, too often, in pursuit of political points at the expense of sound public policy and the public kitty.
“Shapiro is doubling down on the left’s climate policies that are causing energy prices to soar while trying to duck political responsibility for the costs,” The Journal concludes.
If adopted, the public will pay a steep price for the machinations of Shapiro, who quickly has become the shaman of the genre. And so, too, will the Keystone State’s economy pay a far too dear price.
Meanwhile, back at Pittsburgh City Council, it has approved the placing of a referendum on the May 20 ballot that would prohibit the sale or lease of Pittsburgh Water (formerly known as the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority) to any private entity.
And the debate has begun in earnest. But some of the debaters are not being honest brokers.
Opponents argue that a sale or lease to a private company will result in massive price spikes that would make water service cost-prohibitive to the poor. After all, one opponent says, access to clean and safe water is a “basic human right.”
But there’s scant evidence that privatization leads to dirty and unsafe water. And privatization does not mean there would be no regulatory oversight. There would be, from the state Public Utility Commission riding herd over rates to public health oversight of water quality.
Additionally, sale proceeds could go a very long way in stabilizing a City of Pittsburgh budget that has systemically struggled for years. And that also would relieve the city of continuing operational and upgrading expenses.
The simple fact of the matter is that rates will continue to rise with or without privatization to pay for necessary — and in some cases, long-delayed — upgrades and to meet continuing federal environmental rules for both water and sewer services.
But do let the record show that not all elected public officials in Pittsburgh are knee-jerk opponents of privatizing Pittsburgh Water.
As the Tribune-Review reported it, “Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, said she’s not sure that private companies would hike costs or cause problems.
“Kail-Smith pointed out that some residents already complain about increasing Pittsburgh Water costs. And portions of the city — including parts of her district — are already serviced by private water companies, like Pennsylvania American Water.
“’I’m just not sure whether the privatization of the utility company is such a bad thing,’ she said. ‘It makes it a little more competitive.’”
That said, we do expect the city to engage in the same type of rank and wholly misleading propaganda in support of the water and sewer system sale or lease prohibition that it employed in the debate over inclusionary zoning and affordable housing.
That latter effort has been government-sanctioned misinformation at its worst.
Automatically poison-pilling water and sewer privatization or leasing is reckless public policy. As has been the City of Pittsburgh’s long-standing and steadfast refusal to privatized garbage collection.
Talk about stupid pol tricks.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
