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A rare alliance of top elected officials from both parties, including two former Pennsylvania governors, and business and organized labor, is fighting to save thousands of high paying jobs threatened by a runaway credit system that sets the amount of biofuel (principally ethanol) that is blended with gasoline and other refined fuels. The EPA’s renewable ...

State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Berks) suspected something sinister at work when the trial bar targeted him with a negative ad campaign over his legislation, HB 18, which creates a drug formulary for injured workers. The campaign was venomous even by the usual trial bar standards.  It turns out the attack campaign was a pre-emptive strike ...

A budget caucus of sorts has formed in the House and while the new group isn’t necessarily good news for the inner workings of the legislature, it’s great news for the taxpayers. “They’re calling us ‘Moul’s Marauders’ (after Rep. Dan Moul, R-Adams, the founder of the impromptu group), the ‘Raucous Caucus’ and some other names ...

In what’s becoming a June tradition, the General Assembly is scrambling to patch together a balanced spending plan up against the cold reality of dismal year-end revenue collections. The state’s deficit is in the ballpark of $1 billion this year, according to Independent Fiscal Office, with corporate returns topping the dismal list. Last week, the ...

What a difference a year makes. A recent survey by the National Association of Manufacturers shows that 93 percent of American manufacturers feel positive about their economic outlook. Just a year ago, barely half, 56.6 percent of manufacturers, felt the same way. “The numbers tell the story: there is new confidence amongst America’s manufacturers that ...

Last Friday’s approval of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court was just the sort of development PMA Chairman Fred Anton had hoped for all the way back in 1989 when he and others formed the Pennsylvania Leadership Council (PLC). Started over exasperation with a directionless Republican Party, the PLC, the group of conservative activists, ...

Legislation that would keep the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) hands off the money it collects by levying fines on the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania will be introduced early in the new legislative session in Harrisburg. The bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-Butler), explained that with the power to both levy fines ...

A natural gas pipeline project that will open up markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast for Pennsylvania shale gas has surpassed a major regulatory milestone. On December 30, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released an “Environmental Impact Statement” that clears the way for final FERC approval of the Atlantic Sunrise project, a development that ...

A sure winner for the incoming federal administration will be the development of a fiscally sound plan to rebuild and expand the nation’s infrastructure, including our energy infrastructure. Popular support for investment cuts across party lines – so much so that it was one of the few issues Trump and Clinton agreed on during a ...

On Saturday, December 10, PMA Chairman Frederick W. Anton, III, will again welcome Pennsylvania’s top elected officials and “VIP” audience to Manhattan’s historic Metropolitan Club. It will be Anton’s 36th consecutive year presiding over the PMA seminar and luncheon, now presented with Comcast Corporation, our sponsor. Over that time, neither Anton nor the event, have ...