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Restaurant Depot set to open next Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre

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‘Fire On Ice,’ racing and stunts coming to Mohegan Sun Arena

<p>On Dec. 11, 1980, the federal government&#8217;s $1.6 billion &#8220;Superfund&#8221; was created to pay for cleaning up environmental messes. such as acid water draining from abandoned coal strip mines (lands and pits).</p><p>Originally, the fund&#8217;s clean-up projects were to be paid for by the property owners, but many of them were either bankrupt or refused to take action. As a result, public taxpayer funds were used. During the past five years, the fund&#8217;s $1.26 billion environmental pollution clean-up projects have been funded 100 percent with taxpayer money.</p><p>Likewise, the $600,000 demolition of the former Shroyer Dress Company building in Shamokin is being paid for with Pennsylvania taxpayer money in the form of a grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development.</p><p>Unless Gov. Tom Wolf and the legislature take action to tax the profits of the natural gas industry in order to create a trust fund to clean up the environment when the natural gas as been depleted and the wells abandoned bu these energy companies, they will be guilty of continuing government policy of allowing private enterprise to rape the earth and then have taxpayers pay for the cleanup.</p><p>David L. Faust</p><p>Selinsgrove</p><style>
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Your view: Don’t leave taxpayers on hook for environmental cleanup