State to ask voters to OK $625 million loan

Gov. Ed Rendell has one major objective in the May 17 primary. He wants Pennsylvanians to sign off on his "Growing Greener II" program.

Voters next week will be asked to let the state borrow $625 million for environmental programs.
The money would pay for farmland and historic site preservation and the cleanup of streams contaminated by acid mine drainage. Rendell has said the plan will allow the state to double current spending on such efforts through the next six years, an investment he believes will help Pennsylvania attract businesses and retain more of its young people.

"This initiative will help us make the quality of place in Pennsylvania, every part of it, better," Rendell said at a Capitol rally on Earth Day. If voters authorize the bond issue, lawmakers still have to pass legislation directing how the money would be spent and how best to pay for the borrowing.

Here's my vote NO! The only thing growing greener will be the pockets of a few.