Democracy Has Prevailed.

January 14, 2023

Mastriano Does It Again!

Hey, you remember when Doug Mastriano did this, right?

He was boasting about some planned legislation that used, as funding, monies from the American Rescue Plan - a bit of federal legislation signed by President Biden and supported by absolutely no GOP members of the Congress.

Well, he's continuing that lil bit 'o' hypocrisy.

Take a look at this. It's dated January 12 and it starts thusly:

Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-33) today announced more than $10 million in state funding has been awarded to improve the water systems in Bear Valley and Biglerville Borough.

“One of the limited roles of government is to ensure residents have access to clean drinking water,” Mastriano said. “This investment will help deliver clean drinking water to residents in Bear Valley and Biglerville Borough for years to come.”

The first project was awarded $8.5 million to pay for three drinking water wells and 15,000 feet of water main at the Fort Loudoun Water Treatment Facility in Peters Township.

And: 

The second project was awarded $2 million to help the Biglerville Borough Authority replace 3,350 feet of water main and 1,250 feet of pipe along East York Street. The project also calls for the replacement of five fire hydrants.

Sounds good, right? 

Especially this part:

Funding for the projects is being provided through loans made available by PENNVEST, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority. The $8.5 million low-interest loan awarded to the Bear Valley Franklin County Pennsylvania Joint Authority will cover the entire cost of the project in Peters Township. The Biglerville Borough Authority will benefit from a $2 million low-interest loan from PENNVEST. The loan together with a more than $110,000 grant provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) will cover the total $2.1 million cost of the project.

But when you start digging into the details, you'll find this

Governor Tom Wolf announced the investment of $236 million for 25 drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater projects across 17 counties through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST).

And if you were to read down the page a bit, you'll find this:

Adams County

  1. Biglerville Borough Authority – received a $2,000,000 loan to replace 3,350 feet of water main with 8-inch ductile iron pipe and 1,250 feet of water service lateral.  The project will reduce system leakage and increase overall water flow

And:

Franklin County

  1. Bear Valley Franklin County Pennsylvania Joint Authority – received an $8,500,000 loan to install three drinking water wells in Peters Township and establish an interconnection with the Fort Loudoun Water Treatment Facility.  The project will result in increased availability of water and improved reliability of service to the community.

You knew that Adams and Franklin counties are Doug Mastriano's legislative district, right? 

Whah? Is Doug Mastriano really trying to take credit for something that's coming out of Gov. Wolf's office?