From Hillary Bright, staffer for the Blue/Green Alliance:

Hillary Bright and friends outside the Kittanning Town Hall meeting. Photo courtesy of H. Bright.

On August 13 Senator Arlen Specter hosted a town hall event in Kittanning, Armstrong County. This was one of four events he hosted across the state during the week. Attendees began arriving over four hours before the event was to begin at 3:00 pm. Mike P. and I arrived approximately 2 hours early and were in a line of at least 300. The Senator and his staff allowed only 200 people to enter. By the time we left, the crowd totaled at least 1700 people. After the first 200 people were permitted to enter, the remaining attendees quickly grouped into a mass of chanting and yelling. Allies such as ACORN, Working America, USW, SEIU and others were present but focused almost entirely on health care.

I did manage to locate 15 other environmental activists, including Arlene M. I received phone calls from two volunteers that couldn’t find a place to park and had to leave. I tried to mingle through the crowd and find people that were interested in climate and it was a bit of a struggle. Health care was the dominant message and with the rather confrontational nature of the event, explaining the climate bill was challenging.

I saw only one sign that was anti-global warming. I heard a lot of comments pro-nuclear as well as a significant number of comments that global warming was a hoax. Additional comments stated that our current forms of renewable, clean energy cannot provide the level/amount of electricity that coal plants can. Generally, the climate message was lost. I did my best to get around and a few other volunteers stood with signs so that people could identify an environmental group.

Senator Specter’s staff were passing out sheets of paper that people could leave questions/comments. Unfortunately, they did not return to collect them so I gathered those comments from the group and plan to drop by to Sen. Specter’s Pittsburgh office to deliver them.

NOTE: These Town Meetings did provide some good opportunities for Climate Change advocates. At a similar meeting in State College, National Wildlife Federation organizer Ed Perry managed to talk with Specter’s aides. They indicated that funding for money for carbon capture and storage will be important, as well as for nuclear. On the positive side, they suggested that a meeting with ‘clean energy’ business people would be helpful. Hillary was also at the State College meeting and is arranging a meeting of the Blue/Green Alliance folk with Sen. Specter’s staff in DC.