Ed Rendell

And preserving our open spaces or having them there for recreational purposes is one of the things that contributes to the high level of quality of life that we offer in Pennsylvania, and that also translates into economic benefits.

And secondly, I would impose a significant state landfill tipping fee and use that tipping fee to fund the billion dollar bond issue that I want to create to produce the funds for all of the environmental challenges that we just went over.

We’ve been working our tail off and lead by that example.

Is regulation per se bad? Is better regulation bad? I think better regulation is good for the business community, and I think that’s something we should get together on.

I think Barack Obama has brought a new level of ethical standards to Washington. Has he changed some basic hard-knuckle politics? No. You need hard-knuckle politics to succeed.

Number one I think we should impose a fee or a tax on the transportation of trash per mile.

We will not lose this election for lack of money.

But in the long run we’re not going to be able to keep out of state trash away from Pennsylvania.

And the beautiful open spaces, the forests of Pennsylvania, the recreational uses that come from having these green open spaces and forests, they contribute dramatically to the level of our tourism, dramatically.

If there was a way to discourage trash constitutionally, I would sure as heck take a hard look at it. I don’t think there is. So I don’t think there’s a choice here.

I think a moratorium probably is legal, and we should probably for a short period of time impose a moratorium so that we don’t permit any additional landfill permits for the time being, so we don’t exacerbate the problem.

Well, the infrastructure part of the stimulus has worked. There’s absolutely no question about it. We can demonstrate in Pennsylvania and other states around the union how it’s produced good, paying jobs both on the construction sites and back in American factories. It has worked.

Tourism is our second biggest industry in terms of the people it employs.

Growing Greener doesn’t produce money for farmland preservation or open space preservation.

There are a tremendous amount of environmental issues that are on the table.

One of the things that people don’t realize is that that natural beauty, those recreational forests, they have an economic development impact for the state as well.

I’m interested in giving business an opportunity by improving the tax environment to invest and grow with Pennsylvania, to expand and put more money in capital investment and creating jobs.

I think if we’re going to have to landfill trash, and I think we basically have to, we might as well get the upside for it and dedicate that upside to improving the environment in so many different ways.

If I lose, I lose. I’ll do it on my terms.

I have said consistently both in my papers and in my speeches – which you heard in the primary campaign – that I will continue to phase out the Capital Stock and Franchise tax.