Waste Tires

Going to the DEP web site, (bottom of page), I found this current information. I have seen two different figures used to calculate tires. One said that a tire weighs 20 pounds, the other was only 14 pounds. At 20 lbs per tire, times the 2 million tires left in PA that would give you 40 million pounds. If they do burn the max of 2 million pounds a day, that would only give you a 20 day supply. The other number quoted for a used tire was 14 pounds--that would give you 28 million pounds. That would be good for only 14 days.

There were other points to be made about Rubino.

Ian Murray has been pulling strings with the governor and Greg Rubino for years now. Ian is well connected with many influential state democrats. He is also a superdelegate for Pennsylvania. It was probably his recommendation and influence that led Governor Ed Rendell to appoint Greg Rubino, one of the most controversial developers in the city of Erie, to the Erie Port Authority.

Yes indeed, Owen McCormick & Greg Rubino served together on that board with none other than Ed Meade himself (owner), from the Times News.

Here is a link to the article related to Rubino giving 30 thousand to Jeff Johnson, who is also listed as a contributor.

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2702071

Behind the scenes, the chairman of the Zoning Hearing Board, Jeffrey J. Johnson, an Erie real estate broker, received $30,000 from Tecnica Development Corp., a company owned by Greg Rubino, a partner in Baldwin/Rubino Associates.

Johnson got the $30,000 on Nov. 18, 2003, according to recently filed court documents. That was four days after he informally voted, on Nov. 14, to reject Gannon's appeal -- a decision that allowed the pre-release center to meet its deadline and start accepting inmates on Nov. 15, according to court records. An adverse decision would have jeopardized the lease between the state and Baldwin/RubinoAssociates.

Three weeks after receiving the $30,000, Johnson again sided with the pre-release center and rejected Gannon's appeal, this time in a formal vote taken Dec. 9.

The votes in both instances were 2-0. A tie also would have defeated Gannon's appeal.

Neither Johnson nor Rubino revealed the $30,000 payment during the course of the hearings on the pre-release center. The payment remained hidden until it was included in court records filed in an unrelated civil suit in Erie County Court in August -- records reviewed by the Erie Times-News.

Dennis Stratton

Editor's Note: Greg Rubino has written to say that he is not currently serving as a member of the Port Authority. Additionally, he was not appointed by the Governor to this post. The email article link above is fairly old--2008--and should be referenced, perhaps, as old news. For more information about the proposed plant in Crawford County, Mr. Rubino suggests visiting this site:

www.crawfordrenewableenergy.com