Former Rep Discusses Environmental Issues On Radio Smart Talk

Kury’s new book, “Clean Pol­i­tics Clean Streams”

This morn­ing, witf’s Radio Smart Talk heard from for­mer state Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Franklin Kury, who has writ­ten a new book about his time in Harrisburg.

From 1905 to the mid-‘60s, the Penn­syl­va­nia Gen­eral Assem­bly enacted five clean water laws and coal com­pa­nies were exempted from com­ply­ing with each one.  Dur­ing that time, runoff from mines pol­luted many of the state’s waterways.

When leg­is­la­tion finally did pass that required coal com­pa­nies to abide by the law, an incum­bent law­maker from Northum­ber­land County was one of only six to vote against the bill.  That gave his oppo­nent — Franklin Kury — an open­ing and Kury took advan­tage by mak­ing the envi­ron­ment one of the key­stones of his suc­cess­ful campaign.

Kury went on to serve in both the State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and the Sen­ate and has been described as a reformer dur­ing his time in office.

Here’s the interview:

• Jan­u­ary 31 Radio Smart Talkwitf’s Scott Lamar talks to Franklin KuryDown­load