In Pennsylvania, a state that is notorious for partisan division and dysfunction, the crisis in Ukraine has provided a glimmer of hope in our deeply partisan bureaucracy. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to grow into an emerging humanitarian crisis, Governor Tom Wolf and state lawmakers have joined the federal government in levying sanctions against the Russian government for their blatant violation of human rights and international law. According to the online news source City and State Pennsylvania, beginning in late February the state began to sell off all its investments in Russian companies, and according to the Independent, Pennsylvania has also banned the sale and distribution of Russian made vodka at state-controlled liquor stores.
Both Democrats and Republicans at the state level have taken a hard stance on the aggression by the Russian government and have sent a clear signal that although on most things we may be divided, on our support for Ukraine we must stand together. Wolf issued a statement on March 7 assuring Ukrainian refugees that Pennsylvania will be “ready to support them and welcome them here in the Commonwealth” should they choose to flee Ukraine.
State government is not alone in taking action against doing business with Russia. Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Public School Employee Retirement Board and the State Employee Retirement Board began the process of divesting state and public-school employee pension funds out of Russian assets. In addition, community organizations and groups all over the Commonwealth have joined together to support Ukrainian refugees in an effort to show the Russians a united front. Locally, the Bethany Slavic Church in Ephrata has raised over $200,000 for Ukrainian refugees according to WHYY.org. In western Pennsylvania, the Jewish Federationof Greater Pittsburgh has secured over $900,000 in donations according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. At Penn State University, the Ukrainian Society recently held a two-hour long rally against the war on March 3.
The state response to the war in Ukraine has not been entirely apolitical. Some Republicans in the Pennsylvania Legislative Assembly have taken issue with the fact that federal boycotts on Russian oil and natural gas will result in higher costs at the pump. Republicans argue that the Wolf and Biden Administrations are not doing enough to mitigate the effects of higher gas prices. They insist that Pennsylvania is sitting on a large quantity of natural gas and insist that Pennsylvania should ramp up production of this untapped energy potential to meet domestic demands and create more employment opportunities for workers within the Commonwealth. The Wolf Administration has countered by claiming that these lawmakers are only interested in helping the natural gas industry profit from increased production while failing to consider the negative impacts that this kind of expansion in gas production would have on climate change and the local environment. Up until this point, neither side has budged in the debate over increasing natural gas production. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanians have watched gas prices continue to climb as the war rages on abroad while Pennsylvanians from every walk of life do their part to help bring relief to the suffering nation of Ukraine.
