Caleb McCoy
DemocraticQ1 PFAS chemicals are widely used in consumer products but have raised health concerns due to their persistence in the environment and humans, and some Pennsylvanian legislators are considering restrictions on its use, such as in House Bill 2145. Should Pennsylvania restrict PFAS in consumer products? What scientific evidence would you use to inform your decision?
I have a friend who works as an environmental scientist and studies PFAS for a lab in Indiana, PA. She has explained to me the work they are doing to understand how these chemicals breakdown (or don’t) in the environment and what research they are attempting to do to understand the long-term environmental impacts that may occur.
My understanding is that we do not have direct evidence that PFAS is harmful to consumers except for biproducts that occur during manufacturing and when it is heated above 300C. This is a risk that should be taken into consideration when we are using PFAS in coatings for cookware that can be heated to high heats repeatedly for years.
I am also of the understanding that where harm has not been proven that does not mean that there is no harm occurring, it just means we need to fund better science to ensure safety or conclusively demonstrate harm.
I am concerned about the risk that these chemicals MIGHT pose, and I believe that House Bill 2145 is trying to specifically limit product such as medical, cosmetic, dental, menstrual, and children’s products from being possible avenues of exposure. I am not sure that I believe the science warrants an action like this and would be interested to speak with someone who is more knowledgeable about this before I could say confidently that I would support it. I suppose if I were making a decision about a bill like this I may request to meet with a member of an organization such as yours.
Q2 Measles vaccination rates in Pennsylvania have declined in recent years, from 95.5% in 2020 to 92.5% in 2025. At the same time, measles outbreaks have emerged across the state, with 62 confirmed cases in PA in 2026. As a policymaker, how do you approach engaging with communities that have concerns that center on infectious disease outbreaks and vaccine safety, and what policies, if any, would you support related to these issues?
I am a nurse, and I am a proud supporter of vaccines. I have advocated for vaccines many times both professionally and personally, and I believe that the current crisis could be entirely resolved with improvement in vaccination rates.
I believe that we have had a collapse in the trust that people have in modern medicine. This is because of many factors including literal and direct attacks on science by the current federal administration, but I also believe that people feel let down by our medical system mostly because of systemic inequalities that are being driven by financial incentives that are misaligned from the goal of providing quality healthcare to patients.
It is a huge part of my platform to try to address some of these misaligned incentives, to reinvest in rural healthcare, to promote preventative care, and to push back on the monopolistic and profit-driven system that is destroying the quality of our healthcare for working class people in this state.
Q3 There have been avian influenza outbreaks in Pennsylvania, with potential impacts on poultry and dairy operations, both industries that provide billions of dollars of economic value to the state. What policies, if any, do you support to strengthen the state’s preparedness and outbreak response? Are there specific strategies you would prioritize to protect farm workers, agricultural communities, and the broader public?
Although my district is in a rural area, I am afraid that we do not actually have farmland in my district. I have to say I am not familiar with agricultural practices around livestock and infections therein. I would defer to experts on this matter and rely on them to guide me on how best to vote to protect our communities from this risk.
Q4 Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest producer of natural gas and nuclear energy, as well as the third-largest producer of coal, per the Energy Information Administration. In contrast, PA currently ranks 45th in the country in terms of wind, solar, and hydropower energy production. How do you think these energy sources should be distributed across PA’s energy production portfolio, and what policies, if any, would you support to facilitate this?
I am a huge supporter of wind and solar energy. I myself installed a solar array that completely powers my house. We have 2 large wind farms near us, the Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm and the Sand Ridge Wind Farm, both of which generate huge amounts of power for our grid. Unfortunately, there is a persistent misunderstanding that the energy being generated here on our mountains is being sent to other places and is not benefitting the people of our communities here.
I believe leaning into renewable energy sources is essential, not just because of the environmental impact, but also for geopolitical stability and energy independence. I believe that if we lean into renewable energy, and then actually educate the public and ensure that people are aware of the benefits they are receiving from them then we could change our energy trajectory for the better.
Q5 Pennsylvania has proposed more reporting, utility oversight, and zoning guidance for large data centers, along with shifting some generation, capacity, and reliability costs onto data center developers rather than ordinary ratepayers. How should the costs and benefits of large data center development be divided between developers and the public, and what requirements, if any, would you support on power, water, and public reporting before a project moves forward?
I believe that Data Centers have the potential to do either great harm or good for the communities they come into. We have seen communities be damaged by Data Centers where we have seen noise pollution, excessive water consumption, heating surrounding environments, bacterial blooms, and elevated electricity prices for the people sharing a grid with the data centers. It is crucial that if we want to have data centers come to PA and bring jobs, tax revenue, industrial opportunity, and financial incentives then we need to ensure that we have regulations in place that prevent bad outcomes for our communities and to empower citizens to hold these companies to account if they do not keep their promises.
I would support legislation such as HB 1834 which puts requirements in place for data center power generation, requirement for green energy usage, prevents them from raising energy costs for other people on the grid in our state, and requires their energy usage help fund state-level support programs for those in need. I would support legislation that would require all new data centers to be Gen 6 or higher, as these have nearly completely eliminated the issue of noise pollution. I would support legislation that ensures water is being recirculated and that there are methods of enforcement if the agreed to terms are not upheld. I believe that good state-level regulations create a floor from which local municipalities and counties can bargain from so that they are able to bring in the industry they want, while avoiding potential harms and from passing costs on to the wider region.