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OCTOBER 28, 2011 | Policy Points by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
Marcellus Shale Impact Fee
Principles and Facts on Taxing Natural Gas
Companies should pay for the cost of government they use. Many advocates of a new tax simply want more money for Harrisburg politicians to dole out.
JULY 27, 2011 | Policy Brief by PAUL CHESSER, MARK NEWGENT
The Great Frack Attack: The War on Natural Gas
Much attention has been paid to the efforts of gas companies to influence the political debate through campaign contributions and lobbying efforts. But anti-drilling activists—while claiming gas companies use their vast financial resources to weaken regulatory structures and silence poorly funded environmental groups—influe
JUNE 7, 2011 | Commentary by KATRINA CURRIE
The Real Victims of a Severance Tax
Jim VanBlarcom, a busy Bradford County dairy farmer, set a work day aside to come to Harrisburg and tell his story to Gov. Tom Corbett's Marcellus Shale panel. Royalty money from leasing farmland helped him double his dairy herd size, and he's glad the industry's here.
Recent Blog Posts
MARCH 13, 2012
Fighting Fiction with Fracking Facts
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to Tea Party Patriots of Central Pa on environmental aspects of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania and new Marcellus Shale regulations and taxes in Act 13 (formerly House Bill 1950).
I was joined by the talented journalist and documentary filmmaker Ann McElhinney - she produced Not Evil Just Wrong, a response to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Ann was talking about her new project FrackNation, a documentary that will tell the truth about fracking. You can learn more about FrackNation here.
PA Marcellus Shale Presentation
posted by KATRINA CURRIE | 02:19 PM | 0 comment
FEBRUARY 7, 2012
Stop the Job-Killing Marcellus Tax!!!
A job-killing Marcellus Shale tax is being rammed through the legislature right now! With great speed and little transparency, House Bill 1950 was turned into a job-killing tax, littered with corporate welfare and handouts.
See our video discussing the tax
Corporate welfare highlights in the bill:
- $6.3 million to Environmental Stewardship Fund (Growing Greener) through fee; then in 2013, it redirects $20 million from the Oil and Gas Lease Fund -- otherwise dedicated for state parks and forests.
- Growing Greener has been use to subsidize solar and wind projects, and even advocacy groups like PennFuture.
- Growing Greener has been use to subsidize solar and wind projects, and even advocacy groups like PennFuture.
- More than $11 million over three years to bribe the Shell cracker plant to the state.
- Nearly $20 million over three years for natural gas vehicle development.
- $1 million for rail freight assistance.
- Beautification project grants, via Commonwealth Financing Authority!
posted by KATRINA CURRIE | 00:55 PM | 0 comment
JANUARY 30, 2012
Debunking Severance Tax Rhetoric
Here's my letter to the editor in the Public Opinion responding to Matthew Major's fact-deficient editorial on drilling:
Matthew Major's editorial on corporate welfare and best drilling policies scrapes the bottom of the content barrel, failing to accurately explain either topic to readers.
"Corporate welfare" is taking tax dollars and giving them away to fund otherwise unprofitable businesses like Solyndra. Major is calling for singling out the drilling industry -- which is creating tens of thousands of jobs, rescuing families from foreclosure, and generating prosperity for small-business owners -- to impose yet another tax on it.
Pennsylvania already has the 10th highest tax burden in the nation, and the drilling industry pays the same taxes as every other business in the state. This amounts to more than $1.3 billion in state taxes since 2006. Other states that have natural gas taxes have friendlier business climates-for instance, Texas and Wyoming have neither income nor corporate taxes.
Major's line about legislators sacrificing the environment for drilling - straight from the anti-drilling, frackophobic handbook -- is based on emotion, not science or experience. The Department of Environmental Protection continually evaluates and improves regulations to ensure protection. Even a cursory review of the Governor's proposed drilling regulations shows the new rules are far from the industry handout Major claims. Most of the setback requirements and bonding requirements exceed those of neighboring states.
Gov. Tom Corbett is pushing for a principled natural gas impact fee where local governments can charge a fee if a driller is not paying for its impacts. Unfortunately, special interest groups, tax-and-spend politicians, and Major unwisely see the industry as a cash cow for unsustainable statewide projects. People should not lose out to bad policy and the politics of fear.
posted by KATRINA CURRIE | 05:00 PM | 0 comment
