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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
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
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
Lt. Gov. Cawley & Marcellus Shale on The BOX
Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley is the latest guest on The BOX Podcast hosted by Matt Brouillette.
They discuss Marcellus Shale misconceptions, Gov. Corbett's impact fee, and the vast potential for job growth Marcellus represents.
Click here to listen online or to download The BOX Podcast.
posted by JOHN BOUDER | 10:25 AM | 0 comment
OCTOBER 28, 2011
State Energy Mandates Cost up to $440 million
A new study by Penn State scholars found Pennsylvania's alternative energy mandates will cost taxpayers up to $60 million next year and up to $440 million in ten years. Twenty-five to 30 percent of this price tag stems from meeting the state's solar requirements.
While solar looks bright on the surface, any jobs that depend on government assistance are overshadowed by a dependency on taxpayer pocket books. According to the Federal Energy Information Administration, solar energy producers already get 55 times more subsidies per megawatt hour than coal, and 95 times more than natural gas. Moreover, state solar energy is 10 times more expensive than electricity from natural gas and nearly six times more expensive than coal.
Given that Pennsylvania families can ill afford higher energy costs in this sluggish economy, Harrisburg policymakers are pushing a bill that would make these mandates more expensive.
House Bill 1580 would require that all solar credits used to fulfill the state's mandate be purchased from in-state companies, instead of companies within the PJM territory (PJM manages the electricity market in Pennsylvania and in all or parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia).
The Penn State study shows that Maryland and Jersey—states in the PJM market that already require solar credits be purchased in-state—have solar credit prices that average 40 percent and 160 percent higher than Pennsylvania.
So just to recap, solar power drives up electricity prices for consumers, while lower prices for natural gas are reducing consumers' electric bills and saving Pennsylvanians on heating costs. Yet legislators are considering mandating the former and taxing the latter.
To learn more about Pennsylvania's alternative energy mandates, known as the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards, click here.
posted by KATRINA CURRIE | 04:30 PM | 0 comment
