HARRISBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) decried the state budget adopted today, which makes deep cuts in education and other vital services, and reduces funding to the Department of Environmental Protection at a time when risks to the environment have never been greater, yet fails to adopt any drilling tax or fee on the multi-national corporations engaged in the Marcellus Shale.
“It’s going to be a long hot summer for the members of the General Assembly,” said Jan Jarrett. “Their constituents are angry that the drillers are getting a free ride, and they will want to know why. As taxpayers begin to pay higher property taxes for schools that have been forced to lay off teachers and eliminate classes, and consider whether college tuition hikes will prevent them from preparing their children for economic success, they will be asking legislators hard questions. Everywhere these elected officials go – to church, synagogue or mosque, to the grocery store, to the movies, to restaurants and coffee shops – they will be forced to justify their refusal to make the drillers pay their fair share.
“And the members of the General Assembly shouldn’t rely on Governor Corbett’s hand-picked Marcellus Shale Commission to turn down the heat,” continued Jarrett. “The Commission was specifically directed NOT to consider any drilling tax, and the Commission has followed that directive. So when the Commission makes its public pronouncements in late July, there will be no drilling tax recommended.
“The deliberations about a drilling tax were high jacked by a national radical anti-government agenda and the meddling of DC-based Grover Norquist,” continued Jarrett. “This is a perfect example of how good public policy can be subverted by ideology and how outside influences can create outcomes that are bad for Pennsylvania.
“When the legislature reconvenes in September, the members should immediately adopt a drilling fee that generates robust revenue, provides significant funding to the Environmental Stewardship Fund, assures that funding will go to proven programs and purposes, and makes sure that all of the Commonwealth benefits from the drilling,” said Jarrett. “We intend to help create the groundswell over the summer to make sure a drilling tax becomes law.”
PennFuture is a statewide public interest membership organization that advances policies to protect and improve the state’s environment and economy. PennFuture has experts and attorneys, outreach workers and communicators, lobbyists and educators, all working with local groups and citizens across the state to adopt and enforce great public policy. The Philadelphia Inquirer called PennFuture the state’s “leading environmental advocacy organization,” and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette named the organization one of the ten most influential groups on the issue of natural gas drilling.