Drilling Tax for Breakfast?

Eat, drink and learn why so many Pennsylvanians are demanding a drilling tax on companies extracting natural gas from Marcellus Shale. 

Register to attend a breakfast, free of charge, sponsored by Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future (PennFuture) Monday morning, June 13, at Lehman United Methodist Church (Fellowship Hall) in Hatboro from 8 to 10 a.m. 

The complimentary breakfast is one of four “Fair Share Tour” sessions across the state.  Speakers include Tim Schaeffer from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC), Andrew Heath from Renew Growing Greener Coalition, three state representatives—Josh Shapiro (D-153), Tom Murt (R-152) and Marguerite Quinn (R-143)—and Jan Jarrett from PennFuture.   

The message is that drillers must fairly share the costs of environmental stewardship with the rest of the state’s taxpayers and agencies.

“Drilling is imposing large, unfunded costs onto state and local governments while the companies amass huge profits,” according to Jarrett, president and CEO of PennFuture. 

Any of a dozen legislative proposals would be acceptable to her organization, she indicated in a recent interview with Patch, as long as the tax is robust enough to help fund the extra environmental work that drilling imposes on the public.

Growing Greener is an example of environmental work that desperately needs funding, according to Jarrett. A bipartisan program with tremendous success in cleaning water and preserving park and farm lands, Growing Greener was overwhelmingly supported by Pennsylvania voters in 2004. Funding from that bond issue, however, can no longer support the environmental projects in its mandate.

Three thousand gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, according to an article on PennFuture’s website. It predicts tens of thousands more wells—and associated environmental impact costs—in the coming years.

Additional examples of the costs that drillers need to share, according to the Fair Share Tour, are those of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC). Established in 1866, and mandated with environmental enforcement powers in 1909, this commission is required to review permits impacting on the state’s amphibians and reptiles and waterways.

The organization isn’t opposed to drilling, according to Tim Schaeffer, director of policy, planning and communications for PFBC.  But “[drillers] need to drill in a way that won’t compromise our aquatic resources.”

The number of Marcellus Shale permit applications to review has more than tripled each year since 2001, and violations requiring enforcement have also increased, according to PFBC records.

Schaeffer said that his agency needs approximately 13 full-time staff dedicated to address the increased workload, whereas no staff is currently funded for these tasks.

Schaeffer estimates that additional costs to properly conduct these vital review, enforcement and advisory services for Pennsylvania run approximately $1.5 million to $2 million annually.

“We just need to be compensated for the services we’re providing,” Schaeffer said.

PFBC isn’t just about anglers and boaters, though they account for a $3.5 billion industry in Pennsylvania. Schaeffer said PFBC is also expected to protect wildlife such as rattlesnakes and mussels—important to the food chains and to water filtration in their respective ecological niches.

Schaeffer said that it is far more effective to advise companies in advance about how to avoid sensitive habitats than it is to address damage after it happens. 

The Fair Share Tour isn’t arguing to stop drilling. Jarrett doesn’t dispute the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s claim that it promotes jobs—primarily truck driving—among Pennsylvania residents. 

Instead, participants want communities across the state to understand how they are affected by Marcellus drilling and its impact on the state’s forests and waterways.  And they want constituents to tell their state legislators that these costs should be shared more proportionately by the companies profiting from drilling.

With the state legislature preparing to vote on the budget by June 30, drilling tax proposals are under intense focus. 

You can probably expect plenty of caffeine to flow at Monday’s breakfast.

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Lehman United Methodist Church is located at 300 S. York Road, Hatboro.