Allegheny County Council head touts natural gas drilling
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Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald plans to introduce legislation tonight that he said will establish a county policy on increasing energy efficiency and yield homeowners about $55 million in property tax reduction by tapping into the county's natural gas reserves.
Describing his proposal as a "bold economic development initiative," Mr. Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill, said the county should set in motion a plan to start extracting, using and selling the natural gas contained in the area's Marcellus shale, believed to be one of the biggest natural gas reserves in the country.
"The county taxpayers are sitting on a very valuable asset, natural gas in the form of the Marcellus shale ... We could tap [these natural gas reserves] at the very least, to heat our own buildings, explore natural gas electric generators and sell our excess on the open market," he said.
Such a plan, he said, could yield the county as much as $55 million, which is what the county currently spends on heating, lighting, cooling and operating its buildings and facilities. Instead, he said, the county could then pass on the savings from its energy costs to homeowners in the form of tax relief.
As a result, county homeowners would see a reduction in their property taxes by as much as 1 mill of the county property tax rate, which is currently 4.69 mills. In real terms, the savings, he said would amount to about $200 a year for a $200,000 house.
Mr. Fitzgerald will introduce his proposal at County Council's meeting this evening, and then it will be debated in the Government Reform Committee before the full council votes on the proposal sometime in the next few months.
In September, the county's Airport Authority wanted to sell off natural gas rights under Pittsburgh International and Allegheny County airports, but it received no bids.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published April 21, 2009 12:12 pm
