Senate leaders refuse call for holiday session on shale gas tax
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HARRISBURG -- Upset that the Legislature has not fulfilled a pledge to enact a Marcellus Shale gax tax, Gov. Ed Rendell is calling legislative leaders to return to the Capitol Monday for a special meeting with gas industry officials.
The goal of the unusual session, to be held on the Columbus Day holiday, is to hammer out a shale gas tax that the Legislature can vote on in the next couple of weeks.
Mr. Rendell admitted today he can't force House and Senate leaders to return on Monday, but if they don't, "I will make it clear to the people that the Legislature is shirking its duty."
As of now the Senate has only three days of session left for the year, all next week (Tuesday-Thursday). The House isn't due to return until Nov. 8, but may have to come back in a special session before the Nov. 2 election.
When the 2010-11 state budget was enacted in early July, the governor said, legislators agreed they would enact some sort of severance tax on shale gas by Oct. 1. It has failed to do so. Every other state with underground shale has a tax on the natural gas pumped from it, he said.
But it looks like the meeting on Monday will have to proceed without one key group -- Republican leaders who run the Senate.
"Our leaders will be available to discuss this issue with the governor in person on Tuesday morning," Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson said this afternoon.
He said that Senate leaders held "very active Marcellus Shale negotiations over the summer" with officials from local governments, the natural gas industry and environmental groups, to try to find an acceptable tax.
In recent weeks, Mr. Arneson added, there have been "active and ongoing discussions" with Democrats in the Legislature and members of the governor's office.
"We welcome the governor's personal return to the process," he added.
Republican Senate leaders have criticized a House-passed tax of 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas, saying it's too high. Senators also don't like that Democratic House leaders used a Senate bill as a legislative "vehicle" for the tax, saying that calls into question the constitutionality of the bill. All revenue bills must start in the House.
But Mr. Rendell said the issue of which bill is used as a vehicle to enact the tax can be fixed, if necessary, when the leaders meet on Monday with him and gas industry leaders. Just because one version is considered imperfect shouldn't stop lawmakers from fulfilling a promise to enact a tax, he added.
He said the $100 million or more that would be raised by a severance tax should be divided three ways: for local towns whose roads are damaged by drilling equipment; to replenish the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which protects open space and farmland; and to help balance the state budget.
The exact split of the revenue still must be agreed upon by state officials.
First Published October 8, 2010 1:42 pm
