Confrontation looms on gas severance tax
Share with others:
HARRISBURG -- State lawmakers are taking a gamble that Gov. Tom Corbett has warmed to the idea of enacting a new fee on gas drillers, as the push for approving such a proposal intensified last week.
After more than two years of discussions on gas severance tax plans that were unable to garner enough support in the General Assembly, a growing number of legislators appear to favor passing a levy on drilling before they go back to their districts.
A top Senate Republican has led the drum-beating to include it in the budget package this month, and rank-and-filers in the House continue to introduce their own variations on a fee.
"Let the games begin," said Jan Jarrett of the environmental advocacy group PennFuture, after Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati's impact fee measure cleared a key panel vote last week.
These latest proposals have been tailored to meet the governor's condition that the money be used locally, and not for general state programs.
Uncertainty still remains about whether supporters in the Legislature can wrangle enough agreement among themselves for a fee to be approved with the budget in the next week and whether Mr. Corbett will give his blessing to such a compromise measure.
So far, the governor and his staff have uttered one refrain when asked about the fee propo-sals. They say he wants to hear from his Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission next month on the costs they see from drilling.
Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, who chairs the commission, declined Friday to say whether a budget reaching the governor's desk with a drilling fee included would result in a veto: "The governor has been very consistent in his request that this issue not be taken up until this commission issues its report on July 22."
But Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks, at a news conference on her version of the fee, said she plans to offer it as an amendment to one of the handful of bills that must be passed with the annual state spending plan. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph, a southeastern Republican, later said he supports her proposal, and would vote for it if offered as a budget addition.
First Published June 19, 2011 12:00 am
