Gov. Rendell declares shale gas tax dead
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HARRISBURG -- For the foreseeable future, Pennsylvania will retain its dubious distinction as the only state with underground shale that doesn't impose a natural gas extraction tax.
An unhappy Gov. Ed Rendell admitted Thursday that despite weeks of talks, he and General Assembly leaders have failed to agree on key details of a gas severance tax, including how high the rate should be and how the $100 million or more in annual revenue from such a levy should be divvied up.
Democrat Rendell has had been pushing for enactment of a shale-gas tax since his 2010-11 state budget speech in February, but now says it "clearly is dead this year" -- and for a lot longer if Republican Tom Corbett is elected governor on Nov. 2, because he opposes such a tax.
"The refusal of Senate and House Republicans to negotiate in good faith on terms of a promised natural gas severance tax has killed the effort to enact it into law this year," Mr. Rendell said.
Republicans are irresponsible, he claimed "for refusing to compromise and simply turning their backs on these negotiations.
"They signed a pledge to the people of Pennsylvania to enact a tax that requires drilling companies to pay their fair share for removing our state's natural resources from the ground, and now they are walking away from that commitment."
Legislative Republicans, in turn, put the blame back on Mr. Rendell and House Democrats. Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati said he and other Senate GOP leaders had worked hard this summer and fall to find a compromise, but Mr. Rendell himself got involved only in the last few days.
Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson said his caucus was "surprised by the governor's unilateral decision" to end the shale-gas talks and said Mr. Rendell should reconsider. But the governor said Republicans have been unyielding, so further talks wouldn't work.
"It's obvious they have killed the severance tax in this legislative session," Mr. Rendell said.
Environmental groups such as Penn Future and the Sierra Club were angry, because some of the gas-tax revenue would be used to protect the environment from drilling-related damage.
First Published October 22, 2010 12:00 am
