Rendell urges action on Marcellus Shale tax
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HARRISBURG -- Gov. Ed Rendell wrote a tough letter Wednesday to Republican Senate leaders, urging them to stop stalling and meet with House leaders to forge an acceptable compromise tax on the natural gas that's pumped from underground Marcellus Shale.
Mr. Rendell, a Democrat who leaves office in January, wrote to Senate GOP leaders Joe Scarnati and Dominic Pileggi. Last week, the governor noted, the state House enacted a tax of 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas and he said it's time for the Senate to act.
"The House lived up to its end of the bargain and passed a tax bill for your consideration," Mr. Rendell said. "It's now time for you to make the next move to bring this matter to a close."
He said the Senate's "failure to make a counter-offer seems to suggest that you are more interested in running out the clock than living up to your public commitment to impose a tax on this industry. ... I write today to urge you to put your counteroffer on the table this week and to begin to work in earnest and with a sense of urgency ... before you adjourn next week."
He said the state needs the $100 million or so in revenue from the new shale gas tax to protect local roads and the environment from possible damage from shale drilling, as well as to fill a hole in the state budget.
"The time has come for these [gas drilling] companies to stop taxing our resources and challenging our environment and instead for us to tax them to ... protect our environment," he said.
When the 2010-11 state budget was adopted in early July, Mr. Rendell said, legislators committed to adopting a Marcellus Shale gas tax by Oct. 1, but that deadline has passed without action.
First Published October 7, 2010 12:00 am
