08/12/24 - 147 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/288ebs9j
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DCNR Advisory Committee Asks Rendell To Support Severance Tax For Environment
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The 18-member Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources wrote to Gov. Rendell asking him to support a Marcellus Shale natural gas production tax to fund environmental programs, State Forest and State Parks improvements, not to be used just to balance the state budget. "In the past Pennsylvania has had too many lands spoiled, too many water resources damaged-- some irreparably, and has spent too many state and federal tax dollars on damages caused by past, minimally-controlled industrial activity. Will this experience (with Marcellus Shale drilling) be different than those earlier periods of large industrial activity in Pennsylvania? We believe so. It seems that many people are paying serious attention to the possible harmful impacts of this kind of industrial development.
"Nevertheless, and this is where the Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council finds itself, we recognize that accidents do happen. Regardless of exhaustive efforts of industry and the regulatory community, we know that unforeseen conditions and unexpected results occur. Water supplies can be affected. Adjacent lands can be harmed. Forests and biodiversity resources can be negatively impacts.
"Thousands of new wells, drilled thousands of feet deep, both horizontally and vertically, are expected to be drilled within the next decade. With each drilling site, comes the transportation of water, before and after it has been used for fracking. With each extraction comes the need to transport the natural gas hundreds of miles from its source to its destination-- most of those miles lie within Pennsylvania.
"Too many things can go wrong-- one shortcut, one icy road, one moment of inattentiveness, or one structural defect. It would only take one unfortunate sequence of events for us to experience environmental damage that could far exceed any bond or funds available for clean-up.
"We believe it is negligent and naive to think that with the huge number of ongoing and future natural gas operations in Pennsylvania that they will not degrade and impact our land and water resources to some extent.
"We do not accept the argument that the natural gas industry is a "new" industry in Pennsylvania, nor do we agree that this industry will be handicapped greatly by the implementation of such a tax. Now is the time for leaders in Pennsylvania to recognize the effects that this particular industry activity is having on our natural resources and this is the time to make plans for Pennsylvania's protection and restoration of these resources."
The Council said the natural gas production tax should be used for:
1. Restoring damaged and impaired natural resources directly attributable to natural gas extraction. A fund, such as the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, could and should be used as a mechanism for such purpose;
2. Restoring portions of the Environmental Stewardship that would contribute and leverage funding to resource and recreation issues directly impacted through the natural gas extraction process. This fund has been used to assist communities with the protection and restoration of their conservation and recreational infrastructure, and serves as critical leveraging for other state and federal funds; and
3. Addressing State Park and State Forest damage directly attributable to natural gas extraction. The State Forest and Park systems are, and will be, bearing the burden of extensive natural gas extraction activities. We anticipate that these activities with the Park and Forest systems will be substantial The Oil and Gas Lease Fund should be used to channel gas ta revenues toward this purpose.
"While we would be politically naive for not recommending that a portion of this fund go for General Fund use at this time, we believe that the natural gas industry community will be more supportive of, and in fact prefer, these funds being used for these above-stated purposes, as opposed to a simple full deposit of severance tax monies into the state's General Fund, in the future."
A copy of the letter is available online.
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4/5/2010 |
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