PA Environment Digest

The natural gas industry made over $2,800,000 in campaign contributions between January 2001 and March 2010 and reported over $4.2 million in lobbying expenses from January 2007 to March 2010, according to a report by PA Common Cause and the PA League of Women Voters.

The $2,853,896 in campaign contributions were made to Pennsylvania candidates, committees, and PACs. This total includes contributions from twenty-three drilling companies, two natural gas pipeline companies involved in partnerships with Marcellus drillers, and one trade group-- the PA Independent Oil and Gas Association.

From January 2007 through March 2010 the industry spent $4,244,732 on lobbying state government officials, which includes entertainment, the cost of providing direct or indirect communications, tours of drilling sites, office expenses, any gifts and lodging and other expenses.

Common Cause Executive Director, Barry Kauffman noted that “For the most part, thus far, the gas industry has been getting its way in public policy battles. During last year’s difficult budget deliberations, the industry successfully fought off attempts to impose a severance tax similar to those in all other states with major drilling operations. The industry also secured access to coveted state-owned lands for drilling, Marcellus gas drilling companies’ investments in campaign contributions and lobbying appear to have served them well, producing extremely lucrative rewards for the industry. Time will tell if the industry’s gains become unjustifiable, even dangerous burdens on Pennsylvania residents and taxpayers.”

Republican candidate for Governor Tom Corbett received $361,207, with 93 percent of these contributions coming since January 2008. Among the candidates for Governor on the Democratic side, Dan Onorato was the top recipient with $59,300, followed by Jack Wagner with $44,550. Joe Hoeffel received a single contribution of $2,000 from the industry in 2004 while running for the U.S. Senate, but has received nothing since. Democratic candidate State Sen. Anthony Williams received no contributions from the industry, as did Republican candidate State Rep. Sam Rohrer.

The report found--

-- The biggest single donor by far was S.W. Jack Drilling with $1 million in contributions—an amount that comprises more than a third of the industry total of $2.85 million over the last ten years. Of S.W. Jack Drilling’s total, $990,000 came from CEO Christine Toretti.

-- Gov. Rendell was number six on the list of top recipients with $84,100. Rendell has been a leading proponent of a severance tax, but has also called himself the industry’s “best ally.”

-- Among recipients that could identified as belonging to one of the two major parties, 84 percent of industry contributions went to candidates and committees that could be identified as Republican ($2.28 million), while 16 percent went to candidates and committees that could be identified as Democratic ($428,000).

-- The industry’s annual lobbying expenditures have roughly tripled in the last three years, from $579,000 in 2007 to $1,685,000 in 2009. And from the last quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010, lobbying expenditures rose from $421,000 to $716,000.

-- Several of the contributors identified in this study have given to multiple candidates in the 2010 governor’s race. For example, on 12/16/09, Consol Energy CEO J. Brett Harvey gave $5,000 to Tom Corbett, then gave $5,000 to Dan Onorato on 12/23/09. From 2009-10, the Range Resources PAC gave $16,416 to Tom Corbett, $5,000 to Jack Wagner, and $5,000 to Dan Onorato.

-- The 33 Nay votes in the House’s recent passage of a drilling moratorium on state-owned land took on average 3.4 times as much money from the industry ($162,400 total, $4,923 average) as did the 42 co-sponsors of the bill ($60,650 total, $1,444 average).

The top 10 natural gas industry donors from January 2001 to March 2010 were--

S.W. Jack Drilling - $1,002,000, East Resources-- $427,500, Dominion- $323,800, CNX Gas- $270,000, Seneca Resources $201,000, EQT- $192,700, Snyder Bros.- $144,700, Independent Oil & Gas Assn.- $77,800, Chesapeake Energy- $58,400 and Range Resources- $52,300.

A copy of the complete report is available online.

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