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Opinion- Marcellus Works Will Create Jobs and Secure Pennsylvania’s Energy Future
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By Rep. Stanley Saylor Pennsylvania sits in the middle of one the largest natural gas fields in the world. The natural gas lies under the Marcellus Shale rock formation between 4,000 and 8,000 feet underground.
The development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale offers great potential for Pennsylvania’s economic future including the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in natural gas and related industries.
For the better part of two years, Gov. Ed Rendell and House Democrats have been fixated on the idea of imposing a severance tax on companies extracting gas from the shale. As of this writing, the debate over a severance tax remains unresolved.
Regardless of the outcome of the severance tax debate, Pennsylvania needs a clear vision for a clean energy future that will create jobs for Pennsylvania citizens for generations to come. Last month, I offered that vision when I unveiled a package of legislation known as Marcellus Works.
By creating incentives to use the natural gas that is available right here in Pennsylvania, Marcellus Works will build a bridge to a clean energy future. Natural gas emits fewer toxic and carcinogenic pollutants. It emits little or no particulate matter and it creates no evaporative emissions.
Switching to natural gas would reduce carbon monoxide emissions by between 90 percent and 97 percent. Likewise, carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 25 percent. Nitrogen oxide emissions would be reduced by between 35 percent and 60 percent. Non-methane hydrocarbon emissions could potentially be reduced by between 50 percent and 75 percent.
In fact, converting just one tractor trailer to natural gas provides an environmental benefit that is equivalent to taking 1,400 cars off the road.
Marcellus Works will assist Pennsylvania in realizing the full potential of this new resource, and as a result, it will help create thousands of jobs not only in the natural gas industry but also in related fields like the infrastructure, manufacturing, and service sectors. And it will accomplish all of that without spending billions of taxpayer dollars and accumulating more debt.
The Marcellus Works plan has four basic components:
1. Transition state vehicles to clean natural gas to reduce the Commonwealth’s reliance on foreign oil.
2. Provide tax credits for clean natural gas fleet vehicles and infrastructure. This will provide another incentive for the use of Pennsylvania’s abundant supply of clean natural gas.
3. Provide incentive grants to local governments to encourage them to convert their fleets to clean natural gas and provide incentive grants to encourage mass transit systems to convert their fleets to clean natural gas.
4. Make the Pennsylvania Turnpike a “Clean Natural Gas Corridor” across the Commonwealth by constructing clean natural gas stations at every other service station along the turnpike.
With Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate stagnating near 10 percent and with state government running a budget deficit year after year, it is clear the policies of the past eight years simply do not work. If we are going to dig ourselves out of the hole we are in, we must take a new approach. By developing Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry in a reasonable, responsible manner we have an opportunity to do just that.
Pennsylvania can show the nation how to harness the tremendous economic and energy potential of natural gas. By implementing Marcellus Works, we can decrease our reliance on foreign oil. We can create jobs for thousands of Pennsylvanians, and we can secure Pennsylvania’s energy future for generations.
For more information, visit the Marcellus Works website.
Rep. Stanley Saylor (R) represents a portion of York County.
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10/18/2010 |
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