Scarnati: Lawmakers 'Worlds Apart' on
Marcellus Shale Severance Tax Bill
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
Senate Republican leaders don’t believe a new tax on natural gas extracted from Marcellus Shale will be approved anytime soon.
“I don’t believe we’re any closer to a deal,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said in a news conference Tuesday. The prospects of getting the bill finished “diminish by the hour,” he said, adding that the House and Senate are “worlds apart.”
Scarnati adds that some of the main sticking points are finding an acceptable tax rate, certain exemptions and safety issues.
Scarnati says the bill passed by the House two weeks ago, calling for a levy of 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas, is too high and is unacceptable.
Also unacceptable, he says, is the fact that small gas producers in the state that drill shallow wells are not exempted from any new tax in the House bill.
Governor Ed Rendell’s proposal would “tax shallow gas producers out of the state,” Scarnati said. “These are the Mom and Pop producers that have been the backbone of the gas industry in this Commonwealth for decades.”
He also said he’s concerned that House Democrats and Rendell are not discussing safety issues.
“If we’re talking about one single issue that’s important to Pennsylvanians right now it’s safety in this industry,” Scarnati said. “We have this huge void in front of us of no safety issues being discussed.”
Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi say the only way they can see for a tax to be enacted in the next two weeks is for the House to start over -- with a new, constitutionally acceptable bill -- and send it to the Senate no later than November 1. They have said the Senate will not return to Harrisburg for any business after the November 2 general election.
Rendell said in his news conference Tuesday that the proposed compromise currently under consideration is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the natural gas drilling industry and Pennsylvania taxpayers.
He also stressed that there is time to enact the tax into law before the end of the legislative session if the industry and Senate Republicans have the will to support it. Procedural or constitutional roadblocks to passing a bill, identified by Senate Republicans after consulting with the Legislative Reference Bureau, can be easily overcome in a number of different ways, under legal opinions rendered by that same bureau, he said.
“The process questions are just a red herring. If the Senate wants to get this done, there are legal ways to get it done,” Rendell said.
“This is fair. It is a significant compromise. The industry should accept it. The Senate Republicans should accept it,” Rendell said.
Rendell says the compromise bill that’s on the table right now would generate $134 million in the first year, followed by $180 million, $239 million and $296 million in succeeding years. The money would be split between environmental causes, municipalities where drilling is taking place and the state general fund, with exact percentages still to be divided.
President and CEO of environmental group PennFuture Jan Jarrett says citizens are being hurt by inaction by lawmakers.
She tells RadioPA that the financial strain natural gas drilling imposes on communities and natural resources falls back on taxpayers. She says she’s reserving judgment on the governor's compromise. But she says, there has to be a “sweet spot” between what the House passed and what the Senate wants.
Photo of Pileggi/Scarnati provided by Senate Republican Communications. Photo of Rendell and House Speaker Keith McCall provided by Commonwealth Media Services.
WESB/WBRR News Director
Senate Republican leaders don’t believe a new tax on natural gas extracted from Marcellus Shale will be approved anytime soon.
“I don’t believe we’re any closer to a deal,” Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said in a news conference Tuesday. The prospects of getting the bill finished “diminish by the hour,” he said, adding that the House and Senate are “worlds apart.”
Scarnati adds that some of the main sticking points are finding an acceptable tax rate, certain exemptions and safety issues.
Scarnati says the bill passed by the House two weeks ago, calling for a levy of 39 cents per thousand cubic feet of gas, is too high and is unacceptable.
Also unacceptable, he says, is the fact that small gas producers in the state that drill shallow wells are not exempted from any new tax in the House bill.
Governor Ed Rendell’s proposal would “tax shallow gas producers out of the state,” Scarnati said. “These are the Mom and Pop producers that have been the backbone of the gas industry in this Commonwealth for decades.”
He also said he’s concerned that House Democrats and Rendell are not discussing safety issues.
“If we’re talking about one single issue that’s important to Pennsylvanians right now it’s safety in this industry,” Scarnati said. “We have this huge void in front of us of no safety issues being discussed.”
Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi say the only way they can see for a tax to be enacted in the next two weeks is for the House to start over -- with a new, constitutionally acceptable bill -- and send it to the Senate no later than November 1. They have said the Senate will not return to Harrisburg for any business after the November 2 general election.Rendell said in his news conference Tuesday that the proposed compromise currently under consideration is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the natural gas drilling industry and Pennsylvania taxpayers.
He also stressed that there is time to enact the tax into law before the end of the legislative session if the industry and Senate Republicans have the will to support it. Procedural or constitutional roadblocks to passing a bill, identified by Senate Republicans after consulting with the Legislative Reference Bureau, can be easily overcome in a number of different ways, under legal opinions rendered by that same bureau, he said.“The process questions are just a red herring. If the Senate wants to get this done, there are legal ways to get it done,” Rendell said.
“This is fair. It is a significant compromise. The industry should accept it. The Senate Republicans should accept it,” Rendell said.
Rendell says the compromise bill that’s on the table right now would generate $134 million in the first year, followed by $180 million, $239 million and $296 million in succeeding years. The money would be split between environmental causes, municipalities where drilling is taking place and the state general fund, with exact percentages still to be divided.
President and CEO of environmental group PennFuture Jan Jarrett says citizens are being hurt by inaction by lawmakers.
She tells RadioPA that the financial strain natural gas drilling imposes on communities and natural resources falls back on taxpayers. She says she’s reserving judgment on the governor's compromise. But she says, there has to be a “sweet spot” between what the House passed and what the Senate wants.
Photo of Pileggi/Scarnati provided by Senate Republican Communications. Photo of Rendell and House Speaker Keith McCall provided by Commonwealth Media Services.
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