Don't worry. Lehigh County Commissioners have no authority to enact a severance tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale. But it does have the power to ask the General Assembly to restore funding to the local conservation districts and consider using any taxes levied on drilling in Marcellus Shale. In a Resolution sponsored by Dr. Percy Dougherty last night, that's exactly what happened. The vote was 6 -3, which Chairman Dean Browning, Glenn Eckhart and Andy Roman opposed.
I have a "cliff notes" version of last night's meeting in the above, 9-minute, Youtube movie. It includes two tea party members as well as an interesting Marcellus Shale debate.
Dr. Percy Dougherty: "The state has been reneging on its responsibility to give the conservation district, funding. W are having to cut some funding out of the conservation district this year because of budget problems. I think it's only fair that we put pressure on the state to try to restore some of this funding. The state has a big shortage of money, too. ... This particular resolution is not supporting a tax on the Marcellus. .. It is just stating that if a tax is enacted, that we want to see part of this funding go to the conservation district. ... This is an amount, in Lehigh County alone, of over $92,000. ... The conservation district is our main line of defense, safeguarding the environment ..."
"This is just an attempt here to let our legislative delegation know that we want to see them live up to their responsibilities and pay their bills.
Glenn Eckhart: "Let's not give our legislators a chance to say, here is something, where if I vote for this, I can raise revenue, and tax something. So let's not give them the option. This is about ending the dependence on foreign oil, and it shouldn't be taxed."
Andy Roman: "Marcellus Shale is a huge economic boon for Pennsylvania, and I don't know if we should be encouraging additional taxes ... . My view is it's going to produce a lot of jobs, it's going to produce a lot of revenue ... I don't know if you should be taxing an industry that's in its infant stage."
Dan McCarthy: "The conservation issue deals with the environment, our natural waterways, it deals with development and the destruction of our soils and water systems ... . This type of drilling operation is going to impact our waterways, our goundwater, our soil; we're going to have to deal with the consequences of that."
Dean Browning: "I have no problem with us calling them out for the fact that they have put in place a program and then reneged on the funding for that program. I think we should call them out. However, as part of that, I don't think it's incumbent on us to identify a revenue source for them to use to facilitate the commitment they've already made. ... We are taking a tax that has not been enacted and are already spending it."
Bill Hansell: "Those who are opposed to this should be prepared to vote to increase the funding for the conservation district."
Gloria Hamm: "Pennsylvania is the only one of 15 gas producing states that doesn't have any kind of impact fee on the drillers. Part of the impact fee should be used to protect natural resources and repair any collateral damage that the drilling causes."
Dr. Percy Dougherty (Round Two): "The state is in such a financial hole right now that they're going to have to get out of it somehow. If you do multiple choice, what is the state legislature going to do? Are they going to pass the severance tax, or are they going to pass an increase in the state income tax or arr they going to pass an increase in the sales tax? I think it's more likely that they're going to go with the severance tax. That's the way everything is headed."
Eckhert, Browning and Roman just voted against the environment. There will be Republicans in the house and senate that vote for it when a tax is enacted in the next few weeks. As usual, these guys are going to be on the wrong side of this debate.
ReplyDeleteWho cares? The conservation district is akin to the health department. Let the state do the work. The conservation district staff is an agency with quasi police powers that are strict constructionists with the administration and enforcement of rules concerning dirt and mud. This agency makes it difficult if not impossible for the business community to develop. IMHO
ReplyDeletePlease tell us Jones attended this meeting.
ReplyDeleteWhat and where is the conservation district?
ReplyDeleteI second Anon 7:22's question? Where is this district?
ReplyDelete(Off Topic)
ReplyDeleteBernie, I’m really not a big fan but over time I have come to appreciate your hard work and your tendency to lean toward the truth. It can be frustrating to see you, and the rest if the valley, beat up on Allentown everyday but after some thought I’m grateful for the recent research you did on Jenifer Mann and her team. They have to go.
Jenn Mann has been sitting in that office for years doing little to benefit the city of Allentown and its people. It appears everything she attempts to do, or does not do, is weighted with an unhealthy level of consideration for her political, and possibly financial, future. This includes her silly proposal to expand the war on drugs here in Pa. to include synthetic marijuana. Its no secret this is a no-effort issue she took up to grab headlines and support the law enforcement unions. It looks like the same is true for Pete Schweyer with his recent support of legislation requiring the city to hire union contractors. Come on, what is being done to move this city forward by these folks?
Like it or not, the only one demonstrating any level of passion for this city is Mayor Pawlowski. All of our Harrisburg, and much of our city, representation needs to go. Most of these folks are scared to death they will loose their jobs because they are qualified to do little else except maybe lobby. I think they need to realize that the residents of Allentown, and the valley, will no longer tolerate weak representation for our core city. Thanks again.
Bernie, please tell me, did someone have to wake up Bill Hansell to make a statement?
ReplyDeleteBob
Jones was there.
ReplyDeletePermission to Post:
ReplyDeleteContinuation of Yesterday's Blog:
Bernie
Might you consider contacting
Renshaw to ask how he got his ethics story written yesterday. If there was no formal ethics public meeting, how did this reporter get his info.
Thanks for telling us about Jones.
ReplyDeleteGuess little miracles still happen.
" did someone have to wake up Bill Hansell to make a statement?
ReplyDeleteBob"
When he was a candidate for appointment to county comm'r, I thought he was certainly qualified, but a little full of hmself. Seeing him face to face, Instead of listening to him talk as his back is turned, gves me an entirely different perspective. I don't think he's all that arrogant as a Comm'r. That would be another call I got wrong.
Like it or not, the only one demonstrating any level of passion for this city is Mayor Pawlowski"
ReplyDeleteWhat passion? Name a night without crime, shootings, assaults, robberies and vandalism?
Then we'll talk.
"Might you consider contacting
ReplyDeleteRenshaw to ask how he got his ethics story written yesterday. If there was no formal ethics public meeting, how did this reporter get his info."
My writing must have been unclear. There were actually two official meetings. Jarrett attended at least one, if not both, of them. During the second meeting, they went into exec session, and came out to announce the Mayor had been exonerated. It was at that time that one of them indicated they had already voted online.
"I second Anon 7:22's question? Where is this district?"
ReplyDeleteHere''s their webage, which lists their address and what they do.
http://www.lehighconservation.org/
ernie O'Hare said...
ReplyDelete"Might you consider contacting
Renshaw to ask how he got his ethics story written yesterday. If there was no formal ethics public meeting, how did this reporter get his info."
My writing must have been unclear. There were actually two official meetings. Jarrett attended at least one, if not both, of them. During the second meeting, they went into exec session, and came out to announce the Mayor had been exonerated. It was at that time that one of them indicated they had already voted online.
10:06 AM
Oh, thank you Bernie for clearing this up. Makes all the difference.
Filthy politicians would rather line their troff with money to waste than create jobs for the working class.
ReplyDeletehttp://thedailyreview.com/news/talisman-severance-tax-would-make-drilling-uneconomical-1.1020089
I have hear that roalties for one property owner is $60K a month.
ReplyDeleteI heard land leases are as low a $7 an acre to $6000 and acre.
I heard that one group is shipping the gas to Canada so it can be exported to China as liquid gas.
Local drilling is a boon until the gas reserve is depleted then it is time to move on. The Environment is a resource that is with us forever.
Out of the 12 largest gas producing states all 12 have a gas severence tax....including Texas.
Chilean Economist Manfred Max-Neef: US Is Becoming an "Underdeveloping Nation"
ReplyDeleteDidn't anyone protest fracking at all? I cannot believe this entire discussion completely ignored the environmental impact of this drilling.
ReplyDeleteIt just proves, to me, that all politicians care about is the money. Forget about the common good. It's all about the dollars.
I know this post is about the tax, but the whole idea of destroying our environment to drill Marcellus Shale here is unappealing to me. We're still contending with brownfields and coal mine stripping pits from the last "bright idea" related to mining in the 1800s and now we're going to allow dozens of companies to pump millions of gallons of Christ-only-knows-what fluid filled with chemical agents into our ground...
ReplyDeleteBut it's supposed to be ok....whatever that stuff is made out of.....because it's below the water table?
Anyone else here who's seen the documentary running on HBO where families near the drilling can literally set their tapwater on fire because of the noxious chemicals in the fragging solution?
More than a tax, the state should stop the drilling, or at least regulate it heavily. Who cares if it makes it expensive for gas. Cancer v. expensive gas......I'll pick expensive gas.
Anon 8:49--my sentiments exactly. I am very sorry to have missed this meeting, or there would have been some other voices there.
ReplyDeleteI think the GASLAND trailer gets the message across pretty quickly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8
What scares me is that this is not just a gold rush mentality, but a gold rush when we're desperately in debt mentality. It is wishful thinking at it's most powerful, and wishful thinking and denial often go hand in hand. The state wants so badly to have a miracle cure for all the bad spending that has gone on over past decades, and The Marcellus Shale has been presented by Big Gas as the miracle cure to our financial woes. We want so desperately to believe it will all be ok, that we ignore the scientists in this film, as well as the representative from the EPA and DEP that are interviewed, the sick residents with destroyed property values fighting this corporate Goliath just two hours north of us, the explosions, the spills and the flaming tap water running from resident faucets, to pretend that this money will not come with a cost.
Not only will there potentially be severe and widespread health costs, if this industry is allowed to continue to drill without regulation, we will be forced to buy all water to drink, cook and bathe with, for the rest of our lives--and our property values will be destroyed, because who wants to buy a house where you can't even drink the water? This is what has already happened to 34 households in Dimock, PA. The film was made by a resident of Milanville, PA, fighting to protect his hometown. But this film is just one of many collections of evidence. Here's is a published biologist's article on the subject:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/5839/
New York residents fought for a moratorium in which to do environmental studies for a year to establish safety regulations. Why aren't residents here fighting harder to do the same?
Here is the Manhattan Borough President's report on the uncalculated risks of hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale:
http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/UncalculatedRisk.pdf
The issues of state-wide moratorium, moratorium in just forests and floodplains, and severance taxes are all being debated NOW in OUR state assembly. If there ever was a time to contact our state officials, it is NOW.
And contrary to what one councilman said, this is not about energy independence. 52% of all natural gas production is to make NEW PLASTIC. It is about Big Gas getting rich off our consumption of new plastic, rather than recycling what we have already made. These gas companies do not care about us, they want to get rich, even if it makes us sick, kills us, or makes us buy bottled water for the rest of our lives for all uses--can you imagine what that monthly expense will be to PA families? It makes you wonder how many gas executives are also invested in plastics, and bottled water. The rich get richer and we get sicker...
We should be looking at more responsible ways to cut spending, not looking for easy answers, putting on blindfolds and drinking the (murky) kool-aid. Pennsylvanians need to wake up and fight to protect our land and water before it's too late.