We all heard Gov. Ed Rendell’s (D-Comcast) lament that everyone had to share in Pa.’s budgetary pain, including the arts community, which was decimated by budget cuts while the big sports teams and movie theatres remained untouched. His lips were moving, so everyone knew that he was lying. When it comes to the natural gas industry, turns out he was lying to the tune of $107 million.
Today’s Philly Inquirer has a great article outlining just how Rendell weaseled out of this one.
Thanks to its amoral Governor, Pennsylvania is the only state not to tax natural gas production, this despite the fact that even the governor of West Virginia assured Rendell that the tax has had no negative impact on the industry whatsoever:
Rendell said (Joe) Manchin, a fellow Democrat, had assured him that West Virginia’s tax did not “inhibit gas extraction and that it is continuing at a record pace, and it’s reaping critically needed revenues so the state can provide services to its citizens.”
Rendell’s plan matched West Virginia’s – a 5 percent tax on the value of natural gas at the wellhead, plus 4.7 cents per 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas extracted.
By Rendell’s estimates, such a tax could raise $107 million for Pennsylvania in its first year, helping fill a billion-dollar budget gap.
In a recent interview, Manchin described what he said to Rendell months ago.
“The Marcellus Shale is a tremendous producer. A severance tax will not deter” the drillers, Manchin said. “Believe me, if we didn’t have the gas, they wouldn’t be here.”
Manchin said he had faced industry complaints in 2005 when he proposed to expand the tax, with some companies threatening to leave.
He offered to have the state buy up their leases “so you don’t lose one penny.” No one took him up on his offer.
So, why did the Governor relent? A multimillion dollar lobbying effort, an industry-sponsored report masquerading as an objective analysis, Fast Eddie’s penchant for lunching with lobbyists, and much more.
Folks, if you want to know what we’re up against, read this article. Then go out and find people with some sort of ethical compass to run for office. Or do it yourself.
BTW, for those of you wondering what has happened to my ‘Read All About It in the Sunday Papers’ weekly posting, my work schedule makes it virtually impossible to dig up the articles and then crank out the 1500-or-so-word feature on Sunday morning.
So, we at Delaware Liberal will be doing (or intend to do) multiple postings like this one each Sunday. Other contributors have offered to help out. And, as always, we encourage our readers to follow suit. We just might turn your contributions into full-fledged articles giving you full credit for unearthing something interesting.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I just finished breakfast and need to deal with some gas pains of my own.