Hennessey: Correct for a Change on Marcellus
Our state representative in the 26th District voted in favor of the Marcellus Shale tax that passed earlier this week in the Pennsylvania House.
For a change, Rep. Tim Hennessey got something right. The vote was 104-94, so each of the 12 Republican votes really counted, including Hennessey’s.
Thank you, Tim. The tax, if approved by the Senate, would charge 39 cents per 1,000 cubic feet, or roughly 10 percent, according to the Inquirer.
Portions of Pennsylvania have huge deposits of natural gas in what is now famously (or infamously) known as the Marcellus Shale. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection – having received steep funding cuts the last two years – is tasked with policing the Marcellus industry. Accidents have already occurred throughout the state.
Opponents of “fracking” – whereby fluids are injected into hard rock formation – say the state’s water resources will be compromised. The industry says thousands of good-paying jobs are being created.
A new website, Marcellus Money, was recently launched to help citizens track the loads of lobbying money changing hands on this issue. Go to MarcellusMoney.org and type in your legislator’s or congressman’s name.
Type in Tom Corbett. He wants to be the next governor of Pennsylvania. Corbett received over $372,000 from the natural gas and Marcellus industries, according to the website.
He opposes the tax. Shocking, I know.
Dan Onorato, the Democrat for governor, has a different idea. He wants a fair “severance” tax in place. He would use the money to replenish and fully staff DEP, support another Growing Greener program, and place some of the money in a fund to repair local roads and other infrastructure harmed by the industry. Read his views here.
However, Onorato has accepted about $74,000 from the industry, according to the website.
Besides having gray hair, Corbett and Hennessey have at least one thing in common. They both want to overturn America’s new health care reform law. Good luck with that. A new Associated Press poll shows that four in 10 Americans actually think it didn’t go far enough.
Michael Hays, the author of this post, is a coucilman in Spring City and the communications chair of the Chester County Young Democrats.
Great to see Rep Hennessey make this vote. It must be election season. Please contact and put pressure on senators rafferty and dinniman, to vote the same way in the senate. Hopefully pennsylvanians and our elected leaders will LEARN from the sins of the past with the coal industry. Anyone remember who paid to clean up the schuylkill river???