From the SCRANTON TIMES TRIBUNE Editorial:
…Gov. Tom Corbett, who effectively has been a subsidiary of the gas industry thus far in his tenure, resisted even the modest per-well fee to which he reluctantly agreed last week…
Instead, he agreed to a woefully inadequate Plan B by which local counties, rather than the state, would have to enact the fee. In its first year, the fee is expected to generate $180 million, with 60 percent to address the adverse local impacts of drilling and 40 percent for state environmental programs….
Thus the governor has set up a scenario where local governments that oppose drilling can’t stop it, because the same law that created the fee strips local governments of zoning prerogatives relative to the gas industry. At the same time, local politicians who are mesmerized by the industry and don’t want to offend it have been empowered to deny needed tax revenue to the entire commonwealth…
Click here to read the full article.
EDITOR: Unbelievable pandering to special interests. Are they blackmailing him?
