PATRIOT-NEWS: … [Senate President Pro Tempore Joe] Scarnati, whose far-flung district encompasses more than 800 natural gas wells, spent the final years of Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration pushing for a deal to levy impact fees on shale drilling. Rendell sought a tax on natural gas drilling, but it was higher than some Republicans wanted. In the end, it never materialized.
When Corbett was elected, Scarnati understandably felt a shale deal was in the offing. But Corbett — who signed a no-new-tax pledge — wanted a commission to study the fee issue, and pushed the shale from his spring agenda back to the fall.
So, when the new legislative session kicked off in earnest last month and the deliberative Corbett publicly declared school vouchers as his top priority, Scarnati surely felt he’d been passed over again…. (more)
