From the TIMES-TRIBUNE:
Back when the Pennsylvania gas boom was just getting established, about three years B.C. (Before Corbett), the industry viewed a severance tax on natural gas as being pretty much inevitable.
After all, it paid the tax in every other gas-producing state. It emphasized its positive economic impact while acknowledging that it is an industrial enterprise that affects the environment. The debate in Harrisburg was not about whether to have a tax, but about the appropriate rate. The House eventually passed a tax, but the Senate reneged on its promise to do so.
The industry was ready to deal. It would grudgingly accept a severance tax comparable to those elsewhere, if it could gain legislative and regulatory approval for several matters. Most important was what the industry called “resource pooling” but which more commonly is called “forced pooling” – the ability to access as much gas as possible from a single well in a single area…
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