PA Environmental Groups Release Marcellus Scorecard for State Legislators

Scorecard grades General Assembly members on recent gas drilling votes

(Harrisburg) – Four of Pennsylvania’s largest citizen-based environmental organizations released their joint “Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Scorecard” today, giving each state senator and representative an environmental grade based on their votes related to Act 13, the omnibus Marcellus Shale legislation signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett on February 14.

Between November, 2011 and February, 2012, the Pennsylvania state legislature held a series of votes on HB 1950 (Act 13), a bill that overturned local ordinances on gas drilling, establishes one of the nation’s lowest gas extraction fees, and makes only minimal improvements to environmental and public health protections from oil and gas drilling.  Passage of Act 13 is the first significant legislation enacted in Pennsylvania since the Marcellus Shale gas drilling boom began over four years ago.  The Marcellus Scorecard provides Pennsylvania’s residents with information on how their legislators voted on this law which will have far reaching impacts on all Pennsylvanians.  The Scorecard covers final passage votes as well as votes on floor amendments to the bill.

“When voters head to the polls this year, they should know how their legislators handled the Marcellus Shale, the biggest environmental issue facing Pennsylvania. Combined, we expect our organizations will distribute this scorecard to more than a quarter million Pennsylvania citizens and give every voter online access to this data,” stated Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of PA.

“We are glad to see that we have some environmental heroes in the state legislature who stood up to protect our water, our air, and our neighborhoods from gas drilling.  Unfortunately, far too many legislators earned failing grades in this Scorecard,” stated Jeff Schmidt, Director for the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter.

42 State Representatives and 14 State Senators earned perfect 100% scores, including:

·         Senate Minority Leader Senator Jay Costa (D-Allegheny)

·         Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Minority Chair Senator John Yudichak (D-Luzerne)

·         Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) and Senator Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester)

·         House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Centre), Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), Rep. Steve Santarsiero (D-Bucks), Rep. Eugene DePasquale (D-York), Rep. Bryan Barbin (D-Cambria)

·         Minority Caucus Chair Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny)

Legislators scoring below 50% include:

·         Senators Charles McIlhinney (R-Bucks), Stewart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery), Richard Alloway (R-Franklin), Edwin Erickson (R-Delaware), and Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery), each of whom signed a letter to the Governor opposing HB 1950 and vowing to protect municipal rights only days before voting in favor of the bill.

·         Senator John Wozniak (D-Cambria), Senator Tim Solobay (D-Washington), and Rep. Peter Daley (D-Washington), who represented the lowest scores among Democrats

·         House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee members Rick Saccone (R-Allegheny), Randy Vulakovich (R-Allegheny), and Martin Causer (R-McKean)

·         House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Majority Chair Rep. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango)

·         House Speaker Rep. Sam Smith (R-Punxsutawney)

·         Majority Leader Rep. Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny)

“It should have raised red flags for the Pennsylvania legislature when they voted for a bill supported by the industry that had a financially vested interest in the outcome, yet was opposed by environmental, public health and sportsmen’s groups, and local government officials from both parties and every corner of the Commonwealth,” stated David Masur, Director for PennEnvironment.

“It’s disappointing to see that protecting the public and the environment no longer gets bi-partisan support.  While there are members of both parties that had low scores, there were no Republican members who earned a passing grade.  One of the main reasons that Act 13 passed was that Republican members who used to support environmental protections chose to side with Governor Corbett and the gas industry,” stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action.

Democratic members of the state legislature earned scores ranging from 0% to 100%.  Democrats earning a failing score under 63% included:  Sen. Wozniak (Cambria), Sen. Solobay (Washington), Sen. Brewster (Allegheny), Rep. Daley (Washington), Rep. Gergley (Allegheny), Rep. Gibbons (Beaver), Rep. Mullery (Luzerne), Rep. Wheatley (Allegheny).

However, the highest Republican score was only 54%.  This is in stark contrast to Scorecards put out in past years by these environmental groups where numerous Republican legislators earned scores of 90-100%.

The Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Scorecard is available on the websites of all four organizations:

http://www.cleanwateraction.org/pa

http://pennenvironment.org/page/pae/2012-marcellus-scorecard

http://www.pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/

http://www.conservationpa.org/

Environmental Groups Respond to Corbett Marcellus Commission

(Harrisburg) – A number of environmental and community organizations gathered outside Governor Corbett’s office in the state capitol today to respond to the Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission. Groups universally criticized the Commission’s final report, issued last Friday, as a product of its industry make-up and decried the secrecy employed to generate the final product.

"The Commission recognized the need for regulatory improvements, but in effect gave barely a nod to the serious and accelerating health and environmental problems in Pennsylvania's gas patch," said Nadia Steinzor, Marcellus Regional Organizer with Earthworks. "With strong incentives for the expansion of drilling, limited protections, and a willingness to violate the rights of landowners through forced pooling and municipalities by overriding zoning rights, the recommendations are yet another way to favor industry over citizens."

“While the Commission held their secret deliberations, the state gave out 1,720 permits to drill in the Marcellus Shale. Even though some of the recommendations recognize that residents lack the proper protections from drilling, when, if ever, will the state take action? We need a halt to the mad rush to give out permits when even industry agrees that the rules are currently lacking,” stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action.

Many of the environmental recommendations in the Commission report have been proposed in legislation for several years with no action taken to date. None of the drilling companies on the Commission have offered to abide by the recommendations in their own report.

“We have had information about the deleterious effects of Marcellus Shale gas drilling on our environment, health, and safety for years,” said Erika Staaf of PennEnvironment. “To delay implementing much-needed policy in order to regurgitate facts we already had at our fingertips is an abomination. It’s critical our state legislators to act swiftly to make meaningful progress to protect our drinking water, clean air, public lands and public health from the dangers of drilling.”

The environmental groups also noted a list of critical issues that the Commission ignored in making their final recommendations including: lack of a moratorium and a requirement to conduct a cumulative impact analysis, no recommendations to address the need to test drinking water supplies, nothing to address the impacts of pipelines being built throughout the state, and a complete lack of attention to the air quality impacts from gas drilling and production.

"The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission has ignored the serious air pollution problems associated with Marcellus-related development. Well pads, compressor stations, and processing facilities are all going in largely without air pollution controls," said Jeff Schmidt, Director of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter. "The pollution from these facilities are felt by the public. According the DEP, during the last week we have been experiencing public health-threatening "Code Orange" ozone action days over nearly all of Pennsylvania. The pollution from gas drilling facilities will only make our air quality more dangerous. We must require the best available pollution controls at all of these facilities, in order to protect public health", Schmidt concluded.

The environmental organizations also noted the lack of real public participation in the process of drafting the report. “Gov. Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission operated at a level of secrecy that evoked memories of Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force. We’re very disappointed that there is no opportunity for Pennsylvanians to formally comment on the final report now that it has been made available to the public. They deserve to have a real voice in matters as important as unconventional natural gas drilling,” stated Karen Feridun from Berks Gas Truth.

www.pacleanwatercampaign.org

State Legislators Scored by Green Groups

(Harrisburg) – Sierra Club and Clean Water Action released today a new scorecard for all current Pennsylvania state legislators for their support for environmental laws and regulations over the past two years. State House members and State Senators were scored based on floor votes in the legislature, or other official actions taken by legislators on environmental matters.

“Before voters head to the polls next Tuesday, the Environmental Scorecard is a way to see what a state legislators’ actual record has been over the past two years. Voters who care about the environment should hold their elected officials accountable,” stated Jeff Schmidt, Pennsylvania Chapter Director for the Sierra Club.

The two groups noted that there were large differences between legislators who have a history of supporting environmental positions and those who are clearly opposed. Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action stated, “It is striking that the House Environmental Resources Committee Chair, Rep. George (D-Clearfield) had one of the highest scores at 92%, while the senior Republican on the House Environmental Resources Committee, Rep. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango) had one of the lowest scores at 13%. This stark difference shows how the outcome of the State House elections could have a big impact on the environment.”

The Environmental Scorecard is available for download at http://www.cleanwateraction.org/pa .

Key votes in the Scorecard include votes on the severance tax on natural gas extraction, a moratorium on further gas leasing in state forests, clean energy policy, and state funding for environmental programs. For the first time, legislators received extra points for some non-voting actions, including co-sponsorship of key bills, or by officially supporting or opposing key clean water regulations enacted this year. As a result, a few legislators received scores over 100%.

Sierra Club and Clean Water Action dubbed 13 State House members and 10 State Senators as “Environmental Heroes” for scoring 100% or higher on the Scorecard.

These legislators are:

Rep. Bradford (D) 105%, Briggs (D) 115%, Freeman (D) 106%, Harper (R) 101%, Hornaman (D) 106%, Houghton (D) 106%, Lentz (D) 104%, McIlvaine Smith (D) 106%, Melio (D) 106%, Murphy (D) 105%, Santarsiero (D) 106%, Santoni (D) 101%, Wagner (D) 101%.

Sen. Dinniman (D) 110%, Farnese (D) 115%, Ferlo (D) 115%, Fontana (D) 105%, Hughes (D) 105%, Kasunic (D) 100%, Kitchen 105%, Leach (D) 115%, Tartaglione (D) 103%, Washington (D) 105%.

In the House the highest scoring Republican was Rep. Kate Harper (R) with 101%. High scoring Republicans in the Senate were Sen. Lisa Baker (R) and Sen. Charles McIlhinney (R) both with 90%.

The lowest scores on the House side were fifteen members who scored under 25%. These were: Rep. Brooks (R) 22%, Rep. Causer (R) 13%, Cox (R) 18%, Ellis (R) 22%, Gabler (R) 22%, Hutchinson (R) 13%, Kieger (R) 18%, Knowles (R) 20% Metcalfe (R) 18%, Perry (R) 24%, Pyle (R) 22%, Rapp (R) 13%, Roae (R) 13%, Stevenson (R) 13%, Turzai (R) 22%.

The lowest scores on the Senate side were a group of six Senators who all scored 50%. These were: Sen. Earll (R), Folmer (R), Orie (R), Robbins (R), White, Mary Jo (R), White, Donald (R).

Sierra Club is national environmental organization that was founded in 1892. It has 10 local Groups in Pennsylvania, representing over 24,000 members. The Sierra Club works to protect and restore the natural and human environment through education and advocacy.

Clean Water Action is a national, member supported, environmental organization working to protect our waters, build healthy communities, and make democracy work for all of us. Operating in Pennsylvania for 25 years, Clean Water Action has over 100,000 members in the state.

12 organization enthusiastically endorsing progressive candidates

The Pennsylvania Progressive Voters Guide. Your one stop for progressive endorsements:




















These 12 leading progressive groups are working together to assure victory for progressive candidates. Check out the endorsements of over 200 candidates across PA.
www.paprogressivevotersguide.org

Corbett Gas Ads Mislead the Public

Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, PennEnvironment and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania call for the Corbett campaign to stop airing ads on Marcellus Shale

Harrisburg – In the last week, gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett has launched two campaign ads that focus on Marcellus Shale drilling and the severance tax. The first, a radio ad, refers to the severance tax as “a huge extra tax on drillers” that will: “make it more difficult for companies to compete, kill jobs, and increase utility bills.” The second, a TV spot, calls a severance tax “a massive Pennsylvania energy tax that will kill jobs and drive up utility bills.” These statements paint a dire and inaccurate picture of the economic impacts of a severance tax. PennEnvironment, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club ask Mr. Corbett to pull these ads off the air.

“These ads are pure and simple fear mongering without any facts,” said Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director, Clean Water Action. “The reality is that communities have had their drinking water contaminated by gas drilling. It’s only fair to ask these multinational oil and gas companies to pay to clean up the damage.”

“A massive/huge extra tax”: Pennsylvania is the only major gas producing state that does not require gas drillers to pay for our natural resources. Montana charges an effective rate of 7.5% on gas drillers. New Mexico: 7.3%. Oklahoma: 6.7% The proposals for a PA severance tax fall into this same range. Pennsylvania is also the only state in which property taxes cannot be collected on drilling rights, lowering the Commonwealth’s overall tax rate for drillers. It’s not a huge tax, it’s a tax that’s in line with established practice throughout the country and one that drillers expect to pay. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that a drilling executive from Dallas told Rep. Karen Beyer (R., Lehigh) that the industry is willing to pay a production tax. Beyer called Pennsylvania's lack of an extraction tax "an outrage."

“Drilling poses serious risks to Pennsylvanians and our environment. A severance tax will compensate communities and fund projects that repair environmental damage,” state Dennis Winters, Chair of Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania Chapter. “It is time the drillers pay their fair share in Pennsylvania. The public deserves to be told that the severance tax is a tax on producers and not consumers. Mr Corbett seems to be running the same ads as the American Petroleum institute, the industry’s mouthpiece.”

“Drive up utility bills”: Gas is bought and sold on a worldwide market and the production price of any single gas source has a negligible effect on the market rate. Currently, most Pennsylvanians get their gas from out of state, from states that already impose a severance tax. Gas that is produced in Pennsylvania goes into the same gas market as the gas from everywhere else, meaning that an increased production cost in Pennsylvania due to a severance tax will have little bearing on the price paid by consumers.

“Mr. Corbett’s advertisement feels a bit like an Alice in Wonderland scenario where everything is topsy-turvy,” stated David Masur of PennEnvironment. “The environmental community by and large has vocally supported the passage of the natural gas severance tax so for Mr. Corbett to attempt to claim the environmental high ground on this issue by opposing the extraction fee is a bit ridiculous.”

“Kills jobs”: The argument that a severance tax will kill jobs is based on the idea that a tax will slow the production of gas in Pennsylvania and thus delay the creation of drilling jobs. This argument supposes that increased taxation will lead to less drilling. The massive amount of drilling currently occurring in Texas, Colorado, and the other states, each of which currently maintains a severance tax, belies this argument. Pennsylvania’s location, next to the major gas markets of the American northeast, means that Pennsylvania drillers will always have an advantage over other states due to decreased transportation costs.

Additionally, a recent Penn State study* reports that a severance tax will actually create jobs in Pennsylvania. The study predicts that for every $100 million paid in severance taxes, the Commonwealth will see a net job gain of 1,100 jobs. Meanwhile, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development estimates that 70% of the jobs at Marcellus Shale sites currently go to workers from out of state. The job increase from state and local spending based on a severance tax would employ primarily Pennsylvania workers, meaning that the net job gain for Pennsylvanians would be even higher than the study reports. The real truth is that failing to enact a severance tax will cost Pennsylvania thousands of jobs each year.

“If you want to lead Pennsylvania, misleading its citizens is a bad place to start,” said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “Mr. Corbett needs to take down these deceitful ads.”

Neither the Sierra Club nor Clean Water Action have made an endorsement in the Pennsylvania Governor’s race. Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania and PennEnvironment have endorsed Dan Onorato.

*Rose M. Baker and David Passmore, Benchmarks for Assessing the Potential Impact of a Natural Gas Severance Tax on the Pennsylvania Economy, September 13, 2010 http://www.personal.psu.edu/dlp/remi2010/#/.

Clean Water Action and Sierra Club Score State Legislature on Environment Votes

Clean Water Action and Sierra Club Score State Legislature on Environment Votes

(Harrisburg) – Sierra Club and Clean Water Action released today a “Pennsylvania General Assembly Environmental Scorecard” which rates state legislators on their voting record on environmental issues in 2007 and 2008.

The Scorecard covers a range of environmental issues tackled by both the State House and State Senate over the past legislative session. Votes on the Scorecard include ones on air quality, energy, climate change, open space, transportation, and environmental funding.

The Scorecard is available for download at either www.cleanwateraction.org/pa or at www.pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/pa_environmental_scorecard.pdf .

Myron Arnowitt, State Director for Clean Water Action, stated, “The state legislature tackled some important environmental issues over the past two years, including funding the cleanup of our toxic waste sites, and funding alternative energy programs. However, critical work is left undone, including helping residents save on their energy bills through energy efficiency, and protecting the safety of our drinking water supplies.”

Dennis Winters, Political Chair of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter, said, “Many of the issues included in this Scorecard affect the health, safety of Pennsylvania’s citizens and the environmental we all depend on. We believe that the public has the right to know how their elected officials vote on these matters, so they can hold their legislators accountable. The public interest is better served when these decisions are exposed to daylight.”

Two State Senators, Vincent Hughes (Philadelphia) and Michael Stack (Philadelphia) got perfect 100% scores. Close behind were Senators Ferlo (Allegheny), Fontana (Allegheny), Kitchen (Philadelphia), Tartaglione (Philadelphia), and Anthony Williams (Philadelphia) with 90% scores. The highest scoring Republican Senator was Stewart Greenleaf (Bucks) with an 80% score.

Sixteen State House members scored a perfect 100%: Bennington (Allegheny), Casorio (Westmoreland), Freeman (Northampton), Hanna (Centre), Josephs (Phila.), Kessler (Berks), Leach (Montgomery), Lentz (Delaware), Mundy (Luzerne), Roebuck (Phila.), Samuelson (Lehigh), Santoni (Berks), Taylor (Montgomery), Vitali (Delaware), Wagner (Allegheny), Walko (Allegheny). The highest scoring Republican Representative was George Kenney (Phila.) at 90%.

The lowest scoring Senators were Mike Folmer (Lebanon) at 10% and John Eichelberger (Blair) at 20%. The lowest scoring House member was Bob Bastian (Somerset) who scored a 0%.

Sierra Club is national environmental organization that was founded in 1892. It has 10 local Groups in Pennsylvania, representing over 27,000 members. The Sierra Club works to protect and restore the natural and human environment through education and advocacy.

Clean Water Action is a national, member supported, environmental organization working to protect our waters, build healthy communities, and make democracy work for all of us. Operating in Pennsylvania for 25 years, Clean Water Action has over 100,000 members in the state.

Philly to Palin: The Irish Pub is not foreign policy experience

Hundreds show up in Philly on September 26 to tell Palin "No Third Term."


www.keystoneprogress.org

Declare Your Independence From Big Oil

From our friends at Clean Water Action

Declare Your Independence From Big Oil
Eight years of increased oil production has done nothing to reduce gas prices. Instead we are faced with high gas prices for consumers and fat profits for the Big Oil companies.
The only way to free ourselves from expensive oil is to get off oil.
Read more or sign our petition and add your voice to thousands of others who oppose drilling off our most pristine coasts and in our Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.