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/

Clean Cars Would Save Pennsylvanians $2.4 Billion at the Gas Pump This Summer

Clean Cars Would Save Pennsylvanians $2.4 Billion at the Gas Pump This Summer

By Megan Fitzpatrick, mfitzpatrick@pennenvironment.org, 215.732.5897 / 609.647.1526 www.pennenvironment.org

With kids getting out of K-12 schools and July 4th weekend fast approaching, many families are thinking about how high gas prices will impact their summer travel plans. A new PennEnvironment report finds that more fuel-efficient cars would save every Pennsylvanian family an average of $452 at the gas pump this summer alone. The report was released as the Obama administration is developing new fuel efficiency and global warming pollution standards for cars and light trucks.

“Pennsylvanians shouldn’t have to spend their summers worrying about how they will afford to drive, let alone whether their children are breathing air pollution, and whether their beaches are safe from oil spills. President Obama should take a bold step to solve all of these problems and put cleaner cars in the fast lane,” said Megan Fitzpatrick, Federal Field Associate at PennEnvironment.

This report shows that by helping consumers burn less oil, cleaner cars would mean we burn less cash too, saving Pennsylvanians $2.5 billion over the summer. “Not only could you afford that roadtrip to the beach, but you could book a hotel and stick around for a week with the money you’ve saved.”

Based on current gas prices, Pennsylvanians are expected to spend more than $4.8 billion at the gas pump over the course of the summer. Since no relief is in sight for the price of gas and our oil consumption continues to have dire consequences for our health and environment as well, PennEnvironment pointed to reducing our dependence on oil as the only viable solution.

“In these tough economic times, it is my firm belief that we must do as much as we can to rid ourselves of foreign supplies of oil,” said Lehigh County Commissioner Percy Dougherty. “By increasing fuel efficiency and supporting cleaner cars, we can do that.”

Requiring cars and trucks to meet a 60 mpg standard would be a major step toward getting off oil and decreasing pollution, reducing Pennsylvania’s oil consumption over the summer by 630 million gallons and reducing dangerous carbon dioxide pollution by nearly 6 million metric tons.

“Dirty emissions from single-passenger cars are the major contributor to the air quality crisis our region faces. A truly clean commuter fleet is something we support, and we need President Obama to go forward with making clean cars a reality.” said Cocca, Outreach Coordinator for the Air Quality Partnership of Lehigh Valley-Berks.

Last year, recognizing the benefits of increasing fuel efficiency and decreasing our oil dependence, the Obama administration set standards for new cars and trucks built between 2012 and 2016 that will save billions of gallons of fuel.

Today, PennEnvironment called on President Obama to take the next step and move clean cars into the fast lane by making 60 miles per gallon cars the norm and not the exception to the rule.

“This summer, we should remember that clean cars could make our fun in the sun all that much better, creating huge benefits for Pennsylvania’s families, our economy and our environment,” said Fitzpatrick. “We need the Obama administration to push ahead with the clean car standards that will make these benefits a reality.”






PennEnvironment is a statewide, citizen-funded environmental advocacy group that works for a cleaner, greener future.

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/#/.