________________________________________________________ACTIONET
October 2, 2009
Action Alert!
Support a Severance Tax on drilling
for Natural Gas - HB 1489
What You Can Do
Call
or email your State Representativeimmediately
and tell him or her that you support HB 1489
a severance tax on drilling for natural gas in the
Marcellus Shale. The House is
scheduled to vote on this today!
You can find your State Representative's phone number by
entering your zip code in the “Find Your Elected
Officials” box in the lower left-hand corner of the
LAMPa website (www.lamp.org).
Be sure to
click on the “state” tab!
The following is a sample of how your phone call
might go:
"My name is ___________, and I'm a constituent. As a
person of faith I support HB 1489 and the effort to
protect future generations and God's creation
by enacting a severance tax on drillers of natural gas.
Enacting this tax (that every other state with
comparable resources has) will allow the Commonwealth to
ensure that drilling is done in a way that is
environmentally sustainable. Furthermore, it will mean
that local taxpayers are not entirely responsible for
dealing with the environmental impact the drilling will
cause. Thank you for your consideration of this
important matter."
Background
Most states with natural
gas resources tax the extraction of the gas. In
February, Governor Rendell proposed a tax on the
extraction of natural gas identical to the one that has
been in place in West Virginia since 1987. This tax is
projected to initially raise more than $100 million a
year, rising to more than $630 million annually by 2014.
(You may remember Representative Tina Pickett discussing
this at Lutheran Day at the Capitol!)
The Pennsylvania House of
Representatives is expected to vote ASAP on a bill to
tax large gas drillers in the Marcellus Shale formation.
Our legislators are also expected to vote on an
amendment that will use this tax to help fill the gaping
hole in our state budget, with all income going to the
general fund for most of the first two years. After
that, the money will be split with:
half going to the
general fund;
20 percent to our
environmental agencies that protect our land,
air, and water, including DCNR, the Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP), the
Department of Agriculture (specifically for
farmland preservation), and to PennVEST (funding
sewer, storm water and drinking water projects
throughout the Commonwealth);
20 percent to
local governments to help fund the costs of
"hosting" drilling operations, and to county
conservation districts and fire and ambulance
companies in the same areas;
4 percent to
LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
Program), which helps low income people pay
their heating bills;
and 3 percent each
to the Fish and Boat Commission and the Game
Commission.
ELCA Policy Base
(Caring
for Creation: Vision,
Hope, and Justice, 1993;
“Economic growth that
ignores environmental cost is not sustainable”
**Please file a
post-advocacy report with the LAMPa office
by e-mail (lampa@lamp.org)
or telephone,
(717)
545-3500, with the highlights/responses of
your advocacy efforts**
