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Marcellus Shale Protesters

Will Lawmakers Reach Marcellus Shale Compromise in 2012?

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The House and Senate each passed their own versions of Marcellus Shale impact legislation prior to the holiday break.  But Governor Tom Corbett says staff-level negotiations didn’t take a vacation.  “I think there’s been a great deal of movement by everybody, and I believe we’re going to get a bill done this session,” Corbett said on Radio PA’s Ask the Governor program.  “Particularly I would like to see a bill done before the budget address of February the 7th.” 

But some 20 environmental groups rallied in the capitol rotunda, this week, urging lawmakers to scrap both bills.  Among their biggest concerns are provisions that would limit the ability of local governments to regulate natural gas drilling.  “How can [the state] say that they have more expertise than a local community does over their environment, over their health, over what their people want,” says PennEnvironment’s Erika Staaf.  “I’m some areas the people might want a ban.” 

But Governor Corbett says uniform zoning rules are necessary to encourage investment and create jobs.  “Businesses, if there are going to invest in Pennsylvania – and they have been investing billions of dollars – have to know that there is consistency in the application of the zoning rules across the state.”  He says this is not a case of state government bending over backwards for the industry.

Governor Corbett Helps Launch MLK Day of Service in Harrisburg

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Governor Tom Corbett helped kick off the Central Pennsylvania Martin Luther King Junior Day of Service on Monday morning. He offered encouragement to several hundred students from Harrisburg and surrounding school districts, as they prepared to spend the day working on service projects in honor of Dr. King’s memory.

Governor Corbett said this kind of service can happen any time. He asked the students not to make serving the people of their community a one day event.

He told the students that this holiday is a bit different from other holidays, like President’s Day next month. Governor Corbett said we have sales in the stores on President’s Day, and Labor Day, which celebrates labor, is really a day off. He says only Martin Luther King seems to draw us out of our houses and into our communities to do volunteer work.

The Governor and Mrs. Corbett ended the day serving meals to the hungry alongside the Boys and Girls Club of Central PA.

Developing a New Natural Gas Infrastructure

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Private industry is working to develop a new, natural gas infrastructure in Pennsylvania and beyond.  For instance, Clean Energy Fuel Corp’s new plans call for “America’s Natural Gas Highway.”  The nationwide project will develop about 150-natural gas fueling stations over the next three years.  “We are planning… to put stations in Carlisle, Mill Hall and Smithton, Pennsylvania for the national network,” says Clean Energy’s Vice President of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs Todd Campbell. 

July’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission report made several references to natural gas-fueled vehicles, and Governor Tom Corbett wants to develop Pennsylvania’s natural gas infrastructure.  “We need to encourage the development of markets for the use of that natural gas here in Pennsylvania,” Corbett said on a recent edition of “Ask the Governor” on Radio PA. 

“For instance along the Turnpike, we have all of the Sunoco’s along the Turnpike.  Just like there’s a diesel tank there, there should be a natural gas tank there.” 

Clean Energy is already operating natural gas fueling stations in 28-states, including Pennsylvania, but they mostly serve high-volume fleets like the ones found at airports or operated by trash haulers.  “I think the time where you and I are driving around in a natural gas car is probably five to ten years.  That’s probably a little optimistic,” Campbell says.  Regardless, he believes there is an industry out there waiting to be born.

Transportation Funding Advisory Commission Final Report

State House Democrats Try to Get Movement on Transportation Funding

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Some Democratic leaders in the state house are trying to get more focus on transportation funding issues.   Saying there is a cost to inaction; House Minority Whip Mike Hanna and Caucus Chairman Dan Frankel are introducing a package of bills to help close the state’s transportation funding gap.  The bills are based on the recommendations from the Governor’s own advisory commission on transportation, which issued its report in August. They are also similar to a package proposed by Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman (R-Centre).

Representative Hanna (D-Clinton) says it’s a comprehensive discussion that needs to be had, and they hope to jump start debate. He says   the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges deserve a higher priority than the governor is giving them.

The Governor has said he doesn’t believe the economy’s strong enough to handle higher motorist fees.

Representative Frankel (D-Allegheny) says it’s a matter of reprioritizing. He asks, do legislators want to go back to dealing with school vouchers and liquor sale privatization when the state’s roads and bridges are deteriorating?  He says mass transit, roads and bridges are something he thinks everyone in the Commonwealth understands we need.  He says the other issues are secondary.

Frankel believes the bills have the potential to put Pennsylvanians back to work and strengthen mass transit systems across the state.    His bill, HB2112, would dedicate the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s entire annual Act 44 contribution of 450 million dollars to mass transit.  Currently, 200 million of that money goes to roads and bridges.

Hanna’s bills, HB 2099 and 2101, would adjust driver fees for inflation, increase fines, uncap the Oil and Gas Franchise Tax over five years and modernize PennDOT to achieve savings in an effort to help close the current transportation funding gap.