Issue Position: Fracking

Issue Position

A significant promise of Governor Tom Wolf's 2014 campaign was to levy a severance tax on the oil and gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania. While to date, the Republican-led Legislature in Harrisburg has blocked this tax from becoming reality, it still remains one of Pennsylvania's best opportunities to generate much needed revenue, and guarantee that there are funds available to mediate the environmental impact of natural gas drilling, often known as fracking.

Joe Hohenstein's platform on fracking focuses on:

Levying a severance tax on gas drillers
Measuring the impact of fracking on communities
Economic and fiscal responsibility

Severance tax

Pennsylvania currently has one of the lowest effective tax rates on shale gas in the nation, and is the only state without a severance tax. Joe supports the Governor's plan to abolish impact fees and implement a fair severance tax in place of the fees. A severance tax will help balance the budget, and provide a new revenue stream for the state.

Measuring the impact of fracking on communities

While the Marcellus Shale and possibly the Utica Shale give Pennsylvania a unique opportunity to attract the industry, Joe believes the state needs to ensure that the proper regulations and monitoring agencies are in place to mitigate the negative health and environmental consequences of fracking. Groundwater contamination is particularly alarming, and there needs to be more funding put forward for public health studies of the effect of fracking and its byproducts on Pennsylvanians.

Economic and fiscal responsibility

Revenue raised from the severance tax must be distributed responsibly and fairly across the state. A portion of this revenue must be used to mitigate the effects of fracking on the communities where fracking is most prevalent. All Pennsylvanians should feel benefits from this tax.

After the tax is in place, Joe will work to ensure that wages and working conditions for those in the natural gas industry do not suffer. Further, Joe supports funding toward clean energy investment that would create jobs and allow those who rely on the natural gas industry to find jobs in the sustainable jobs industry.

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