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225 State Street, Suite 302 | Harrisburg, PA 17101 | 717.671.1901 phone | 717.671.1905 fax | CommonwealthFoundation.org
 April 26, 2010The Honorable Greg VitaliPennsylvania House of Representatives103B East Wing Capitol BuildingHarrisburg, PA 17120RE: HB2235Dear Representative Vitali:I am writing to express concern with your legislation, HB2253, which would place afive-year moratorium on natural gas drilling in state lands. Unfortunately, there is littlemerit to your efforts to stymie the development of this clean energy source in Pennsylvaniafor environmental concerns. As you know, the Commonwealth has been leasing state land for gas and oilexploration for 63 years, with over 1,600 wells already in place and no unremediatedcontamination. Hydraulic fracturing has been in use for over 60 years. During that time,many studies have looked at the environmental impact and found little evidence to suggestresponsibly run operations are a hazard to the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), and the Interstate Oil and GasCompact Commission (IOGCC) have all found hydraulic fracturing non-threatening to theenvironment or public health. And when there are irresponsible enterprises, they should beheld fully accountable.I know you are also aware that the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources(DCNR) has extensive requirements for all Marcellus Shale exploration, including zones where no surface impact or drilling may occur, stringent requirements for well locations,spacing, construction and buffer zones. These, of course, are in addition to state andfederal Department of Environmental Protection¨s regulations. It sure seems that our statelands are remarkably safeguarded against any potential harm from natural gas drilling. While there may be some legitimate concerns over which state lands are appropriatefor leasing, your argument that the decision to lease not be driven by politics, or byrevenue demands, should also apply to any proposed tax. Yet politics and the desire formore tax money is precisely what is driving the severance tax. Indeed, the severance taxGov. Rendell proposed has little to do with environmental concerns, as 90% of theproposed tax would go to General Fund spending. This means, only 10% of the severancetax would be dedicated to the purposes for which you argue against leasing and for highertaxation.
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