A fee with impact: Pennsylvania’s shale gas tax

Hour 2

The Pennsylvania legislature has passed a bill that allows a tax on natural gas drilling.  It enables municipalities to levy an impact fee on the gas industry and Governor Corbett is expected to sign it. Proponents of the legislation, which was won by a close vote last week, say it will bring revenues and jobs to the state and offers significant environmental protection. Critics say that protections don’t go far enough and worry about a zoning provision that they say removes local control over drilling.  In this hour, we discuss the new bill and what it means for Pennsylvania with SCOTT DETROW, Harrisburg reporter for StateImpactPA, a col­lab­o­ra­tion between WITF, WHYY and NPR covering the fis­cal and envi­ron­men­tal impact of Pennsylvania’s boom­ing energy econ­omy, with a focus on Mar­cel­lus Shale drilling. We also hear from STEVE FORDE of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry group; and MYRON ARNOWITT, Pennsylvania state director for Clean Water Action.

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[audio: 021312_110630.mp3]