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Marcellus shale's impact
felt here
Mike Sturla
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 96th district
Once
again, the New Era editorial writer wants readers to ignore reality in
favor of wrongheaded ideology.
In your
Nov. 15 editorial, you assert that water quality issues related to
Marcellus shale gas drilling in Susquehanna and Bradford counties have
no effect on the citizens of Lancaster city and county. Nothing could
be farther from the truth.
The
reality is that both of those counties, as well as a significant
portion of the Marcellus shale area, are in the upper and middle
portion of the Susquehanna River basin, which feeds the lower
Susquehanna from which we draw a significant amount of our drinking
water.
Furthermore, without a severance tax on natural gas extraction in
Pennsylvania to support an environmental stewardship fund, all
Pennsylvanians, including Lancastrians, will be forced to help pay for
the cleanup of the environmental degradation caused by the drilling,
much the same way they have been paying for acid mine drainage cleanup
over the years in spite of not having coal deposits in this county.
Pennsylvania is the only state with substantial natural gas deposits
that does not have a severance tax on a natural resource. Even Sarah
Palin's Alaska has one.
Finally,
the projected $1 billion/year revenue generated from a severance tax
would help preserve vital services for all Pennsylvanians, including
Lancastrians.
So, when
future budgets include cuts for roads or daycare or environmental
protection or mental health or farmland preservation or job training
or a host of other issues, it will have a direct impact on
Lancastrians and your editorial will again be shown to be wrong.
Comment on this
Commentary - Comments should be directed to Ken Ralph, Editor of
LCDC Media at his
email address. Comments
will be posted here.
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