Corbett may be tested on shale tax (Columbia, Portage: construction, school)

[pman]

There will be a tax, the question is when and how much. I'd like to see it go to infrastructure and conservation...in case of water issues.

[hempfield mania]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, this is something BrianTH and I fully agree on.

PA needs some sort of tax (somewhere in the middle of what the other states levy). The DEP and other state agencies (PAFBC) charged with making inspections of the wells definitely need a cut to hire more inspectors. The shear number of active wells and planned new wells is already more than they can handle with current staffs and with future budget cuts, it may get worse (although Corbett has stated those in DEP working on Marcellus gas regs. will stay).

I would also like to see a good portion stay local but in addition, I would like to see a decent chunk going to R&D (through Penn State, Pitt or other university research) to find a cheaper, more efficient alternative to treat the frack wastewater. That is one of the current biggest problems. The tech. doesn't currently exist to cheaply treat the frackwater for TDS's.

Reverse Osmosis is one of the only ways to really treat it and that is very costly, time consuming and resource intensive in its own right.

PS - Fracking has been around since the 60's, I believe, down in Texas (Barnett Shale) and Colorado. It is only new to PA since the early 2000's.

[gg]

Some tax needs to be put into the disaster that IS going to happen and people will be scrambling for water. I just hope the disaster gets reported, so we all don't have cancer or some health issues.

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

The advantage to not taxing it, would be to make Pennsylvania extra-competitive and give the state the advantage as Exxon and others with interest in this field to choose Pennsylvania to initiate gas exploration.

See, I keep hearing this. But how so? If they want gas they have to come here. It's not like companies can go drill gas wells in Nebraska instead because they have friendlier tax policies.

[ditchdigger]

I would also like to see a good portion stay local but in addition, I would like to see a decent chunk going to R&D (through Penn State, Pitt or other university research) to find a cheaper, more efficient alternative to treat the frack wastewater.

Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the industry though?

[DomerJen]

Originally Posted by ditchdigger

Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the industry though?

Then you'd need even more regulators to make sure they are doing it. My guess is that having it done by an outside party is much more likely to produce results as well.

There needs to be taxes for regulators to make sure environmental/safety laws are being followed, which should be separate from a health fund for when disaster strikes (accidents are inevitable - even WITH good practices which I'd argue do not currently exist), which should be separate from an infrastructure fund. This business may bring in $$$ and jobs, but it's not free for PA (or anywhere else the water is ending up).

PA might need to save some $$$ for fighting lawsuits from states downstream, too.

[gg]

This is just the beginning no doubt. I would imagine this will be a weekly thing soon enough. Lots of money to be made though.

Couple claims driller fouled water well

[Picksburg Stillers]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Even Texas has extraction taxes. You can be business-friendly without being a corporate ass-kisser. This is a good way for Pennsylvania to get some extra revenue, which should all go into infrastructure, by the way.

Texas doesn't have the second highest corporate income tax rate in the country, though. The corporate income tax in PA is currently 9.99% on all revenue. In Texas, they use a gross margins tax, which only taxes corporations on the difference between revenue and employee compensation and benefits, and that rate is only 1%. Even with the extraction tax, the overall tax burden on drillers is much less in Texas. The corporate income tax rate in the other Marcellus states is already much less than PA. It is 8.5% in WV and 7.1% in NY. Adding more taxes will just make those states even more appealing for drillers at the expense of areas of PA that have been economically depressed for decades and could frankly use the help.

[hempfield mania]

They live next to a strip mine. Wonder if anything changed there that could have affected their well?

[greg42]

If you want to read about fracking and water wells, set aside some time and read this article. This link goes to the whole thing on a single page, easier to read: Hydrofracked: One man's quest for answers about natural gas drilling - High Country News