How refreshing! Republicans in Pennsylvania are looking at the impacs of the Marcellus Shale play and trying to come up with honest solutions for dealing with possible problems. One solution: a natural gas tax. This might help take care of the roads once the trucks are gone, the schools once they're over-croweded, and maybe the water once it's polluted. Talk to some of the officials around here, like Sens. Johnson and Gilbert at the UCA Shale Summit, and you'll get a totally different view on how natural gas companies should be taxed.
Local officials worry about damage to local roads ill-suited for heavy truck traffic and equipment. School districts could be strained by families of gas company employees moving into town. And some residents are concerned about gas wells disrupting or polluting the water tables from which they draw drinking water.
Legislators must find the fairest way for companies to share those costs, whether by levying a tax or through some other means, said Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, the GOP’s policy chairman.