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We’re having a CHAPTER FISHING TRIP to the fabled freestone trout streams of the CATSKILL MOUNTAINS of NEW YORK!
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CHAPTER BYLAWS VOTE!
Unanimously accepted in October, 2011.
Marcellus Shale
Pennsylvania made history 150 years ago as the birthplace of the oil and gas industry, sparking a rush to exploit natural resources that has continued unabated to this day.
This month, the commonwealth is poised to move full circle, becoming the last of the great energy-producing states to claim a share of its mineral riches for its citizens. Last Wednesday, the state House passed a bill to impose a tax on natural gas drilled in the Marcellus Shale.
Now all eyes are on the Senate where the House bill faces an uncertain fate despite growing bipartisan support. And the clock is ticking, with precious few session days remaining in the year.
It has taken 150 years, but perhaps lawmakers will finally heed the lessons of other mineral-blessed states - that it is their job to protect the interests of Pennsylvanians and that thriving industries can co-exist with responsible environmental regulation and a sensible tax.
Severance taxes are assessed in many states to compensate residents for the removal of a resource and to recover costs to the environment and host communities. Louisiana, for example, imposes the tax on oil, gas, brine, pulpwood, gravel, marble, coal, sand, salt and even seashells.
In the 18 months since drilling began in earnest in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale, the unabashed enthusiasm over the economic potential has been tempered by reality. Development is straining host communities' ability to keep up, with road damage, higher rents and unexpected social costs. Meanwhile, many of the best jobs are going to rig workers from Texas and Louisiana.
The public is growing wary of the industry and increasingly skeptical of claims that drilling can be done with no impact on groundwater. The skepticism is widespread, in communities within sight of the rigs, and in downstream communities along the Susquehanna and the Delaware.
The House bill addresses these problems by establishing a framework to responsibly develop the Marcellus Shale. It acknowledges that the impacts are real and ensures that the industry, not taxpayers, will foot at least part of the bill.
There will be funding for environmental protections and to pay for road repair and emergency services in host communities. The plan provides incentives to hire Pennsylvanians and training for workers to gain the specialized skills needed to take over from out-of-staters.
House lawmakers acted prudently by allocating the first $75 million to prevent additional cuts to education, health and human services. It makes little sense to further cut Harrisburg's early childhood programs, senior centers in York, food pantries in Carlisle or funding for the Lower Dauphin Schools.
The House bill sets a competitive tax rate that is comparable with those in most Western energy-producing states. It gives industry a break by exempting low-producing wells.
Oil and gas producers in other states pay property taxes, just like other businesses, but in Pennsylvania they are exempt. When considering state and local taxes, the effective tax rate in the House bill is lower than that in Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming.
The House bill wisely avoids up-front tax breaks advocated by the industry.
Pennsylvania doesn't need tax breaks to attract the gas industry. Transportation accounts for nearly half the cost of natural gas, making gas produced here competitive in the lucrative northeastern market. Boston is 392 miles from Williamsport and 1,533 miles from Fort Worth, Texas. Range Resources, the first company to drill a well in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale, anticipates a 60 percent return per well.
A severance tax also will create jobs. The Penn State Institute for Research in Training & Development found that every $100 million in severance tax will yield more than 1,100 jobs, even after factoring in higher production costs to the industry. These are jobs in booming gas-producing communities for teachers, police officers, firefighters, pipeline inspectors, geologists and water-quality specialists.
Still, this is Harrisburg, so innumerable obstacles to a final agreement remain. The industry is waging an expensive advertising campaign to capitalize on rampant anti-tax sentiments. The fact is a severance tax will not increase your taxes or mine; we already pay taxes on gas imported from other states.
Advocates committed to responsibly developing the Marcellus Shale must come together to enact a strong severance tax that is not riddled with tax breaks and loopholes.
Through the years, Pennsylvanians have learned the hard lessons of mineral extraction: fouled water, good jobs that disappear and a spoiled environment. The time has come for us to get it right. State lawmakers owe it to the public to get this done. Few session days remain. After 150 years, the time for action is now.
Our President, Tom Battista’s Written Response
I want to express my concern, as an angler and hunter regarding drilling for natural gas using the process hydraulic fracturing (fracking). I realize that we have a great potential energy source that can cause an economic boom in our state, and help alleviate our dependence on foreign energy sources (oil & gas).
I hope that as lawmakers that Senators Brown & Argall realize that it is vital to our state that we protect our environment we have been blessed with.
I am personally opposed to developing wells on any state owned land (especially roadless areas and gamelands my license fees pay for) since this would degrade the environment I helped pay for.
I want to ask for your support for SB1155, and to impose a competetive severance tax on the gas and oil industry as most western states have. Furthermore I would like a larger ammount of these funds, (at least 3-4%) to be allocated to the Pa.Fish and Boat Commission. The tax should levied insuch a way that the gas industry would be paying for additional DEP personnel to monitor and enforce strict environmental regulations. Did you know that permits for the development of gas wells are easier to obtain than any other construction projects? They are being "fast-tracked" through the system.
I have attached an e-mail sent to me to this letter, from the PATU officer in charge of political action. I also strongly urge you to go to PBS's website and look at "gaslands" the Josh Fox interview.
The current boom in the gas industry will also have a great effect on public education in our state. Some school districts are experiencing the beginninings of rapid growth as a result of families moving from out of state to work in the gas industry. Jobs that are not going to Pa. residents while straining our infrastructure.
It is the express desire of the 12,000 members of Trout Unlimited in Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited, or PATU) to protect, conserve, and restore our precious environment. The very land these companies want develop wells on are the headwaters of our watersheds. In the film "Gaslands" by Josh Fox, there is sufficient evedence to suggest hydraulic fracturing of gas wells is not a sound environmental practice.
I hope you are persuaded to protect the resources of Pa. and give the state agencies (DEP, Game and Fish Commissions) power and a mandate to strictly enforce a strict enviromental code.
Sincerely,
Tom Battista
President, Brodheads Chapter Trout Unlimited #289
Lehigh River to Exceptional Value Upgrade Chapter Letter of Support
June 3, 2009:
Barbara Smith, President, North Pocono CARE, HC 2 Box 179A, Thornhurst, PA 18424
Dear Ms. Smith:
I would like to offer the support of the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited for the upgrade of the Lehigh River to Exceptional Value (EV) from its source to the confluence with Tobyhanna Creek. Please share this letter of support from our organization with the PADEP Environmental Quality Board in order that it may be considered during their deliberations regarding upgrade to EV status of this section of the Lehigh River.
The Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited works closely with other environmentally conscious organizations in the Brodhead Creek, McMichaels Creek and Cherry Valley Creek Watersheds and understands the importance of protecting the exceptional water quality in these cold water fisheries and the Lehigh River system.
Redesignating this section of the Lehigh River to EV will protect the quality of the water, preserving the high quality fishing, recreational and wild life resources vital to the this local economy. To repeat, the Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited supports this upgrade.
Sincerely,
Thomas Battista, President, Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Congratulations to John Pysher who was selected for the 2010 Fly Fishing Calendar published by PaFlyFish.com.
Photos of John Pysher were generously donated by Art Feldman.
©2010 Art Feldman- TAFCo Photography - All Rights Reserved
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