Thursday November 3, 2016 12:01 AM
Reading Eagle
The Issue: The state’s largest physicians group wants to stop new natural gas drilling while studying the practice’s health effects.
Our Opinion: It’s a reasonable, if unrealistic, request.
For years, the primary focus of Pennsylvania’s fracking conversation has been upon taxes.
It’s well-chronicled that Pennsylvania remains the only state not to impose a natural-gas extraction tax, and many have long – and thus far unsuccessfully – argued that a larger levy on drilling companies would work revenue-generating wonders for a state that perpetually struggles to balance its budget. Gov. Tom Wolf again pushed that case in February, when he proposed a 6.5 percent extraction tax on Marcellus shale drillers.
Thus far, state Republicans have steadfastly refused to consider the issue, citing an impact fee that drilling companies already pay.
But it may be time for Pennsylvania to permanently shift the fracking conversation away from fees and toward the risks associated with the process.
Read more at http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/editorial-demand-for-fracking-moratorium-has-merit.
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