"TFN!" Petition: Final Tally & Delivery Report

714! In just two weeks, we collected a total of 714 signatures from Pennsylvania citizens (plus a few out-of-staters) demanding that our elected representatives enact a severance tax on the natural gas industry in PA. That includes approximately 500 signatures in our local state house district and state senate district.

We can't thank everyone enough--for signing, for volunteering your time, and for helping us to spread the word. We met a lot of new faces in downtown Lewisburg, people who "read about it in the paper and just had to make a special trip." This was truly a 'bipartisan' effort, too--the message we heard over and over was that, regardless of your age or political party, it just doesn't make any sense not to tax an industry that will have such a large impact on our state, our air & water, and our roads. We also heard a lot of outrage over the fact that the school budgets were being slashed while the state refuses to tax gas companies.

Here is just a sample of the comments made:

• "Long overdue!"
• "Let's keep & protect Pennsylvania as we know it."
• "I want my kids to be able to enjoy all of PA's natural resources."
• "I'm not in favor of fracking, but if it is going to be allowed, we should tax the companies who are profiting from it."
• "This is the very least you can do."
• "For once, can we engage in a little long-range thinking?"

CSCC has now delivered the petition to 2 out of its 3 intended targets. We wanted to give you a short update on how those meetings went.

PA Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23)

On Tuesday June 7, we met with Curtis Fay, legislative assistant to Senator Yaw, at the UC Government Center in Lewisburg for approximately 40 minutes. (The Daily Item was there and covered the story here.) The good news was that Sen. Yaw claims to be in favor of what he calls an "impact fee" of some sort and "not opposed" to a severance tax. The bad news is that he would like to see a bill (like one he introduced himself) where almost all of the revenue stays at the local government level which would not allow funds to be used for statewide environmental protection or infrastructure. He refers to Harrisburg as a "black hole" where money would disappear. We did our best to emphasize the point with Mr. Fay that we're not opposed to some of the money going to help local governments, but the money should be divided up with at least a third going towards environmental protection as many other states have done.

PA House Rep. Fred Keller (R-85)

On Friday June 10, we met with Rep. Keller himself in his Mifflinburg office for approximately 90 minutes. The good news (besides the fact that he gave us that much time) is that he said he "agrees with the general principle that those who profit from the common good owe it to compensate those who are hurt, damaged or abused in the process." The bad news is that he basically would not commit to anything beyond that. He said he didn't agree with a moratorium, that we needed better regulation enforcement, and that he would "consider all options before supporting anything."

Governor Tom Corbett (R)

On May 31, we called the governor's office to schedule an appointment, and were told that he only accepted written or faxed requests. On June 1, we faxed a meeting request. On Wednesday June 15, we emailed because we'd received no reply. On Thursday June 16, we received a message saying, "Your request has been forwarded to the Governor's Office of Scheduling and Advancement for their review and consideration. You should expect to receive a response from a staff member in that office in the near future." We will keep trying until we get through!