{"id":15045,"date":"2015-06-11T03:56:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T03:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/independentweekender.com\/?p=15045"},"modified":"2015-06-11T03:56:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-11T03:56:17","slug":"hearing-shows-divide-on-severance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing shows divide on severance"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY ROBERT SWIFT<\/strong>
\n Times-Shamrock Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Senate hearing Monday, June 1, revealed more of the sharp divide over a proposed severance tax on natural gas production, a key element of Gov. Tom Wolf\u2019s state budget proposal.<\/p>\n

The joint hearing before the Senate Finance and Environmental Resources and Energy committees occurred on the first day of \u201cbudget season,\u201d the monthlong lead-up to the June 30 deadline for enacting a new state budget and related legislation.<\/p>\n

Gov. Wolf has proposed a severance tax of 5 percent on the value of gas at the wellhead, plus 4.7 cents per thousand cubic feet of volume to generate revenue to help restore earlier cuts to public education. He would also use severance tax revenue to maintain a local impact fee to local governments in the drilling region that was enacted in 2012.<\/p>\n

The education system is suffering from cuts that increased class sizes, shrank teaching staffs and led to school programs being eliminated, said acting state Revenue Secretary Eileen McNulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dialogue on this important issue has become centered around a fundamentally false-choice; you\u2019re either for a higher energy tax or you\u2019re against children\u2019s education and future,\u201d said Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group.<\/p>\n

The health of the gas industry at a time of low prices came in for debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tax matter could not come at a more difficult time for an industry already under significant economic pressure,\u201d said Spigelmyer.<\/p>\n

He said shale operators in Pennsylvania have reduced their 2015 investments by more than $9 billion and many firms have had layoffs.<\/p>\n

However, Sens. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, and Daylin Leach, D-17, King of Prussia, said gas companies are giving a bullish and upbeat outlook in their reports to shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you being honest with the investors or not?\u201d asked Leach.<\/p>\n

Adopting the proposed severance tax would likely move Pennsylvania from being one of the lowest energy tax states to the highest tax state compared to other major gas-producing states, said Matthew Knittel, director of the state Independent Fiscal Office.<\/p>\n

He said gas prices are likely to rise as major new pipelines come on line during the next several years. These pipelines will deliver Pennsylvania gas to new markets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions, said Knittel.<\/p>\n

Sen. Gene Yaw, R-23, Williamsport, the environmental panel chairman, criticized a provision to cap the impact fee at the 2014 level. Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Plymouth, said talk of consumer savings on natural gas bills should be weighed against higher school property tax bills for homeowners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ROBERT SWIFT Times-Shamrock Writer A Senate hearing Monday, June 1, revealed more of the sharp divide over a proposed severance tax on natural gas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nHearing shows divide on severance - PS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hearing shows divide on severance - PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY ROBERT SWIFT Times-Shamrock Writer A Senate hearing Monday, June 1, revealed more of the sharp divide over a proposed severance tax on natural gas...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-11T03:56:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tpennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/\",\"name\":\"Hearing shows divide on severance - PS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-11T03:56:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hearing shows divide on severance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"PS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5\",\"name\":\"tpennysaver\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tpennysaver\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/author\/tpennysaver\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hearing shows divide on severance - PS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hearing shows divide on severance - PS","og_description":"BY ROBERT SWIFT Times-Shamrock Writer A Senate hearing Monday, June 1, revealed more of the sharp divide over a proposed severance tax on natural gas...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/","og_site_name":"PS","article_published_time":"2015-06-11T03:56:17+00:00","author":"tpennysaver","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tpennysaver","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/","name":"Hearing shows divide on severance - PS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-11T03:56:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/11\/hearing-shows-divide-on-severance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hearing shows divide on severance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/","name":"PS","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/75c26bc8e32869a516360463d23964c5","name":"tpennysaver","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d6045c51d67078fca07dea2f9a98096ff872042fa26efc301b1a93de9e6020ef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tpennysaver"},"url":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/author\/tpennysaver\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}