Ridge With Onorato, Not Corbett, On Gas Tax Plan
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Ridge With Onorato, Not Corbett, On Gas Tax Plan
Chris Brennan
Well this can't be very convenient for state Attorney General Tom Corbett, the Republican nominee for governor in Tuesday's general election. Former Gov. Tom Ridge told John Micek, the Morning Call of Allentown's man in Harrisburg, yesterday that an extraction tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling in the state would not harm taxpayers or the industry and help pay for environmental impacts.
If that sounds familiar, it's because that is the position of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democratic nominee for governor. One key area of disagreement between the candidates has been the extraction tax. Onorato wants to keep it out of the state's general fund, using it only for environmental regulation, infrastructure repairs in areas where drilling occurs and and a fund to preserve open land. Corbett flatly rejects any type of tax, even though every state with significant natural gas drilling has one, claiming that it will harm an industry that can create 80,000 jobs in the state.
Ridge, who endorsed Corbett last year, would know at least a little about the subject, since he is a "strategic adviser" to the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry lobbying group. Onorato's camp jumped on the issue today, accusing Corbett of running false attack ads on television accusing the Democrat of supporting a "massive energy tax that will increase utility rates and kill jobs."
Onorato also pointed out that Corbett has taken $850,000 in campaign contributions from the natural gas industry. “Tom Corbett is steadfast in doing the bidding of his Big Oil & Gas donors,” the Onorato campaign e-mailed reporters.
UPDATE, 1 pm: Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley responds: "Tom Corbett is against a severance tax. Period. He respects and admires Gov. Ridge, however they disagree on this issue."
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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