Tom Wolf's letter to Marcellus Shale Coalition

[Divernan]

While any of the Democratic candidates for governor in next Tuesday's primary would make far better governors than Corbett, I feel Tom Wolf would be the best. Corbett is certainly afraid of him! Here are (1) my comments in the Tribune-Review and (2) the letter Tom Wolf sent to the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

Wolf is the candidate Corbett is most threatened by. I have received THREE oversize, full color, multi-page campaign brochures, identified as "Paid for by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania", containing hyped-up, grossly distorted attacks on Wolf, mostly for actions taken by Obama, like the Affordable Care Act. They vaguely cite the likes of the uber-conservative Heritage Foundation (GAG!). I was undecided which Democrat to vote for in the primary - any of them would be a huge improvement over Corbett, but leaning toward Wolf. The campaign garbage from the GOP (doubtless subsidized by the fracking companies) has solidified my decision to vote for Wolf. It DID occur to me that the GOP's massive investment in these attack ads (never seen that in a Democratic primary in my 50 years of voting), COULD be an extremely clever psy-ops, reverse psychology move. But nah! That would mean the state GOP believed in science, and that would go hand in hand with believing massive climate change is occurring, exacerbated by human action, or that the earth is more than 6,000 years old, or gasp! believing in evolution.

I look forward to the fall election, and voting for Wolf, (BA, Dartmouth; MA , University of London: Ph.D. from MIT). I particularly like that he demonstrated a commitment to public service by serving 2 years in an agricultural assignment for the Peace Corps in India and has both business and government experience. By contrast, Corbett went to a tiny religious college & had to teach as a 9th grade sub for a year before finally finding a third tier Texas law school which would admit him.

October 18, 2013
Pittsburgh, PA
Dear Board Members of the Marcellus Shale Coalition:
As a fellow Chief Executive Officer and as a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, I believe
the Marcellus Shale must be a key component of any plan for our state's economic
future. I believe we all have an obligation to get this new energy era right, and unlike Governor
Corbett, I will make sure state agencies tasked with environmental oversight are
adequately funded, staffed, and supervised to prevent reckless drilling, and that
irresponsible companies are held accountable.

And I will also make sure that if Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, New Mexico, West
Virginia, and Oklahoma and most other states in the country currently benefit as oil and
gas companies cash in on those states' environmental resources, that Pennsylvania
does, too.

I believe this because when my wife and I bought back my kitchen and bath products
business, we turned it around by investing in people, innovating, and thinking about the
future differently. We turned the business from a wholesale distributor of
other people's products, into a company that sources our own American made kitchen cabinets and other building products that compete directly with products made in China. And we did it the right way --treating workers fairly and providing good benefits. We even return twenty to thirty
percent of all of our company's profits back to the workers -- because their work is what
truly makes my company successful.

I have no doubt that the natural gas operations of your companies are likewise
successful because of the leadership of your management teams, the innovation of
your engineers, and the hard work of your employees who work the drilling rigs.
But what also makes these operations successful is access to abundant recoverable
natural gas and direct access to the biggest markets in the world --and only
Pennsylvania offers businesses both. That's what makes us the Keystone State.
If done right and if its benefits are broadly shared, continued development of natural
gas is a bridge to a clean energy future and will allow Pennsylvania to have good
-paying energy jobs; a safe and secure environment; and the ability to make critical
investments in education, health care, and safe, reliable infrastructure.
Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Oklahoma are just a few
of the places that use a severance tax to ensure that a fair portion of the profits from
their natural resources are used to fund key priorities. In fact, Pennsylvania is the only major gas producing state that doesn't accomplish this with a severance tax.

Unfortunately, the Marcellus Shale Coalition recently issued a press release that
misrepresents basic economic facts about a severance tax, while also stoking
unwarranted fears about job loss in a state that is too slowly recovering from the
economic recession. While it is true that Pennsylvania's corporate tax structure and corporate net income tax is one of the highest in the entire country, and we need to make our tax system fairer, few companies engaged in natural gas drilling pay corporate taxes thanks to loopholes.
According to a recent New York Times article, more than two thirds of the companies in
the Marcellus Shale Coalition are registered to a single address in Wilmington,
Delaware. And in 2008, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center found that only 15
percent of gas companies actually paid Corporate Net Income taxes to the
Commonwealth. In addition to avoiding corporate taxes, it has also been alleged in the
Pittsburgh Post Gazette that Marcellus Shale Coalition members have been picking the pockets of landowners by drawing up leases that deduct impact fees from royalty payments in
direct violation of Pennsylvania law. While many Marcellus Shale Coalition members act responsibly and want to share in the benefits of this remarkable natural resource, it seems that others may be more interested in cutting corners to increase profits at the expense of taxpayers, landowners, and the environment.

From January 2009 through June 2012, the top five fracking operators in Pennsylvania
were Chesapeake Energy, Range Resources, Shell Western, Talisman Energy, and
Anadarko--all of which are headquartered outside of the state. And according to
NPR's StateImpact Project these five companies were responsible for 1,786 en
vironmental violations totaling $2,548,156 in fines--or fifty-two percent of both the
total number of violations and total dollar amount fined for all operators.So let's end the empty rhetoric that gets us nowhere--and let's get to work on how best to share in the benefits of the Marcellus Shale to move both business and Pennsylvania forward. And if you think differently about a severance tax, it's easy to see how it will help boost demand for natural gas products--and thus increase profits for gas companies such as yours --by providing the state of Pennsylvania with the incentive and the revenue it needs to help build the natural gas infrastructure of tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Tom Wolf

http://action.wolfforpa.com/page/-/pdf/20131018_TomWolf_Letter_Marcellus_Shale_final.pdf

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Thank you for the information.

I was not originally going to vote for Wolf, but am leaning toward him now for reasons similar to those that you specified.

[femmocrat]

2. Same here, Curmudgeoness.

I was going to vote for McCord because PSEA endorsed him. He ran a lousy campaign!

If Wolf is the candidate who has the best chance of beating core-butt in November, then I think we should get behind him. Also, Wolf is the only candidate to visit Westmoreland County (so far).

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Well, I can't use the "who visited" reason to vote

for a candidate, since the only one who has shown up here was McCord, and that was a long time ago. I was impressed with him when I met him, but you are right. His campaign was terrible.

I may live to regret this, since that has happened to me before (Rendell), but I am more interested in getting Corbutt out of the governor's office than anything else right now. Years ago, I learned that if I find a politician really appeals to me and I agree with all their platform, they will not have a chance in a general election....too liberal for the masses. I must always compromise.

[femmocrat]

4. That is so true! LOL

I was thinking of voting for Schwartz, because I liked her embracing of Obamacare. But then, alas, she went negative, too. I heard on MSNBC that she was expected to be the front-runner, but Wolf out-smarted everyone by getting his (self-financed) ads out so early. He even ran an ad during the Superbowl, which I do not remember.

I guess I will vote for Wolf by default and hope he can oust core-butt.

[blue neen]

5. Excellent info.

Thank you.

We have also been receiving the glossy mailings from the PA Republican Party. The lies are sickening.

[JPZenger]

8. Remember, the Repubs DO NOT WANT to run against Wolf

That is why they are spending so much money trying to defame Wolf before the primary. I received 3 Republican Party attack mailings against Wolf in the last week, which were full of outright lies.

Based upon the Repubs inside polling and op research, they wanted Schwartz to be their opponent.

[Divernan]

6. Also, I'm very enthused about Mike Stack for Lt. Governor.

[JPZenger]

7. Unlike the Wolf Company, the frackers do avoid taxes through the Delaware Loophole

Thanks for the post.

[ChangeUp106]

9. It doesn't matter

Corbett stinks so any one will beat him.

Wolf had the most cash so he wins the election. Welcome to America.

Considering leaving the Gov. ballot blank tomorrow but I will probably go McCord.

And don't be fooled by the GOP being scared over Wolf. Who knows. Maybe they have something on him and are trying to tilt the primary to their favor.

[MadrasT]

10. I am very enthusiastic about Wolf.

Can't wait to go vote.

Thanks for sharing this.