Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumPA's Drilling tax proposal sparks blowback
The Hill
Drilling tax proposal sparks blowback
By Timothy Cama
The U.S. oil and gas industry is mounting an aggressive campaign to beat back a Pennsylvania proposal to impose a new tax on natural gas production in the state.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/243161-drilling-tax-proposal-sparks-blowback
Maybe that tax can be used to repair and maintain the roads to which fracking trucks cause so much wear-&-tear. A 'fix' for Corbett's corporate welfare gift when he raised a number of transportation abd other fees that affect PA citizens and gave frackers a free infrastructure ride.
x p Penna
AuntPatsy
(9,904 posts)Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)They pay fuel taxes on every gallon they buy, same as every other trucking company.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)At least in NC, they will be paying for the damage they're going to do to the roads.
Drilling is heavily dependent on dump trucks, tanker trucks and 18-wheel rigs that chew up the kinds of two-lane country roads that criss-cross North Carolinas rural counties where shale gas exploration is expected to get underway.
But Republican Sen. E.S. Buck Newton of Wilson warned that North Carolinas road maintenance protections must not impede drilling. Newton is a member of the Joint Legislative Commission on Energy Policy.
We want to get this industry up and moving, Newton told transportation officials. I dont want our process to be more onerous.
I want our process to be less onerous but more rigorous.
Fracking could start as early as next spring when the states safety rules go into effect for energy exploration. As part of that process, the N.C. Department of Transportation will submit a study Jan. 1 that was requested by the legislature to examine the impact of fracking on local roads, particularly in Lee, Moore and Chatham counties where fracking is most likely to begin.
To insure that drillers restore damaged roads to their original condition, DOT will require a surety bond of $100,000 per each mile of roadway used to haul equipment and materials, which could come to several million dollars for a site, said DOT engineer Brandon Jones.
Such agreements are common in other states where shale gas exploration is underway. DOT will ask lawmakers to write road use maintenance agreements into state law so that there is no ambiguity about the the transportation departments authority to enforce repairs.
Jones assured lawmakers that North Carolinas proposed surety bonds are not onerous and have not generated criticism from the industry. Repairing a roadway costs more than $300,000 per mile, he said.
The road maintenance agreements would cover repairs for secondary roads that were not designed for heavy truck traffic. ...
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article9239366.html
Panich52
(5,829 posts)If that was true, why did Corbett raise PennDOT fees, which out-of-state fracking vehicles don't pay, and other fees to cover road maintainence? RiverLover points out how rural roads are not built for heavy truck traffic. West Virginia roads are in the same state, for the same reason. PA isn't quite as high on the 'bad roads' list, but it's getting there -- and fracking trucks have a lot to do with it.
Think it's a joke that PA state critter is orange traffic barrel? Count on them showing up more often on rural roads.