House Committee Chairs Warn- Round One On State Forest Drilling

House Finance Committee Majority Chairman David Levdansky (D-Allegheny) and House Game and Fisheries Committee Majority Chairman Ed Staback (D-Lackawanna) are calling on conservationists, environmentalists and sportsmen across the state to remain united and active in the effort to protect our state forests from becoming a cash cow for the drilling industry.
While the passage of House Bill 1531 should be considered a positive step toward the enactment of a severance tax, which among many things would reduce the fiscal pressures to lease more acreage of the forest, the chairmen made it very clear that there’s far more work to do.
Both chairmen are actively engaged and will remain vigilant to ensure the conservation and protection of our state forests.
"Our forests, mountaintops, vistas, streams and wetlands are all we have left and God isn’t making any more of it," Rep. Levdansky said. "We are the stewards of the best state forest system in the U.S., and I will do anything and everything within my power to see that legacy is passed to my children and future generations of Pennsylvanians."
Rep. Staback echoed the point, noting, "The manner in which residential and commercial development is taking place in more rural areas today makes our state forest lands, as well as our state game lands, the last haven for plant and wildlife to continue to thrive."
With state revenue needs also driving the state forest leasing issue, the chairmen made it abundantly clear that the long-term and short-term revenue from a statewide imposition of a severance tax would do far more than supplant state forest leasing revenues for the General Fund. Along with the considerable portion of severance tax revenues that would also go to the state’s General Fund, significant revenues would further be distributed to the Environmental Stewardship Fund, local governments and communities in counties where drilling occurs, as well as the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission.
The chairmen both reiterated the magnitude of new sustainable revenue for both the commissions contained in House Bill1531. They noted the Game Commission in particular finds itself in financial need.
"The amount of revenue received through the passage of a severance tax included in House Bill 1531 would address the needs of both commissions for years to come and would supplant any future need to continue leasing more acreage of the forests," Rep. Staback said.
"The two commissions are critical to the sustainable management of all of Pennsylvania’s wildlife and the environment," Rep. Levdansky added. "I want to ensure they receive this revenue for decades to come, and I will not stand idly by while the gas industry sets its design to raid our state forest system."
They closed by noting that the affirmative vote on House Bill 1531 was a giant step in the right direction for a severance tax on Marcellus natural gas in Pennsylvania, but more hard work needs to be done.
"The environmental community, along with the conservation, outdoorsmen and sportsmen communities, know what’s at stake here," the chairmen said. "We need their strong and determined advocacy to win this fight to protect our state forest.”