send to a friend | print | comment

LEFTOVERS: Onorato on the shale, a cancellation in the 3rd, Critz on Simpson

Another day, another news conference for Democrat Dan Onorato to hammer gubernatorial rival Tom Corbett.

This time Onorato was in Harrisburg talking up his plan for getting all that natural gas out of the Marcellus Shale—and talking down Corbett’s plan. The main difference between the two? Onorato supports a severance tax on the drilling companies, Corbett doesn’t. Corbett’s support for what’s been called “voluntary” drilling standards; his opposition to limiting new drilling in state forests; and, not least, his receipt of bundles of industry campaign cash all have Onorato making the argument that Corbett is looking out for the energy companies over taxpayers and local residents.

“The Marcellus shale presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Pennsylvania—but it must be done right,” Onorato said in a statement after his Capitol news conference. “My plan will create jobs for Pennsylvanians, enable the industry to grow and protect the environment. Tom Corbett wants taxpayers to foot the bill for protecting the environment, while I want the drillers to pay for it. He has made clear that his single goal is to prevent the oil and gas companies that are making hundreds of millions of dollars a year drilling in Pennsylvania from paying their fair share. That’s the difference between us.”

Onorato has, of course, received campaign cash from industry interests, too. But not nearly as much as Corbett, who, according to a recent Common Cause study, has enjoyed a massive $360,000 windfall in contributions from the industry—more than six times Onorato’s haul.

Corbett’s campaign, for its part, reiterated the candidate’s opposition to the severance tax Wednesday. Corbett campaign spokesman Kevin Harley told The Associated Press that the rush to drill should be a vehicle to generate other economic activity, not a source of direct revenue. And Harley also said a severance tax might lead the industry to leave Pennsylvania—a position that quickly drew a mocking retort from Onorato’s campaign since that would mean leaving behind a gold mine of natural gas.

“Has a magic extraction process been discovered by [the] Corbett campaign?” Onorato’s team asked in a statement. “Where would the drillers who have literally invested hundreds of millions, if not billions, in Pennsylvania Marcellus shale go and still be able to get at the underground natural gas?”

We’ve got to admit, the facts are on Onorato’s side on this last count. There’s certainly a fair argument to be made that a severance tax could hinder or slow development in the Marcellus Shale. But saying companies would abandon what some have called the “Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas” is—well, a bit suspect.

Oh, and naturally the Onorato people, determined to win every news cycle, put out yet another Web video. We’ve embedded it at bottom for your viewing pleasure.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper’s (D-3) campaign is calling foul after Republican opponent Mike Kelly apparently pulled out of an AARP-sponsored forum that was planned for Thursday in Erie. Dahlkemper’s camp says Kelly is dissing Erie, which, as you’ll recall, he needs to conquer if he wants to win the northwest Pennsylvania district.

“He is backing out from his commitment to Erie voters and walking away from an important opportunity to discuss issues with the very voters he wants to support him,” Dahlkemper campaign manager Tina Mengine said earlier this week.

Kelly’s campaign said the Butler car dealer had to be in Washington for a fundraiser—but not the political kind. Rather, he’s on the board of Hope on Wheels, which raises cash for pediatric cancer research. The Erie Times-News looked into this one, and it seems that Kelly is playing it straight here.

And lastly, Congressman Mark Critz (D-12) didn’t succeed the first time he tried to get Alan Simpson fired from President Obama’s deficit reduction committee—so he’s trying again. He first called on the president to fire Simpson when the former Republican Senator equated Social Security to a “milk cow with 310 million tits.” But Simpson had another case of foot-in-mouth syndrome when he called it “ironic” that the military veterans “who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess.”

Simpson is a vet himself, but Critz, who faces a rematch against Republican Tim Burns in the fall, says he’s had enough.

“Our nation owes every veteran a debt of gratitude but Alan Simpson thinks they are a burden and their benefits need to be slashed,” Critz said in a statement. “President Obama was wrong to keep Alan Simpson around when he went after Social Security. In light of the Senator’s disdain for veterans, I once again call on the President to remove Senator Simpson from his post immediately.

“President Obama foolishly kept Simpson around after he recklessly went after Social Security,” Critz added. “He cannot make that mistake again.  Our seniors and our veterans can’t afford to have him on this very important commission.”

September 1, 2010 at 11:07 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Dan Onorato, Kathy Dahlkemper, Mark Critz, Mike Kelly, PA-12, PA-3, Tim Burns, Tom Corbett

comments

comments [2] | post a comment