Protecting Our Environment

By Eric S. Schott

The state must better monitor the booming gas drilling industry to protect our water and keep agriculture a strong part of our economy. We all live downstream.

Harrisburg policymakers have a responsibility to protect the public, our lands, and our water and air from harmful industrial practices; they have an obligation to balance the economic windfall that we may enjoy in the short-term with the goal of leaving a safe, clean environment to our children and grandchildren.

They are failing this test.

According to the nonpartisan Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, 96 percent of natural gas nationwide is produced in states with a severance tax; Pennsylvania's failure to implement same has now cost the state more than $324 million. Legislation passed earlier this spring falls far short and robs local communities of their ability to manage the industry effectively.

When elected, I'll fight for a meaningful gas severance tax: the Marcellus shale is under Pennsylvania; the resource is here, the industry is here, and no responsible tax will change that. What a tax will ensure is responsible, consistent monitoring of a new industry, desperately needed funds to repair our state's crumbling roads and bridges, and the ability to preserve open space and diversity of lands across the state.

Closer to home, I'll support local officials by hiring a full-time grant writer in my district office, rather than a legislative staffer. We'll work with township supervisors, borough officials, and local conservation organizations to identify priority parcels of open space; develop cross-community preservation plans; and develop proposals to protect historic sites and diversity of lands in southern and western Chester County.