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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Lawrence Curry |
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Curry cautions state budget agreement could hurt the environment
HARRISBURG, Sept. 22 – State Rep. Lawrence Curry, D-Montgomery/Phila., joined fellow legislators and environmentalists at a news conference in Harrisburg today to caution that the state budget proposal agreed to on Friday could severely hurt Pennsylvania's environment.
The budget agreement calls for increased leasing of state-owned land for Marcellus Shale drilling as one of the ways to generate revenue.
"Natural gas drilling will cause pollution that would contaminate drinking water, destroy natural habitats and threaten the forest ecosystem," Curry said. "We should not solve one problem by creating another."
Curry likened the proposal to expand natural gas drilling on state-owned land to the 1882 play "Enemy of the People," by Henrik Isben of Norway.
It's the story of a Norwegian coastal town that has recently invested a large amount of public and private money into the development of baths – a project expected to bring a surge in tourism and prosperity for the town. Just as the baths are proving successful, Doctor Thomas Stockmann, who helped develop the project, discovers that waste products from the town's tannery are contaminating the waters, causing serious illness amongst the tourists.
He tells the mayor and the townspeople the baths must be closed for safety's sake. While he feels he is doing the right thing, he is taunted and denounced as a lunatic by the townspeople who fear economic ruin by closing the baths.
"We need to move cautiously in developing this natural resource to ensure we do not destroy the environment for economic gain," Curry said. "What good is it to make money on drilling, only to spend even more correcting the environmental damage it caused?"
The Marcellus Shale formation is an underground deposit of natural gas that lies deep beneath roughly 60 percent of the western part of Pennsylvania. Curry suggested a severance tax be levied on companies to cover costs associated with drilling.
"One would be hard pressed to argue that we can't tax big corporations reaping huge profits from a natural resource that belongs to Pennsylvania, but we can increase taxes on the small games of chance that veterans groups and volunteer fire departments depend on to raise funds, or impose an Art's Tax that will raise the price of tickets to plays, concerts and museums," Curry said.
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Approximately 660,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of state forest land in the Marcellus Shale region are already available for drilling. Curry said a severance tax levied on the current land that is open for drilling would bring in an estimated $100 million in the first year and about $600 million after five years.
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Editors note: A map of the Marcellus Shale and a map of Pennsylvania rivers and streams are attached.
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CONTACT: Lauren Rooney, House Democratic Communications Office Email: lrooney@pahouse.net |