NYTIMES
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: February 7, 2012
Pennsylvania Senate Passes Compromise Bill on Gas Drilling
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would impose a tax on the shale gas industry in exchange for removing many of the barriers to development, a compromise that critics said left municipalities with little control over the use of their own land.
The bill passed the state Senate 31 to 19, after an hour of bitter debate. It had been the subject of controversy for months and was pushed by Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican. It faces a vote in the House later Tuesday, where it is expected to pass.
State and local lawmakers in Pennsylvania have been trying to agree on how to regulate the development of the Marcellus Shale, a giant gas deposit under a large swath of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. In Pennsylvania, the industry is booming, and those who support the bill say it is high time to streamline government’s approach to it.
Supporters said the bill raised environmental standards by instituting how far the industry has to be from occupied buildings. It also imposes a fee that will rise and fall with the price of natural gas, and which State Senator Joe Scarnati, a Republican who supported the bill, said would bring in over $1 billion in badly needed revenue over the next five years.
“We walked a fine balance,” Mr. Scarnati said. “We have landed in a good spot.”
The only good spot you could land on, is the moon. The set-backs are ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. The stance of all governments should be; Health over Wealth, NOT Wealth over Health. Period. We think that all Senators who voted to approve these minimal setbacks should first have a well pad drilled on their property 300' from their children's bedroom window. We find it appalling that the Senate would 'compromise' the health of the citizens.
Wake up America and take back your Constitutional Rights to clean air, clean water and a clean healthy environment. Many countries all around the globe are practicing this, why can't we? Simple, it's the American Oligarchy that tells us what kind of energy we must eat and at what cost. This is not the land of the free, but rather the land of the greed and the home of the knaves.
