Governor Tom Corbett, who was elected with the help of over 1.6 Million dollars from the natural gas industry, must uphold the Pennsylvania constitution and not give in to oil and gas industry lobbyists. The proposed bills on Marcellus Shale extraction fees (House Bill 1950 and Senate Bill 1100) are bad legislation, and fundamentally flawed.

These bills were written by industry lawyers and have been forced through both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature by the Governor’s friends in leadership (who, besides being the same party as the Governor, also received large gas and oil contributions to their campaigns.)

It is important that Governor Corbett show that he is not corrupted by campaign contributions. He also swore to uphold our Pennsylvania Constitution which states:

Article I, section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution – Natural Resources and the Public Estate

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

Click here to sign on.

Gas Industry Contributions Impact the PA Legislature

Harrisburg – This week’s passage of Marcellus tax bills SB 1100 and HB 1950 demonstrated the influence of drilling industry campaign contributions on Pennsylvania’s legislative process, as outlined in the data below.  These weak, inadequate bills fail to protect the health and safety of the people of Pennsylvania or to require this wealthy industry to pay its fair share for the good of the Commonwealth.

An analysis of data provided by MarcellusMoney.org suggests that these bills were designed not to protect Pennsylvanians, but to protect the profits of the gas drilling industry and the campaign contributions that reelect our lawmakers.   MarcellusMoney.org, a joint project of Common Cause PA and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania tracks the more than $8 million that the natural gas industry has spent on campaign contributions and lobbying in the Commonwealth.

“The legislators that supported these bills sold out the people of Pennsylvania,” said Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “Citizens of the Commonwealth have a right to know what price the drilling industry paid to take precedence over public health, over the preservation of natural resources, and over our state’s fiscal security.”

SENATE BILL 1100

Senate Bill 1100 passed by a vote of 29 to 20:

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $818,523
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $115,200
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $28,225
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $5,760

Senator Tim Solobay, one of only two Democrats to vote in favor of final passage, received more gas industry money than any other elected official in his party.  He ranks fourth in gas contributions in the Senate, having accepted $48,825.  Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, the prime sponsor of SB 1100 accepted $293,333. Senator Don White accepted $89,150; Senator Jake Corman accepted $67,290.  Senators Solobay and White serve on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.  Senator Corman is the Chair of the Appropriations Committee.

The Hughes Amendment – A6375 – designed to raise the fees on individual gas wells failed by a vote of 25 to 24.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $171,225
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $762,498
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $7,134
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $30,500

The Furlo Amendment – A6387 – designed to remove the controversial local zoning preemption language in SB 1100 failed by a vote of 22 to 27.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $155,775
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $777,948
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $7,081
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $28,813

The Stack Amendment – A6386 – designed to increase the bonding requirements for new wells failed by a vote of 20 to 29.

• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Aye”:  $127.175
• Total gas industry contributions to Senators voting ”Nay”:  $806,548
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Aye”: $6,359
• Average contributions to a Senator voting “Nay”: $27,812

HOUSE BILL 1950

In the House of Representatives, HB 1950 was considered without amendments. It passed by a vote of 107 to 76, with 20 members excused from voting.

• Total gas contributions to Representatives voting ”Aye”: $478,297
• Total gas contributions to Representatives voting ”Nay”: $263,975
• Average contributions to a Representative voting “Aye”: $4,470
• Average contributions to a Representative voting “Nay”: $3,473

The 22 sponsors of HB 1950, Representatives Ellis, S. H. Smith, Turzai, Saylor, Reed, Adolph, Major, Stevenson, Vereb, Ross, Grove, Marshall, Helm, Vulakovich, P. Costa, Gergeley, Oberlander, Readshaw, Moul, Christiana, Tallman and Everett accepted a total of $325,747, an average of $14,807. The House as a whole accepted $847,155, an average of $4,173 per representative.

From John Cole of the Scranton Times Tribune

We are proud to announce Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania’s endorsement of Kathryn Boockvar for Commonwealth Court.

Kathy has a deep understanding of environmental issues and a personal commitment to the environmental protection.  She is the best person to defend the health of our air, land and water on the Commonwealth Court.

The Commonwealth Court is an intermediate appellate court that hears many cases related to environmental protection. With the massive influx of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale formation, we face many new and poorly understood threats to our water and air quality. The Commonwealth Court will play a major role in determining responsible policies and setting precedents on this important issue.

Electing the right judges to that court will be a major step forward for our environment. Keep recycling, keep conserving, but remember that the single most important thing you can do for the environment is to get your friends and neighbors to support Kathy Boockvar on November 8.

MarcellusMoney.org releases new data on giving from industry PACs and executives

Harrisburg  – The natural gas industry gave $7,175,234 to Pennsylvania
candidates and Political Action Committees (PACs) from 2000 through the end
of 2010, according to an analysis released today by www.MarcellusMoney.org.
$3,442,212 was donated to elected officials currently in office.  These
numbers include previously unavailable campaign finance disclosures from
June 8, 2010 to the end of that year.

Governor Tom Corbett accepted a total of $641,193 from the gas industry in
the last half of 2010, an average of more than $100,000 per month.  Senate
President Joe Scarnati accepted $56,859 during that period.   Senator
Scarnati was not up for reelection in 2010.  House Republican Policy
Committee Chairman Dave Reed accepted $23,800.  Senate Appropriations
Chairman Jake Corman accepted $12,450.   Total figures for each official can
be found below.

Gas contributions to PA candidates have more than doubled since the last
gubernatorial election. In the 2006 election cycle, the industry gave a
total  of  $1,112,477  to  state  candidates.  In 2008, that total was
$1,004,757.  In 2010, it was $2,608,188.

“We know that natural gas drilling is a serious threat to the safety of our
air  and our drinking water, but it’s becoming clear that gas industry
checkbooks pose an equally dangerous threat to our democracy,” said Josh
McNeil of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.  “When our Governor and our
legislative leaders ignore the overwhelming public support for a fair tax on
gas drillers, how can they ask us to believe that six-figure contributions
aren’t playing a part in their decisions?”

Interested   parties   may   download   the  complete  data  set  from
MarcellusMoney.org,  a  joint project of nonpartisan nonprofits Common
Cause/Pennsylvania and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, the data is not complete.  As of late 2010, the Pennsylvania
Department  of State (DOS) has been deprived of the funds necessary to
transfer thousands of paper campaign finance reports into their computer
system for easy online viewing and database analysis.  The problem continues
into 2011, as less than half of candidate and PAC reports are filed each
year using the voluntary DOS electronic filing system.

Other highlights of the data include (all numbers are total contributions
from 2000-2010):

Total contributions from the natural gas industry: $7,175,234

to Governor Corbett: $1,634,097
to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati: $293,333
to House Speaker Samuel Smith: $59,250

to Senate Republicans: $809,548
to each Senate republican (average): $26,991

to Senate Democrats: $127,500
to each Senate Democrat (average): $6,375

to House Republicans: $554,029
to each House Republican (average): $4,948

to House Democrats: $293,100
to each House Democrat (average): $3,220

to the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee: $117,692
to House ER&E Committee Chair Scott Hutchinson: $13,550
to ER&E Members
Stephen  Bloom,  Tim  Kreiger,  Randy Vulakovich, John Hornaman, Steve
Santarsiero and Greg Vitali: $0

to the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee: $182,500
to Senate ER&E Committee Chair Mary Jo White: $18,500

to Democratic Party PACs: $129,100
to Republican Party PACs: $860,825

_The top recipient of Marcellus Money is _
_Governor Tom Corbett (R): $1,634,097_

_The top 10 legislative recipients of Marcellus Money are:       _
Senate President pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R–25): $293,334
House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Dave Reed (R–62): $105,732
Senator Donald White, member of the ER&E Committee (R–41): $89,150
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R–28): $79,100
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman (R–34): $67,290
Speaker of the House Sam Smith (R–66): $59,250
Representative Bill DeWeese (D–50): $58,750
Senator Tim Solobay, member of the ER&E Committee (D–46): $48,825
Senator Jeff Piccola (R–15): $48,450
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R–9): $48,250

#30#

*** LISTEN TO THE AD HERE***

PENNSYLVANIA –  Today, in partnership with the national League of Conservation Voters, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania launched a $60,000 radio ad campaign in Pennsylvania’s 4th district.  The ad calls out Representative Jason Altmire for supporting efforts to gut the Clean Air Act and to prevent the EPA from doing its job: protecting the health of Pennsylvania families and reducing dangerous pollution.  The radio ad will run this week on stations in the Pittsburgh media market. 

Listen to the ad here.

“Instead of allowing scientists at the EPA to set our air pollution standards, Representative Altmire has continually voted to protect polluter profits and weaken public health protections,” said Josh McNeil, Executive Director of Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.  “After five years in Washington, Representative Altmire has apparently stopped caring about those of us who still breathe Pennsylvania’s air.”

Representative Altmire voted for the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1)  which included amendments to block the EPA from implementing long  overdue air pollution safeguards to reduce emissions of carbon, mercury, arsenic and other hazardous air pollutants. He also voted for House-passed legislation (H.R. 910) to prevent the EPA from applying commonsense safeguards to curb harmful carbon pollution and protect  public health, even though the companion legislation failed in the U.S. Senate the day before.

“The EPA has a responsibility under the law to set air pollution limits that protect the public’s health and hold polluters accountable,” LCV President Gene Karpinski.  “It is simply wrong for these politicians to block scientists at the EPA from doing their job in order to protect their campaign contributions from corporate polluters.”

Script/Backup

WOMAN: Take a deep breath. Fill your lungs with clean, fresh air.

MAN: Take a deep breath. Fill your lungs with Jason Altmire Stuff.

WOMAN: Feel the fresh air nourish your cells and clean your lungs.

MAN: Feel the Jason Altmire Stuff fill your lungs with arsenic, smog and mercury.

Rep. Jason Altmire voted for the final Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) which included amendments that would block the EPA from implementing long overdue air pollution safeguards for this industry that would allow more dangerous pollutants in the air, including mercury, arsenic and lead.

WOMAN: Feel the fresh air provide your white blood cells the oxygen they need to kill bacteria, so you get healthier with every breath.

MAN: Feel the Jason Altmire Stuff inflame the lining of your lungs, make you wheeze, cause chest pains, shortness of breath, increase your chance of an asthma attack, and other serious respiratory illnesses.

All information provided by the American Lung Association factsheet, “Protect Our Kids’ Health, Don’t Weaken the Clear Air Act.”

Shortness of breath and chest pains:
Horstman DH, Folinsbee LJ, Ives PJ, Abdul-Salaam S, McDonnell WF. Ozone concentration and pulmonary response relationships for 6.6-hour exposures with five hours of moderate exercise to 0.08, 0.10, and 0.12 ppm. The American Review of Respiratory Disease 1990; 42:1158-1163.

McDonnell WF, Stewart PW, Smith MV, Pan WK, Pan J. Ozone-induced respiratory symptoms: exposure-response models and association with lung function. The European Respiratory Journal 1999;14:845–853.

Wheezing:
Triche EW, Gent JF, Holford TR, Belanger K, Bracken MB, Beckett WS, Naeher L, McSharry JE, Leaderer BP. Lowlevel ozone exposure and respiratory symptoms in infants. Environmental Health Perspectives 2006;114:911–916.

Inflammation of the lining of your lungs:
Mudway IS and Kelly FJ. An investigation of inhaled ozone dose and the magnitude of airway inflammation in healthy adults. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2004;169:1089-1095.

Increased risk of asthma attacks:
Mortimer KM, Neas LM, Dockery DW, Redline S, Tager IB. The effect of air pollution on inner-city children with asthma. European Respiratory Journal 2002; 19:699-705.

WOMAN: Feel the fresh air adjust the serotonin in your brain and improve your mood.

MAN: Feel the Jason Altmire Stuff make you sick and ill.

MAN 2: By voting to gut the Clean Air Act and prevent EPA scientists from cleaning our air, Congressman Jason Altmire protects corporate polluters who fund his campaign and leaves us breathing toxic pollutants that cause illness and death. Is that the stuff you want to breathe?

Rep. Jason Altmire recently voted for two pieces of legislation that prohibit the EPA’s scientists from doing their job protecting public health: The Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 910) and the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) which included amendments that would block the EPA from implementing new air pollution safeguards and would allow more dangerous pollutants in the air, including arsenic, mercury, and carbon dioxide.

According to the EPA, the rule reducing mercury and other harmful pollutants from cement plants would result in avoiding up to 2,500 premature deaths per year and preventing 17,000 cases of aggravated asthma, among other significant health benefits.

H.R. 910 would block the EPA from setting commonsense standards limiting carbon dioxide and other global warming pollution from major sources of pollution. H.R. 910 roll call.

Rep. Jason Altmire has received $322,600 in oil and other energy interests during his career.

VO:  A message from the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.

###

“Gov. Corbett is proposing to reduce overall state spending to the 2008/2009 levels. However, DEP has lost over a third of their budget since that year. To fail to restore DEP’s budget is to establish a deliberate policy of weakening protection for clean water and clean air in our state. Under Gov. Ridge, DEP got twice the state funding it is getting now,” stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action.

Gov. Corbett proposed an additional 5% budget cut for DEP this year, continuing five straight years of budget cuts for DEP. Including these new proposed cuts, over $77 million, or 36% of DEP’s budget has been cut since the 2008/2009 budget. Current DEP funding is 59% lower than it was under Gov. Ridge in 2000-2001.

“Ensuring the proper health of our land and water resources in Pennsylvania is an essential part of our public safety mission as elected officials,” said Senator Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia. “Governor Corbett’s proposed 5% cut to the Department of Environmental Protection flies in the face of this core function of government. By continuing the unfortunate and dangerous trend of devastating cuts to the department charged with protecting our environment in Pennsylvania, we are forced to face further challenges in our attempt to regulate and mitigate damage caused by the expansion of the natural gas drilling industry.”

Conservation Votes and Clean Water Action released a new poll of 1,200 Pennsylvania voters conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research and Global Strategy Group. The poll found that only 17% of voters in the state supported further cuts to DEP’s budget. A large majority of registered

Republicans supported protecting DEP’s funding, with only 26% supporting cuts.

“A severance tax could generate nearly $200 million this year, more than enough to both increase funding for the DEP and to support other state priorities. Seeing more and more communities forced to deal with the consequences of drilling, Pennsylvanians know that we cannot afford to lay off the men and women who protect our air and water. Our new poll shows that 76% of our citizens want the state to maintain or increase the budget for the DEP while 70% support a severance tax. The people are there. It’s time for their elected officials to listen,” stated Josh McNeil with Conservation Voters.

Jeff Schmidt, Director, Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter stated, “Governor Corbett’s proposed budget would eliminate 69 additional DEP staff, including at least 30 from Environmental Protection Operations. This includes the field enforcement staff that are the environmental cops on the beat. We depend on these people as our ‘thin green line’ of protection from the polluters who would despoil our air and water in order to increase their profits. DEP’s budget has already been cut to the bone, so we oppose the additional cuts that would occur under the Governor’s proposal.”

“Increased funding for Pennsylvania’s environmental agencies such as DEP is a critical investment in our future,” said PennEnvironment’s Erika Staaf. “Marcellus Shale gas extraction is expected to increase drastically in the next few decades, and now is the time when we need more environmental enforcers on the ground to protect our environment. As a former Attorney General, we would hope that Gov. Corbett would agree with us on that.”

Addressing DEP’s efforts to raise additional revenue through increasing permit application fees for drilling in the Marcellus Shale, Myron Arnowitt with Clean Water Action stated, “It seems unlikely that a one time $3,500 payment is going to cover DEP’s costs of 15 years of inspection, water and air monitoring, and other oversight activities.”

# # #

Last night, Judy Schwank defeated Larry Medaglia in the special election to fill Pennsylvania’s 11th District Senate seat.

Judy Schwank thanked her supporters and remembered Senator Michael O'Pake at the victory celebration Tuesday night.

Ms. Schwank, a lifelong environmentalist, earned 20,124 votes to Medaglia’s 14,794, reports Mary E. Young of the Reading Eagle. Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVPA) endorsed Senator-elect Schwank on March 6, the organization’s first endorsement since November 2010.

“This election was a big victory for the environment and for Pennsylvania,” CVPA Executive Director Josh McNeil said. “We look forward to many years of working with Judy Schwank to protect Pennsylvanians and their environment. CVPA is proud to have helped elect this great new conservation champion to the Pennsylvania Senate.”

“The EPA has a responsibility under the law to set air pollution limits that protect the public’s health and hold polluters accountable.  It is unconscionable for politicians like Representatives Altmire and Barletta to block scientists at the EPA from doing their job,” said Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Executive Director Josh McNeil. “Scientists, not politicians, should determine our air pollution limits.”

The radio ads will run in the Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Allentown-Bethlehem, and Sunbury media markets.  They are complemented by online advertising and 8622 phone calls into the 4th and 11th districts to inform constituents of the vote. The ads reference House roll call vote 86 which was offered by Rep. John Carter (R-TX).

Altmire Ad:

Barletta Ad:

Full Scorecard available here

Philadelphia, PA – Today, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVPA) joined the national League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in releasing the 2010 National Environmental Scorecard, revealing scores for the Pennsylvania delegation in the second session of the 111th Congress. The 2010 Scorecard was released amidst the greatest attack on the EPA’s budget in 30 years and current assaults on the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and wildlife protections in Congress.

“We applaud those members of the Pennsylvania delegation who fought in 2010 to protect public health and the environment and reduce our nation’s dangerous dependence on oil, such as Representatives Brady, Fattah and Schwartz,” said CVPA Executive Director Josh McNeil. “The 2010 Scorecard clearly exposes the willingness of Representatives Bill Shuster and Tim Murphy to put corporate polluters and other special interests ahead of the health and well-being of Pennsylvanians.”

The 2010 Scorecard includes 6 Senate and 9 House votes on issues ranging from clean energy to public health protections to wildlife conservation. Given the disastrous impact of the resolution offered by Senator Murkowski (R-AK), LCV double scored the vote on her bill, which would have blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from moving forward with commonsense steps to reduce dangerous carbon pollution. Additionally, LCV took the unusual step of scoring co-sponsorship of Dirty Air Act legislation in the House. These steps bring the Senate total to 7 and the House total to 10. In Pennsylvania, 5 House members earned a perfect 100 percent score in 2010, while 4 House members earned abysmal scores of 10-0 percent. The average House score in 2010 for Pennsylvania was 60 percent and the average Senate score was 86 percent.

“Unfortunately, the most important votes of 2010 are the ones that didn’t happen: the Senate failed to even begin debate on a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill and also failed to respond to the greatest environmental disaster in our nation’s history — the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” said LCV President Gene Karpinski. “The 2010 National Environmental Scorecard clearly illustrates that there is much work to be done, and LCV will be there at every step of the way in 2011 and beyond, working to protect the environment and public health while transitioning our nation to a clean energy economy.”

Ten Pennsylvania representatives voted for the CLEAR Act to respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, while 7 voted against it. Senators Casey and Specter opposed Senator Murkowski’s Dirty Air Act resolution.

2010 Scores

Senate

Casey (D )	86
Specter (D )	86

House of Representatives

1	Brady, R. (D )	100
2	Fattah (D )	100
3	Dahlkemper (D )	100
4	Altmire (D )	80
5	Thompson, G. (R )	10
6	Gerlach (R )	30
7	Sestak (D )	100
8	Murphy, P. (D )	70
9	Shuster (R )	0
10	Carney (D )	70
11	Kanjorski (D )	90
12	Critz (D )	67
13	Schwartz (D )	100
14	Doyle (D )	90
15	Dent (R )	40
16	Pitts (R )	10
17	Holden (D )	70
18	Murphy, T. (R )	0
19	Platts (R )	20

For 40 years, the National Environmental Scorecard issued by LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate members of Congress on environmental, public health and energy issues.

The full 2010 National Environmental Scorecard can be found here.

As for Mr. Corbett, a new report by Marcellusmoney.org, compiled by Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania and Common Cause/Pennsylvania, listed his political contributions from the gas drilling industry at $856,220 over the last 10 years, with most of the money coming in over the last two years.

The new Corbett total is up from the $700,000 reported a few weeks ago and the $373,000 reported in June. Mr. Onorato has received significantly less in the last decade — $124,300. Mr. Onorato favors a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas, while Mr. Corbett does not.

“In the last weeks before the election, drilling industry CEOs went all out for Tom Corbett because he thinks that ordinary Pennsylvanians should pay to clean up the messes that their drills leave behind,” claimed Josh McNeil of Conservation Voters.