Members of Penn ACTION joined a few hundred Pennsylvanians from all over the state at the Gas Truth protest at the inauguration of Governor Tom Corbett.
Organized by Gas Truth and Clean Water Action, the rally called on Corbett to protect the state from the potential dangers of the drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. A variety of opinions were presented by the speakers at the event. Many called for a moratorium on all drilling. All called for a moratorium on drilling in the state forrests. Many called for a severence tax on natural gas.
Penn ACTION Executive Director, Marc Stier, was the closing speaker at the rally. Stier focused on the political danger of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania saying that our democracy is one of the few things more important than our water. “Just as as the hydrofracking process have polluted our waters, the natural gas drillers have polluted politics in the state with millions of dollars of campaign contributions. Extractive industries in the early 20th century, sucha s copper in Montana and coal in Pennsylvania corrupted state governments. Many Republican supporters of untaxed natural gas drilling are hoping to do the same thing.”
“The evidence of the danger to our politics can be seen in Governo Corbett’s opposition to a severence tax,” Stier continued. “Governor Corbett certainly wants to get reelected. But faced with a $5 billion state deficit, that will certainly lead to large and unpopular cutbacks in state spending, Corbett oppose a severenec tax. He believes that money from the natural gas drillers will overcome opposition from voters.”
“Money pollute politics. But it can be filtered because money only works through its effect on the people. And, if we act together to organizer people, we can provide the filter that keeps our politics clean,” Stier concluded.