Marcellus Shale - Gas Wells

October 28, 2010

Game Commissioners panel backs severance tax

By Matt Hughes mhughes@timesleader.com
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The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners on Thursday approved a resolution supporting a severance tax on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

The board further recommends a portion of funds garnered through the tax be directed to the Game Commission, in addition to other resource agencies such as the state Fish and Boat Commission and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The Game Commission is seeking a minimum of 2 percent of total revenues from a drilling severance tax, the resolution states.

Northeastern Division Commissioner and board President Jay Delaney, of Wilkes-Barre, said the board’s decision to endorse the tax was mostly a practical one. The state has not increased the number of hunting licenses it can issue in 10 years, Delaney said, and natural gas drilling could impose additional financial burden on the agency.

“As the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s financial position continues to weaken, the Board of Game Commissioners needed to take action to support the agency’s mission,” Delaney said.

Delaney said the board manages about 1.5 million acres of state game land, but that it does not own the mineral rights to more than one third of that land. Lacking those rights could open up that portion of the game lands to natural gas drilling, Delaney said.

“We have some really fragile ecosystems on our state game lands,” Delaney said. “It costs the game lands commission to deal with the Marcellus shale.”

The Game Commission is a state agency funded primarily through hunting license sales.

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