Marcellus Shale - Gas Wells

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

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Attorney General Tom Corbett talks with attendants at the Tomato Festival parade.

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Dan Onorato shakes hands with those attending the Pittston Tomato Festival parade.

AIMEE DILGER PHOTOS/THE TIMES LEADER

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PITTSTON – Gubernatorial candidates Tom Corbett and Dan Onorato are feverishly making a series of campaign stops throughout the state as the days before the Nov. 2 election wind down.

Corbett, the Republican nominee, and Onorato, the Democratic nominee, walked the streets smiling, waving and shaking hands with some of the thousands of people attending the Pittston Tomato Festival Parade Saturday morning through downtown Pittston.

It’s the first time Corbett and Onorato have ever appeared at the same event in Luzerne County. Both have traveled to and through Luzerne County before.

Corbett has appeared in the county several times throughout his eight year career as the state’s attorney general when announcing high-profile cases.

Onorato, Allegheny County’s executive, considers Luzerne County a second home as he’s visited the region several times to spend time with his in-laws that reside in Mountain Top.

Several of Corbett’s supporters walked with him following a lime-green truck adorned with one of his campaign signs. Onorato walked alone near Italian-American Association of Luzerne County and behind a car carrying state Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, State Reps. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, and John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, West Pittston Mayor Bill Goldsworthy, U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, and Luzerne County Commissioner Steve Urban all made appearances in the parade. All are seeking new seats or re-election in November.

In exclusive interviews with The Times Leader, Corbett and Onorato, answered questions regarding issues affecting the region.

Both agree that existing regulations need to be better enforced to protect residents, municipalities and the environment.

Corbett said he is committed to bringing all interested parties – residents, municipalities, school districts, counties, industry representatives and environmental agencies – together to discuss the best ways on how to proceed with drilling that is safe for the environment and economy.

“This is a great resource for the people of Pennsylvania. We do have the regulations there we need to enforce them fairly and evenly across Pennsylvania,” he said.

Onorato wants to review regulations to see if there is any additional need for more laws.

“The only good news right now is that the Marcellus Shale is right at the beginning on what they want to do for the next 10 years. We have a very short window to get this right and put the regs in place and the proper enforcement in place,” he said.

Onorato feels a severance tax on natural gas drilling companies will allow the state to increase funding to DEP, so it can properly monitor the industry. He added part of the tax should also be designated to an Impact Fund for municipalities to pay for infrastructure repair and a Growing Greener Fund to preserve open land, while also cleaning up brown fields.

He points out the industry can also bring thousands of jobs to the state. Yet he stressed he wants to see the companies employ Pennsylvanians and not just people from the South.

“It is a golden opportunity with a lot of risks….If we do this in the right environmental way we can make it a win-win for us…. The beauty of this is the industry will pay for it,” Onorato said.

Corbett said such a tax might push the companies to look to other states to drill because the industry is still relatively new to Pennsylvania. He pointed out that when West Virginia created a strict tax it encouraged the drilling companies to relocate to Pennsylvania.

“Right now as the industry is getting started is not the time to say, oh my there is a new company, let’s have a tax. That is the problem with Pennsylvania. We are taxing businesses right out of Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. The state will generate money from the drilling through royalties paid to the state for drilling on state lands and taxes on income residents receive from royalties.

Whichever man becomes governor, he will inherit a $28 billion budget as the country attempts to improve the economy.

Onorato proudly announced that as the top governing official in Allegheny County he and the 13-member county council have not raised property taxes in nine years.

“The state needs to learn to live within its means just like the people do in Pennsylvania. The state is broke and a lot of people are broke. This is no time to raise taxes,” he said.

The state has been overspending under Gov. Ed Rendell’s leadership for the last eight years and the revenue sources are severely lagging behind the spending, Corbett said.

“The stimulus money is not going to be there. The rainy day fund is not going to be there. We are going to have to bring fiscal discipline to Pennsylvania….We are going to have to cut and reduce our spending…We can’t continue to mortgage the future of our children for today,” he said.

Yudichak, a Democrat, and Urban, a Republican, will battle for the state 14th Senatorial District currently held by retiring state Sen. Ray Musto. Carroll, a Democrat, faces Republican challenger Terrence O’Connor in the state 118th Legislative District. Goldsworthy, a Republican, faces Mundy and Libertarian candidate Tim Mullen for the 120th Legislative District. Republican candidate Barletta is trying to unseat long-time Democratic incumbent Kanjorski in the U.S. 11th District race. Corbett and Onorato did not debate or encounter each other during the parade. They are scheduled for a debate Sept. 27 in Hershey following the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry’s annual dinner.

Corbett attended a phone bank event at the GOP headquarters in Wilkes-Barre, mingling with supporters Saturday afternoon following the parade.

Onorato participated in a fundraiser Friday night for District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll at the Plains Lions Pavilion in Plains Township’s Hilldale Park.