Opinion- Roads To Ruin Without Natural Gas Production Tax

By Rep. Camille George
Pennsylvania's natural gas supplies in the Marcellus Shale deposit don't have to be the road to ruin.
But it's looking shaky.
Follow the money, follow the rutted roads, follow the fines. However, don't believe for a second the gas industry blather about "best management practices" and it complying "with all state regulations to protect the environment and the people of Pennsylvania."
A gas-industry truck was impounded in January after it was found to be 41.6 tons over the weight limit on a Bradford County road. The truck also had "numerous other permit violations."
"We've had so many problems lately with blatant [weight limit] violations," said a state policeman. "It's only going to get worse with all these gas companies coming in."
Four drivers of trucks serving the gas industry were fined and jailed in February after they allegedly hauled oversize loads illegally on Bradford County roads. Before being found almost 27 tons over weight, one of the trucks struck utility lines, a traffic signal and finally an overpass that sheared off part of his load.
A week later, a truck bound for a natural gas-drilling site was found to be 49.9 tons over the weight limit.
The state Public Utility Commission is increasing enforcement in northeastern Pennsylvania after receiving complaints. A township supervisor in Clearfield County told me that drilling trucks had pulverized roads to the point that they remind his son "of the bombed out roads in Iraq."......READ MORE