Tom Wolf isn't serious about energy: Steve Forbes | PennLive.com
In the last four years, Pennsylvania has undergone an energy renaissance. Once a major coal producer, the Keystone State has made waves in natural gas and shale oil production. Pennsylvania, in fact, is one of a handful of states that has fueled an undeniable domestic energy boom right here in America.
Steve Forbes (Submitted Photo)
Its no coincidence Pennsylvania has had such remarkable success tapping into new technologies to produce safe and affordable energy. While the state sits atop vast swaths of shale and natural gas, it's not just about resources.
New York – Pennsylvania's neighbor to the north – is just as rich in natural gas deposits, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo has instituted a moratorium on natural gas production via hydraulic fracturing.
As a result, New Yorkers have missed out on all the economic benefits that come with a vibrant and growing energy industry.
Thankfully, the story in Pennsylvania is the complete opposite. Under the leadership of Gov. Tom Corbett, the state's friendly regulatory environment has fostered record levels of natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale.
Put simply: natural gas has revolutionized the way Pennsylvanians consume energy.
In December 2013, in fact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration deemed Pennsylvania the "fastest-growing natural gas-producing state" thanks to production in the Marcellus Shale that increased 72 percent between 2011 and 2012 alone.
It's a remarkable feat considering that until recently, Pennsylvanians relied on interstate pipelines to deliver their natural gas. These days, however, Pennsylvania is not only meeting its own natural-gas demands (the fuel heats more homes than any other energy source), it's also transporting the fuel out of state, too.
Put simply: natural gas has revolutionized the way Pennsylvanians consume energy. But that didn't happen without support from Harrisburg and a governor who understands the importance of energy development.
Next week, Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls and choose between someone who oversaw dramatic growth in the state's energy industry and by extension, more jobs and affordable energy, and someone who supports proposals like a five percent severance tax on the natural gas industry.
That's right: where Corbett sees opportunity for private enterprise and job creation, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf sees an opportunity to tax and regulate yet another industry.
Wolf also supports taking a page out of Cuomo's New York playbook by placing a moratorium on natural gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin. And in a candidate questionnaire earlier this year, Wolf talked about the need to "adopt stricter regulations and support innovative tools for reducing our emissions, especially as the natural gas sector continues to grow."
Incredibly in the months since, Wolf has double-downed on that position, publicly promising that his administration would set emission-reduction targets for greenhouse gases – yet another burden that will hamper Pennsylvania's energy production.
Wolf, it should be noted, also supports President Obama's disastrous climate change action plan, which calls for cutting carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. This scheme would devastate the rest of Pennsylvania's energy industry.
A recent report from the American Petroleum Institute showed that the oil and natural gas industry supports 339,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, and contributes $19.5 billion to the state's total labor income each year. The average salary in the oil and gas industry is $78,898 a year, which is significantly more than most other industries.
If Wolf thinks those wages will continue to grow when he implements the kind of "stricter regulations" he talks about, he's wrong and he doesn't belong in the Governor's Mansion. If the choice this November is between someone who supports Pennsylvania's energy boom and someone who wants to tax and regulate it, the answer seems pretty obvious.
Pennsylvania needs a governor who understands that private enterprise, in conjunction with local governments, is the best way to grow the state's economy and, for that matter, the middle class. Tom Wolf shouldn't think he can get away with supporting natural gas while promising higher industry taxes all in the same breath. Pennsylvanians need someone a little more serious about their energy than that.
Steve Forbes is Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine and chairman of Forbes Media.
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