From the letter:
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the undersigned organizations and their members, we are writing to ask you to oppose House bills 301‐309: the so‐called “Marcellus Works” package of legislation that will broadly subsidize the use of natural gas in the Commonwealth.
In order to protect our environment and public health, we must stop subsidizing and increasing our reliance on dirty fossil fuels.
The concept that natural gas is good for our environment is false—studies by the National Academy of Science showed that “a shift to compressed natural gas vehicles from gasoline or diesel vehicles leads to greater radiative forcing of the climate for 80 or 280 years, respectively, before beginning to produce benefits.” This is on top of the ongoing air and water pollution, toxic waste issues and loss of property the gas drilling industry has already contributed to across the Commonwealth.
This legislation directly goes against many of the mantras espoused in the halls of the legislature: How often do we hear that the role of government is not to “pick winners and losers?” How often do we hear about the need for greater fiscal restraint and saving taxpayers money?
Unfortunately, this package of bills is both “picking a winner” without justification, and fiscal lack of restraint by profligate spending of taxpayers’ money.
House bills 301‐309 helps corporate giants like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP get their products into the Pennsylvania marketplace—corporations that arguably need the financial assistance less than anyone else in the Commonwealth.
