You could have a situation where we are not getting the jobs, they [oil and gas developers] are taking the resources, and all their profits and they are heading home.Nearly a year ago, Innovation Ohio warned the policy makers about this prospect. We urged Governor Kasich and lawmakers to introduce “Hire Ohio” incentives that could create financial incentives such as reduced tax rates for companies meeting a goal of hiring a specific percentage of their workforce from Ohio. While there are a variety of policy approaches to achieve this goal, Ohio failed to exercised its considerable leverage when Ohio’s fracking oversight laws were modified earlier this year. The Governor included no Hire Ohio policy in the bill, and when presented with an amendment to require 50 percent of workers to be residents of Ohio, GOP lawmakers set the measure aside. It’s unclear whether Kasich’s recent comments are a precursor to action or if he was merely grandstanding in his ongoing fight with the industry over severance taxes. But if the Governor is seriously concerned about the prospects of Ohio workers, we recommend that he ask the legislature to immediately pass Hire Ohio legislation that creates incentives for companies seeking to extract Ohio’s natural resources to do it with a labor force made up largely of Ohioans.
Ohio Farm Bureau opposes Kasich income tax cut, wants fracking revenue directed to communities
“Farm Bureau voted to oppose an increase in the severance tax solely for the purpose of funding a state income tax reduction. If there is an increase in the severance tax, it should address local government funding, infrastructure needs, local and state economic development and mitigation of negative impacts on local communities and the environment.”[Read more…]
Poll: Ohioans want oil & gas revenue to restore budget cuts
Slightly more than half of those polled said new revenue from the shale oil and gas taxes should be used to restore state funding cuts to local governments and schools. About a third of respondents said that money should be used to lower state income taxes, according to the organizations. (Gongwer News Service, 9/17/12)By a wide margin, Ohioans prefer our approach of using the proceeds of oil and gas drilling to restore cuts to schools and local governments. We hope that the Governor and General Assembly, set to take up the issue during upcoming budget negotiations, take note.
Fracking Legislation Still Favors Industry
“You couldn’t pay me to live in Ohio again,” she said. “It was our dream home. Now it’s a lovely home right on top of an industrial site. We feel like refugees from our city and our state.”Over 80 wells have been drilled in Broadview Heights, creating tensions in the community, however the Mayor and City Council have found their hands tied and have minimal local authority to impact the drilling in their community. While the bill does require some chemical disclosure, it does more to protect oil and gas companies than the health and safety of Ohioans.
Ohio communities still without tools to cope with fracking impacts
We could impose whatever it reasonably takes to reimburse the locals and the state for additional costs associated with the increased drilling, or we could make it a little higher and reduce the income tax.To Blessing, the need to assist local governments dealing with the consequences of fracking was of paramount importance when compared to a cut in Ohio’s income tax—something IO has already pointed out would be a meaningless gimmick. John Kasich’s approach to helping local governments? An impact fee—revealed in the same set of public records to have been drafted by the very Oil and Gas industry Kasich was aiming to regulate—that essentially gave counties an advance on future property tax collections. The proposal provided zero additional resources for local governments, and went nowhere upon introduction in the legislature. The need to help local governments is clear, but Ohio legislators have yet to deliver through legislation any new resources. Rather than waiting, as Blessing proposes, until the lame duck session, when the threat of “tax raiser” campaign ads has passed, legislators should immediately get to work to identify new resources to assist Ohio’s communities to cope with added burdens of fracking, some of which are described in this compelling account, printed in the Canton Repository.
Gagged: Ohio Senate places oil & gas trade secrets ahead of public health
Ohio Fracking Review: April 2012
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 28 permits for natural gas drilling in April, down from 37 in March. Chesapeake Energy once again lead the pack with 15 new permits approved, bringing the Oklahoma-based company’s portfolio to 148. The total number of fracking permits stands at 220, with more than half (111) approved in 2012 alone.
Governor Kasich’s mid-biennium review on energy, Senate Bill 315, had its first hearings in the Senate this past month. Testifying before the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee on April 24, a representative for the Ohio Environmental Council raised concerns about ground water quality testing and chemical disclosure related to the fracking procedure, which currently would only be required after drilling has begun. “”After the fact, chemical disclosure is meaningless for communities and citizens who are trying to protect their drinking water.” Innovation Ohio recommended in its February fracking report that drillers be required to submit disclosures and water testing prior to stimulation of the well .
Ohio Oil and Gas Association Executive Vice President testified on April 25 that disclosure requirements would be too burdensome on companies, requiring them to disclose unrelated materials such as paint. He also said that groundwater testing standards were unreasonable and that other measures in the bill would prove onerous for business.
On April 18, the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on HB 345, a proposed moratorium on horizontal hydraulic facturing. Proponents cited the health hazards related to fracking chemicals, and urged legislators to wait for a U.S. EPA groundwater study before allowing fracking to continue. Legislators also debated proposals for a wastewater disposal moratorium (HB 418), a ban on drilling under Lake Erie (HB 304), and a requirement that drilling companies capture all of the methane that escapes from their wells (HB 464).
On April 9, the Ohio chapter of the Sierra Club sued the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to obtain data regarding a new program that would allow natural gas drilling in state parks. The lawsuit came after five months of silence on a public records request for the Oil and Gas Leasing Commission, created last year by HB 133 to oversee drilling in state parks. Four days after filing the lawsuit, ODNR released documents detailing the proposed fracking rules, including requirements that wells be at least 300 feet from campgrounds and waterways
Documents and emails released on April 23 detailed the evolution of these proposed rules, revealing that state regulators had been communicating with oil companies as the regulations were being written. Documents revealed that the 300 foot buffer zone was a retreat from the original proposal of 1,500 feet.
On the national level, the EPA released new clean-air standards for fracking, aiming to reduce 95% of smog-causing pollutants, as well as carcinogenic chemicals and greenhouse gases. The agency estimates that industry will be more than able to recover the costs of meeting these new standards by capturing and selling methane emissions. Bowing to industry concerns about the availability of the necessary equipment and training, the agency delayed implementation until 2015.
Ohio Fracking Review: March 2012
New fracking data shows Ohio could lose $160 million in one year by inaction
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