Corbett refuses to return petro donation

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett said Wednesday he had no plans to comply with a request by an environmental group to return a $3,000 campaign contribution he received May 13 from a part-owner of the deepwater well that is billowing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania, an affiliate of the national League of Conservation Voters, asked last week that Corbett refuse any money from Anadarko Petroleum until the Texas company contributed to the cost of the cleanup. The company owns one-quarter of the well, but has said that BP, as the well operator, is wholly responsible for the cleanup.

Anadarko, which also drills for natural gas, won a $120 million no-bid contract from the Rendell administration on May 11 to develop gas wells on 33,000 acres of public land in Pennsylvania.

Corbett said that, as the GOP nominee for governor, he was interested in how the company operated its Pennsylvania gas fields.

"Anadarko is here in Pennsylvania," he said in an interview. "We're looking at their conduct in Pennsylvania."

Corbett, who faces Democratic nominee Dan Onorato in the Nov. 2 election, was in Chester County to take a tour of Bentley Systems Inc., an Exton company that produces software for infrastructure maintenance.

He told a gathering of employees that development of the Marcellus Shale deposits, which cover two-thirds of the state, could be key to Pennsylvania's economy in coming decades.

"We're sitting on top of Saudi Arabia when it comes to natural gas," he said.

The Marcellus Shale has the potential to produce 500,000 jobs, he said.

A study released by Common Cause Education Fund found that Corbett had received $361,207 in contributions from the natural gas industry as of March, compared to $59,300 for Onorato.

As governor, Corbett said, he would call together legislative leaders, county leaders and members of environmental groups to work with gas companies on a plan for natural gas development.

"I think we need to bring everybody to the table to develop this industry as safely, as quickly and as environmentally soundly as we possibly can," he said.

Corbett is opposed to a state severance tax on natural gas extraction, saying it would impede the industry. Onorato is for such a tax.

A severance tax was included in the budget bill that the Senate and House passed Wednesday.