Pa. has mixed feelings on gas

SCRANTON - Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly like the natural gas industry and favor taxing it, but are divided about whether the benefits outweigh possible environmental harm, according to a Franklin and Marshall College poll released this week.

They also strongly oppose opening more state forest land to drilling and think drilling has improved the state's quality of life.

The poll of 525 Pennsylvania adults was conducted between Aug. 22 and Monday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. The results were released Wednesday.

Asked whether they favor or oppose taxing companies that extract and sell natural gas, 65 percent of respondents said they favored taxation, with 45 percent saying they were strongly in favor. Twenty-one percent said they opposed taxation.

And 66 percent said they had a favorable view of the industry, with 31 percent saying they had a strongly favorable view.

Respondents were warier when asked to weigh the benefits of drilling against the environmental effects.

The proportion of people who said the benefits of drilling outweighed the environmental damage was barely greater than the percentage who held the opposite view: 39 to 35 percent.

More - 35 percent - said drilling improved the quality of life in Pennsylvania than said it reduced the quality of life - 26 percent.

They were especially protective of state forests, with 72 percent opposing opening more forest land to natural gas drilling, including 54 percent strongly opposed. Fewer than a quarter, 22 percent, at least somewhat favored more forest drilling.

And 72 percent said that any gas-tax revenue should be shared by communities and the state.

The results arrived after months and millions of dollars of television, newspaper, and other advertising across the state by the natural gas industry.

The General Assembly is expected to take up the question of imposing a tax or fee on the industry when it returns next month.

Gov. Corbett, who opposed a fee or tax while he ran for office last year, has since opened the door a bit, saying he favored using a fee to clean up the environment.

"I think that [poll] shows the ambivalence that people feel about the gas industry," said Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive officer of PennFuture, an environmental group. "When faced with a lot of changes, they showed anxiety. I think it captures the reality on the ground."

Pennsylvanians understand "there are upsides," Jarrett said. "They know the upsides have significant costs in some way. They would like to see those costs covered by a severance tax."

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, a gas industry trade group, issued a statement quoting coalition president Kathryn Klaber as saying the poll shows Pennsylvanians "understand the enormous environmental, economic, and national security benefits associated with this historic opportunity before us."

The poll also shows promoters of shale gas are "engaging in fact-based dialogue with responsible stakeholders across the commonwealth," Klaber said.