Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Gas drilling Gas industry shills' selective touring
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 6:53 AM
Local shills for gas exploration companies plan a small tour today to whip up opposition to Sheffield Nelson's drive for a realistic gas severance tax for Arkansas.
The shills' tour is limited to a handful of the state's counties getting the job benefits — and road destruction, pollution, noise, etc. — from the shale play. They won't be visiting the numerous counties that are seeing a net loss from the gas activity in the form of subsidizing road destruction that has far exceeded the net from the pitifully small severance tax. That tax was rigged to all but exclude meaningful capture of revenue from shale wells. Never mind the cost, too, of the increased pressure on environmental regulators.
Highway needs? These gas company toadies are happy for the biscuit cookers of Desha County to increase their sales tax burden to pay the cost of repairing local damage from something that provides them scant benefit.
Make Oklahoma (and other states) pay for destruction of Arkansas roads, not Arkansas biscuit cookers. That's Sheffield Nelson's cry. Only those deep in the pockets of the gas companies think that's a bad idea.
IDLE THOUGHT: If a coordinated group of organizations is out spending money on tours and press releases to oppose an expected severance tax referendum, isn't it about time for that group to begin reporting financial contributions and expenditures?
Speaking of...
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Gas tax group alleges poll intimidation UPDATE
May 23, 2012Sheffield Nelson, who's leading a grassroots campaign to increase the severance tax on natural gas, said petition canvassers at primary polls yesterday were intimidated by representatives of the industry-funded group fighting the tax increase. /more/
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Don't cry for the frackers
May 16, 2012Another Markham Group mailer hit mailboxes today. Like the anti-casino mailer, it's another anti-democratic effort urging people not to sign petitions putting a gas severance tax increase on the ballot. /more/
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Turn out the lights
May 12, 2012The week's about over. The line is open. /more/
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Corporate puppetry continues on severance tax increase
April 23, 2012The chamber of commerce's full frontal attack on the severance tax increase — not yet qualified for the ballot — continues. /more/
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The secret battle against the severance tax
April 16, 2012Stephens Media today reports that it can't find any prominent politicians in support of the proposal to raise the gas severance tax in Arkansas. /more/
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Nelson on right side of gas tax debate
April 11, 2012Sheffield Nelson is an odd person to be waging a one-man crusade against the business and political establishment to raise taxes on the Texas and Oklahoma gas producers who have been drilling in the Arkansas shale. /more/
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Sheffield Nelson, unlikely severance tax champion
April 10, 2012Times columnist Ernest Dumas, who draws on nearly a half-century of coverage of Arkansas politics, including the essential role gas exploration and taxation have played in politics, examines today former gas executive Sheffield Nelson's somewhat role as a severance tax champion and his past leadership of the very business orgtanizations fighting him today. /more/
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Sheffield Nelson schools Beebe on severance tax
April 6, 2012I never really expected Gov. Mike Beebe, who cut his teeth golfing with the lobby in the Senate, to be a supporter of the Sheffield Nelson-backed initiative to raise the pitifully low severance tax on natural gas. /more/
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Stands accused
March 21, 2012Is the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce "un-American," as Sheffield Nelson suggests? It's a close call; reasonable men might disagree. That the Chamber is unconscionable, on the other hand, was verified long ago. /more/
- More »
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
Wonder if Sheffield would consider a run for Governor again--this time as green party or independent? Last time he ran, the race got so nasty I voted for neither he nor Tucker, just left that part of ballot blank.
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Their complaint is that the drillers will leave the state if we raise the severence tax to the SAME level as the surrounding states? I expect that they will stay where there is oil/gas and why must Arkansas be the victim for industry again "stealing" our resources on the cheap. They won't get off any easier in Texas, Oklahoma and there isn't much oil in Wiscinsin.
More of our cheaply bought politicians and Chamber shills supported by your unaccounted for tax dollars.
Max, my view of Sheffield Nelson is mixed since he was the one who proposed, or at least agreed to, the current severance tax structure that has allowed gas producers to escape paying for the damage they do to our infrastructure.
If Sheffield knows so much and has the state's best interests at heart, how did he mess up so badly the first time around?
I'm all in favor of Arkansas charging a competitive severance tax. As it is now, we are essentially giving away the state's natural gas mostly to out-of-staters without charging a fair severance tax like surrounding states do. That's not only bad business, it's stupid.
If other states, even Rethuglicon-led states, can do the math, surely Arkansas can.
It's being coordinated in NWA TV audiences with a heavy TV campaign announcing all the benefits of "natural gas", jobs, clean energy, "100 year supply at hand" yada, yada, ya. Then comes the bit about "some" who want to penalized the industry with a tax.
Ads were so frequent the past few evenings I kept the mute button at my fingertips.
>>If Sheffield knows so much and has the state's best interests at heart, how did he mess up so badly the first time around?<<
By trusting the sitting Governor. That's why he must actually do what he is now doing.
The last time around Nelson reached an agreement with Beebe and key legies on the extraction tax. Then Beebe betrayed the agreement by excluding the first 3 yrs (?) of production from new wells. As a few bloggers pointed out this effectively eliminated 60% of gas production from the tax.
There was also another gimmick Beebe added which effectively gutted the new extraction tax.
I don't see how you missed that entire sordid issue. Even the ADG covered it extensively.
I'd just like to know if the Cadron Creek and the Little Red River are safe to paddle with all of the surrounding fracking sites. I haven't been able to find any information where folks are actually testing for chemicals in the river, but with the non-disclosure of specific fracking chemicals to the public, I guess we don't know which chemicals we should test for. Last year I saw some weird bubbling in Cadron Creek that I hadn't seen before. This was after we almost were run off of the road by a series of fracking tanker trucks.
An increase in the natural gas severance tax could go a long way to making sure we can still enjoy and live in the Natural State.
These gas companies aren't going anywhere, unfortunately. They have paid billions to acquire other companies and they know the potential that is here. A few million more in taxes to help improve the highways that they tear up isn’t to much to ask.
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