Toomey for Senate

From a Toomey for Senate press release dated June 23, 2010:

U.S. Senate candidate and former small business owner Pat Toomey commended Attorney General Tom Corbett for issuing a commonsense policy toward the development of the Marcellus Shale area that creates a balance between implementing the appropriate safety protections and protecting thousands of Pennsylvania jobs. 

“I support Attorney General Corbett’s statement today on the Marcellus Shale,” Pat Toomey said.  “Like Tom, Democratic Governor Rendell, and even Tom’s Democratic opponent Dan Onorato, I believe a draconian moratorium like Congressman Joe Sestak is advocating would endanger tens of thousands of Pennsylvania jobs from the manufacturing, trucking, energy, and many other sectors, and push our state’s unemployment rate far past the current rate of 9.1%.  It is clear to me that Congressman Sestak is far outside the mainstream on this issue and simply doesn’t understand how to create jobs in Pennsylvania.”

Both Democratic Governor Ed Rendell and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato have come out against the moratorium.

Dan Onorato: “A moratorium is not the answer.  That just stops everything.  This is a golden opportunity for Pennsylvania.” (WTAE ABC, 06/21/10)

Governor Rendell: “If you’re looking for a way to produce energy that is mistake-free, stop looking.  What we have to do is draw the balance the right way and try to prevent as much damage (as possible) from happening.” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 06/13/10)

Congressman Sestak is the only statewide candidate pushing for a job-killing moratorium, saying at a town hall meeting earlier this month: “I have, in an op-ed last year, said we need a moratorium until we get the environmental safeguards correct . . . My take is, this is a boon only if done, however, under a correct environmental safeguard that is not there—it is just not there—I believe that because I don’t know what’s going in and I don’t know how we can best protect what’s going in.  Until we have that, we should have a moratorium.” (Town Hall Meeting, 06/12/10)

In 2010, natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale is projected to create 88,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, according to a recent Penn State study.  In 2009, the Marcellus Shale created more than 44,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and added $389 million in state and local revenue.  (The Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, May 2010)