Gov. Wolf seeks billions for workforce aid

By KRISTIE LINDEN

klinden@yourmvi.com

Gov. Tom Wolf outlined his 2021 agenda Thursday, which includes using taxes on the natural gas industry to fund workforce development and employment assistance.

Wolf is asking for billions of dollars to be raised through a new severance tax on natural gas production as part of his budget plan, which will be fully revealed Tuesday.

State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-McKeesport, said Pennsylvania is still the only state that doesn’t have a severance tax on Marcellus Shale while all the surrounding states that produce Marcellus Shale charge for that production.

“Why Pennsylvania would let someone come in and take out the asset that is under the feet of the Pennsylvania citizens, under our houses, underground in our communities and not get anything in return makes no sense,” Brewster said. 

The money would aid workers whose jobs were upended by the pandemic and help fix the COVID-19 disruptions that heavily affected certain industries, lower-wage workers, minorities and the disabled. 

While Wolf offered few details, he suggested that the billions of dollars created by the severance tax would at the very least boost the offerings of community colleges and the state’s seven industrial resource centers, which are set up to help Pennsylvania’s manufacturing industry.

“That’s going to help us come out of the pandemic faster than pretty much anything else we can do,” Wolf said.

State Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Township, noted that Wolf said it’s time to get Pennsylvania back on track after the pandemic. Stefano claimed that wouldn’t be necessary if Wolf had done a better job of handling the pandemic from the beginning.

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