Impose a Marcellus Shale Severance Tax on Drillers? Range Resources Says, 'Give Me a Break'

Clutching a letter advocating for a severance tax on natural gas drilling, 13-year-old Zack Nimal confidentially strolled into the Range Resources headquarters at Southpointe to make his pitch.

The Canon-McMillan eighth-grader said he thinks the drilling industry should pay a severance tax in light of deep state budget cuts to education and other programs.

“I feel since the gas companies aren’t paying their fair share and it’s affecting everyone else,” Zack said before marching to the building with a couple dozen other supporters Tuesday morning.

Zack, along with Steve Hvozdovich of Clean Water Action and Megan Block of SEIU Local 32BJ, made it into the lobby, where they were told they needed to meet with Range’s governmental relations division. They were handed a business card and asked to leave.

, before the group turned around to leave and began chanting, “No free pass for oil and gas!”

But Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella had little to say about the group’s contention that a severance tax could help stave off deep cuts in public education.

“Give me a break,” Pitzarella said in a written statement. “The Department of Revenue indicates drillers paid $238 million in taxes from January through April and could top $1 billion in taxes paid by the end of the year. Even though their signs were grammatically incorrect, we agree that we should pay our fair share, which is why we paid more taxes than almost any sector.”

He also chastised their attempts to lobby the drilling industry and state officials.

“We've also created more than 78,000 direct jobs according to the Bureau of Labor and Industry,” he said. “If these 20 people want to generate more tax revenues they should be at work instead of disrupting an office park.”

But Block, who represents a number of service unions, disagreed with Pitzarella.

“It is a budget issue, which is why an impact fee is not enough,” Block said. “We just wanted to go in and show we’re concerned. It directly affects residents and their livelihood

Hvozdovich spoke for a few minutes and told the supporters that an impact fee is not enough.

“We need to put pressure on Range Resources and put pressure on our legislators,” Hvozdovich said.

Overall, Zack said he was happy with the initiative and surprised they made it as far as they did.

“I’m just glad we made it into the lobby,” he said while walking from the building.

The group first rallied at the building in April, when representatives composed of parents, students, environmentalists and union members marched to the entrance to Range’s parking lot to deliver what they said was a “bill for unpaid taxes.” When they arrived back then, a Cecil Township police officer told the group that it was not permitted to go any farther at the company's behest.

Block said the point today was to be more low-key so to foster a discussion between both sides. She thinks they’ve made progress to help change the conversation and hopes it will lead to a stronger tax.