Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf entered into a three-year cooperation agreement with West Virginia and Ohio to collaborate on maximizing economic growth in the shale gas region, he announced Oct. 13 at the Tri-State Shale Summit in Morgantown, W. Va.
“The demand for workers by the energy industry and off-shoot industries, especially manufacturing, is high and still growing,” Wolf said in a statement. “Here in Pennsylvania, I have proposed to expand investments in education across the board and especially increase funding for trusted and proven job training and workforce development initiatives.”
A tax on Marcellus Shale drilling is one sticking point in Pennsylvania’s nearly four-month-old budget stalemate. Republican lawmakers last week rejected Democrat Wolf’s call to impose a 3.5% natural gas extraction tax plus 4.7 cents per thousand cubic feet.
The plan was part of a tax package that Wolf said would raise intended to raise $1.4 billion for fiscal 2016 and $2.4 billion the following year.
Under the agreement, the three neighboring states within the Appalachian Basin will discuss marketing efforts to attract new businesses, strengthen workforce development programs, spur investments in expanding infrastructure and delivery of natural gas and liquids, and encourage academic institutions to expand and collaborate on research.
