Tom Corbett Tells Colleges To Drill For Oil

Could the key to higher education budget woes lie beneath the earth's surface?

It could, at least according to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett. At a recent meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees, the newly instated governor advised state colleges experiencing budget shortfalls to extract gas from the Marcellus shale deposits located underneath their campuses.

The Erie Times-News has more:

Speaking at Edinboro University during his first visit to northwestern Pennsylvania since taking office, Corbett said six campuses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education sit on the Marcellus shale formations now being tapped for natural gas.

Corbett, whose proposed 2011-12 budget includes $2 billion in cuts to education and a 50 percent reduction in aid to colleges and universities, also emphasized that those cuts are only proposals.

Corbett's proposed cuts lead to protests in the state last month.

Comments

[springsm]

11:34 AM on 05/02/2011

So PA goes from one good and thoughtful governor to this dolt.  And a great senatorial candidate to Toomey....the water has to be already polluted from the fracking and the coal mining, etc. 

[dwill123]

04:32 PM on 05/01/2011

Penn State (the State school) has the highest tuition of any State school in the country, $14,400 tuition only (and that's "in-state").

[lcr999]

01:11 PM on 05/01/2011

Can we get an accurate headline. He suggested drilling for GAS not OIL.

[connie o]

12:28 PM on 05/01/2011

I'm really getting tired of politicians taking every opportunity to play games. The funding of education in this country is an investment in the future of our great nation and is no joking matter. I'm giving the governor the benefit of the doubt about the joke because I just can't an elected official could make such a ridiculous statement in seriousness.

[brokerallen]

07:57 PM on 04/30/2011

Maybe they should buy a few lottery tickets each month along with drilling just to be safe.

[pjlim]

06:13 PM on 04/30/2011

When we think of visiting a college, we think of tree line walkways, ivy covered buildings, the large grassy quad and the banner festooned stadium. But, wait, your in Pennsylvania, where the gas industry elected out governor, the poor have been pushed off of the health care rolls, our environment has been raped and plundered, our education budget has been slashed by $1 billion and now our college campuses are home to Marcellus Gas Drilling and all of it's benefits......noise 24.7, odor which is likened to a combination of methane gas,sewage and gasoline, a trig tht dwarfs the campus buildings, up to 1000 trucks rumbling through campus on a daily basis, carcinogenic fracking fluid seeping into the air and soil and sonic booms fracturing the shale beneath all of those taxpayer funded buildings. And how will this pay for funding cuts. The energy companies only need to lease about 10 acres of land to put down 5 or 6 wells. Farmers are getting a whole $5000 for this 30 year, yes, 30 year lease. If, and only if, the well shows promise will the school get a couple of thousand dollars a year in royalties. The rest goes to the out of state drilling company or the govs back pocket. Here in PA we don't tax the gas companies like every other state. NO WAY! Those guys are our governors best buddies and sitting in most of the government offices here in PA.

[FPhoebe]

05:31 PM on 04/30/2011

Ugh, he just gets worse and worse! He's speaking at my college commencement in a few weeks. What is he going to say..."I really value education"?

[pjlim]

05:56 PM on 04/30/2011

I hope that you intend to stand with your back facing him. He is not deserving of your respect!

[Donncha O Rodochain]

09:07 PM on 04/30/2011

What school?

[senseandnonsense]

01:22 PM on 05/01/2011

It might be Albright College.

[samuraifrog37]

08:18 AM on 04/30/2011

This guy is NUTS...maybe he should drill for oil at his house after he takes a pay cut. Take a few billion from the military and they can drill for oil under military bases. The American people are fools.

[corwin]

08:13 PM on 04/30/2011

Diffidently, I would suggest you are only licensed to speak for yourself.

[sjcarl]

09:49 PM on 04/30/2011

You really need to learn a new word, dude! And you're only licensed to speak for yourself, too.

[farmilyman]

06:05 AM on 04/30/2011

When will the people learn? Don't trust republicans!

[fgbouman]

01:43 AM on 04/30/2011

Let them eat cake!

[DaneAZ]

12:10 AM on 04/30/2011

This is exactly what the majority of the people in his state must believe in. They elected him.

[pjlim]

06:15 PM on 04/30/2011

Don't blame me! I didn't vote for this clown! It wan't exactly a mandate as only 25% of voters turned out and most of those were Tea B'ers.

[connie o]

12:33 PM on 05/01/2011

I believe that many Democrats did not turn out in the last election because they were disappointed about not getting a public option in the healthcare law. Considering the results of letting the teabaggers get too much control, I think there will be a huge Dem turnout next time.

[Donncha O Rodochain]

11:39 PM on 04/29/2011

This is not a new or unusual idea. One of those state schools, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, had five working gas wells as long ago as 1979. They drew royalties by selling the gas and put them toward the school's budget. Today, with horizontal drilling technology, the rigs wouldn't necessarily have to be on campus.

Sorry, guys, but this one isn't strange or scary to anyone from this part of the country.

[carbolaw]

05:05 PM on 04/30/2011

Being from this state and at one of these Universities I have to disagree.  While you may be correct in stating that it is not strange (all things being relative and looking at the history of this state), it is indeed scary.   First of all look at the recent fracking material spill in PA - this took 13 hours for an initial response and days to resolve.  Second, look at the materials that are now being disclosed as fracking material - methanol, isopropyl, and other carcinogens.  I really would prefer that these not be a part of the University setting.  Further, it is scary because it shows just how willing this governor is to use his position to funnel profit to his cronies and campaign supporters.  It is not like the Universities own their own drilling companies - this is just a great  well thought out ploy to get these companies access to all public lands in the state.

[brokerallen]

08:01 PM on 04/30/2011

How much in royalties could they bring in? I'm not being facetious. Would it be enough to make a significant difference.

[Donncha O Rodochain]

08:55 PM on 04/30/2011

The five wells at IUP brought in a bit more than $100,000 avyear in the first three or four years in 1979-82 dollars. That would be about $250,000 in 2010 dollars. Because shallow gas wells taper off in later years, the royalties dropped to $50,000 a year before the wells were plugged.

As to carbolaw's objections, I suppose we could stick with coal or expand nuclear, but solar isn't exactly a big option in western Pennsylvania and wind power takes up a bit of space. There are lots of reasons to say no until the power runs out.

[becky bradshaw]

09:19 PM on 04/29/2011

In February, Tom Corbett opened Pennsylvania's state parks and forests to drilling by dropping a policy that mandated impact studies prior to drilling on public land. The move was a key victory for Corbett's top donors in the oil and gas industry who donated over $1 Million to his campaign.

Reference: http://padems.com/press/victory-donors-corbett-moves-open-state-parks-and-forests-drilling

[Winski]

08:09 PM on 04/29/2011

I'm sure that Rendell will support this 110%........N O T!!!!

Further proof that this batch of rethuglicon hatchlings that got swept in during the last election are proving that NOTHING they campaigned on is actually anything they plan to do!!

[TheIndependenceParty]

07:28 PM on 04/29/2011

I have just finished reading of your comments recently at Edinboro University regarding your proposed slashing of the education budget in our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by $ 2 Billion. In the account, which seems now to be no longer available online from the Erie Times-News, you reportedly suggested that our institutions of higher education, which are world reknown, should cozy up the the Natural Gas Industry and drill for Natural Gas on their campuses! This, you are reported to have suggested in hopes of them making up the revenues you propose to take away in your budget. This is what I read in the very week it took over half a day for Hazmat containment crews from Texas to respond to a Fracking Liquid spill in Bradford County!

(Open Letter to Governor Corbett)

Your comment, if it were not so comical, would be truly disgusting. Do you work for them directly, Mr. Corbett? What could possibly cause you to advocate more strongly for that industry than they already do for themselves? Indeed Chesapeake has reportedly announced a moratorium on Fracking until better safeguards can be put in place. Perhaps you did not get that memo? Perhaps, sir, you could propose fees on the drillers that would benefit our colleges and education system, ... rather than suggesting they go hat in hand to the drillers like beggars,

[pjlim]

06:17 PM on 04/30/2011

Oh, yes! You know more than he does. He only understands dollar signs.

[Donncha O Rodochain]

09:06 PM on 04/30/2011

Uh, maybe you need to check the news a bit more. There have been gas wells on state college land since 1980. The school made money from it. By the way, do you know how big the budget deficit was when Corbett arrived? Try $4.2 Billion. Where would you have cut. And for the tax Marcellus crowd out there, the topbrevenue estimate from an extraction tax was $150 million that gives us a $4.05 billion shortfall. Welfare and education are 72 percent of the state budget. OK guys, start doing some math and tell us what you'd cut. Do your magic.

[duchessofbs]

12:14 AM on 05/01/2011

Which schools in Pa?

[senseandnonsense]

01:26 PM on 05/01/2011

The groundwater is being ruined by fracking. See "Gasland."