Daley, Massafra tackle turnpike, Marcellus shale issues
The following is the second in a three-part series on the race for the House of Representatives seat in the 49th Legislative District.
Democratic incumbent Peter J. Daley and Republican challenger Richard Massafra, candidates for the 49th Legislative District seat, differ on how to handle Pennsylvania Turnpike debt and Marcellus shale impact fees.
Daley and Massafra squared off against each other in the 2010 election for the 49th District, which includes portions of Fayette and Washington counties.
In 2007, the Legislature passed Act 44, requiring the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to make payments each year to the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT). Key to that legislation was a proposal to toll Interstate 80, a plan that was thwarted by the Federal Highway Administration.
The Turnpike Commission now plans to raise tolls each year to meet the funding requirement and, at present, the commission is $7.3 billion in debt and in danger of defaulting on bonds.
“I’ve called for the repeal of Act 44 and get that money back into the budget,” Daley said. “I called for a special commission of the turnpike, the Department of Transportation, the governor’s office and the legislature to resolve this in a more logical way… They need to find another way of funding PennDOT.
“I’ve been supportive of a gas tax in the past because it’s a user tax, but gas prices are so high right now, I don’t think I can support that because it places too big of a burden on the taxpayers.”
Daley said he did call for the resignation of the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the Turnpike Commission, and he said there is an ongoing investigation of the commission by the state attorney general’s office.
“My opponent is always in the blame game. He’s blamed the previous governor and this governor whenever he voted for it. He’s the head of the commerce committee at one time, you’d think he’d understand business and the turnpike is nothing but a business. How can you vote for a bill that takes $450 million a year away from a business that doesn’t make $450 million and they need to go borrow the money? What do you think is going to happen?” Massafra said. “I think Act 44 is a bad deal and we probably should repeal that.”
Massafra said a combination of actions need to be taken to raise the money needed to cover the debt, including toll increases. Yet, he noted if tolls rose too high, it would reduce the number of people using the turnpike.
The candidates were also asked about Marcellus shale natural gas regulations and fees.
“I think we have some adequate regulations,” Massafra said. “Things aren’t implemented perfectly the first time, but there is enough money in Marcellus shale that we can fix up whatever is broken.
“The fee, I think, is pretty reasonable, given the other taxes they have to pay. I think they’re burdened with the other taxes and that fee, so I think it is reasonable.”
Massafra said he believes the state Department of Environmental Protection has done a good job overseeing the natural gas and oil industries.
“He talks like the governor. The governor for two years held back any regulation on the Marcellus shale industry because they made all the contributions to his party,” Daley said. “And the people of Pennsylvania suffered. We lost the tax money we could have derived from that.”
As for DEP oversight of the industry, Daley said the agency’s budget has been cut and there is a backlog of well permits to be reviewed.
“We passed a bill that is half-cocked and needs to be revisited,” Daley said.