Lentz Stands Up to Gas Lobby and Votes to Protect Drinking Water, Roads

Springfield, PA – Today Representative Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, stood up to the gas lobby and voted to make sure the big corporations that will make billions drilling in the Marcellus Shale return part of those profits to fix the effects on local communities caused by those activities, and to benefit all residents of Pennsylvania.

Big oil and gas companies have been waging a public relations war over the past several months to prevent Pennsylvanian’s from sharing the revenues that will come from drilling in the Marcellus Shale, the largest on-shore natural gas reserve in the world. That would stick taxpayers with millions of dollars in bills to pay to clean up the environment, protect drinking water and repair the roads, bridges and tunnels that they damage through their drilling activities.

The measure that Lentz voted to pass today in the Appropriations Committee in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, will raise revenues from the drilling to fund a wide range of state and local priorities, including education, property tax relief and assessing and correcting the environmental impacts caused by the drilling. A portion of the revenues will also be returned to local governments across the state.

“Drilling in the Marcellus Shale will impact our local communities, and requiring the large corporations that are profiting from the drilling to address those impacts is the right way to ensure that they are taken care of,” said Lentz. “The money will also be used to ensure that all Pennsylvanian’s are benefiting from the development of a valuable natural resource.”

A former Airborne Ranger, criminal prosecutor and Iraq War veteran, Bryan Lentz currently serves in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Delaware County. He was awarded both the Bronze Star for Service and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for his military service. He lives in Swarthmore with his wife Jennifer and their son Thomas.

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