Family Life

09.10.10 | FL News Team

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell says he doubts that he and the state Legislature will meet the Oct. 1 deadline they set to enact a tax on Marcellus Shale natural-gas production. Rendell told The Philadelphia Inquirer for a story in Thursday's editions that he will insist on something close to a plan he first proposed in 2009. That plan calls for a 5 percent tax on sales, plus 4.7 cents for every 1,000 cubic feet of gas extracted. He says he'll veto anything that doesn't come "awfully close."

Pennsylvania is the nation's largest natural gas producing state without a tax on the gas extracted from its bedrock. Republican leaders are studying tax rates in states such as Texas and Arkansas, which allow companies to write off the cost of drilling.