Whether it’s California, Venezuela or the Congress, putting too much trust in government is always fraught with risk and the lessons are all around us.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf unveiled his proposed FY 2019 budget yesterday. The Governor proposed increasing spending from $32 Billion to $33 Billion. In an effort to dampen the partisan rancor heading into the November election, Governor Wolf limited his tax proposals to only one new one – the mineral extraction tax. I’ve said enough about that over the last year, so let’s see how it plays out. If it passes, I wonder if the industry is united enough to get something for it.

Next door in Ohio, the energy industry and environmental community have found a way to work together. There are more than 700 old oil and gas wells that were never properly plugged years ago, resulting in safety risks for children and environmental risks to ground water. Now the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and the Ohio Environmental Council both backed House Bill 225 which passed the Ohio House of Representatives 92-0. The bill would require 45 percent of a state fund used for oil and gas programs to be dedicated to capping idle and abandoned wells. This is an increase from the current 14 percent.

Read more:

http://naturalgasnow.org/putting-much-trust-government-never-good-idea/