Corbett's latest death bed conversion - he wants an investigation of large fracker

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/02/attorney_general_kane_asked_to.html#incart_river

For the last year or so, there have been many stories about big reductions in lease payments made by frackers to landowners. They started looking for every excuse to count something as an expense which would count against the payments. One of the worst was Cheasapeake Energy, which was buried in debt and which had to sell off reserves in other states to the Chinese.

Now, Corbett is publicly announcing that he wants an investigation of this matter. This is one of his many death bed conversions that Corbett is now experiencing. For example, he is suddenly in favor of increased public school funding.

Excerpt:

"Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been asked to make an official inquiry into post-production cost deductions by Marcellus Shale natural gas producer Chesapeake Energy.

A Kane spokesman said Saturday that her office was undertaking the review at the request of Lycoming County Sen. Gene Yaw, whose district includes heavily drilled areas of the Marcellus Shale natural gas reservoir.

Gov. Corbett Thursday wrote Chesapeake President Robert D. Lawler telling him he had received complaints about practices that “strike many as unfair and perhaps illegal.” ..."It defies logic that, in some cases, leaseholders are being advised they may actually owe money, rather than receive the fair and just royalty to which they are entitled.

”The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee at a public hearing June 27 heard testimony that deductions by Chesapeake were as high as 100 percent of some royalty checks, Yaw noted."
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"http://articles.philly.com/2011-06-29/news/29717481_1_corbett-campaign-tom-corbett-marcellus-shale

The people of Chesapeake have been very very good friends of Corbett for many years. Excerpts of Phila Inquirer article:

"In 2004, a flamboyant Oklahoma City multimillionaire took out his hefty checkbook for what you could call the political equivalent of a wildcat well - and he struck a gusher, right here in Pennsylvania.

The $450,000 in campaign checks that energy mogul Aubrey McClendon wrote that fall helped elect a man he said he'd never even met - a relatively obscure GOP candidate for Pennsylvania attorney general, Tom Corbett.

That investment arguably changed not just the history but also the political direction of the state. The influx of cash helped Corbett narrowly win the closest attorney general's race in Pennsylvania history and propelled him toward the governor's mansion, where he has now pledged to turn the Keystone State into "the Texas of the natural-gas boom."

Meanwhile, the hard-charging company run by McClendon, Chesapeake Energy, is the largest and most active driller for natural gas both in Pennsylvania and across the US"