"It was a threat that I deemed real and imminent," said Hughes, of Philadelphia, who voted for the fee compromise Tuesday, despite being among the chorus of Democrats who have maintained the bill didn't go far enough. "It was very much hardball politics."
Hughes would not name names. Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D., Phila.) did.
Williams said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) met privately Monday evening with top Democrats and said that, in no uncertain terms, he wanted some Democratic support - or else Philadelphia would lose out on its share of the millions that the fee was expected to generate.
Others in the meeting said Scarnati was very matter-of-fact: The veteran Republican leader didn't want Democrats publicly trashing the bill, then rushing to cash in on the proceeds.
The shale bill covers everything from how much the fee will be - it will fluctuate depending on the price of gas - to how much power municipalities have to control drilling.
House and Senate negotiators projected the total fees paid on all Marcellus wells at $180 million the first year, with more in the future as more wells are drilled.
Williams said that he, too, ended up voting for the measure Tuesday - but that he didn't like it. "It was a reality trade-off."
Not so fast, countered Drew Crompton, Scarnati's counsel and chief of staff and one of the key architects of the Marcellus Shale compromise.
He said Scarnati and other Republicans have been talking to Democrats for weeks to line up their support for the legislation, which would allocate 60 percent of the fee's proceeds to areas directly affected by drilling, and the other 40 percent to statewide environmental and infrastructure projects.
