By Herb Field

At least 36 states impose a severance tax of some kind, 31 on oil and/or gas, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, would have us - and in particular, state lawmakers - believe that this is a really bad idea for Pennsylvania, one that would set the state back economically.

He would rather have lawmakers focusing on infrastructure and similar business-friendly programs, but he doesn't tell us where the money for such efforts is to be found.

Meanwhile, the state is in such dire financial straits that consideration has been given to putting video-gambling devices in every gas station and borrowing money from the tobacco fund.

It makes you wonder what desperate and insane contrivances will be up for consideration to balance next year's budget.

Pennsylvania should have never permitted drilling in the Marcellus Shale without a severance tax in place.

Hundreds of millions - if not billions - of dollars of much-needed revenue have been lost to the state and its residents since drilling began 14 years ago.

And the truth is both political parties can hang their heads in shame for that unconscionable give away. The ongoing shame is that this bizarre policy remains in place.

Marcellus Shale has been around for 390 million years. It could be exhausted in 25 to 100 years, depending on a lot of things.

Lawmakers in every other oil and gas state - including states as conservative as Texas and Oklahoma - understand that their geologic good fortune should be used in some substantial measure for the greater good, not for the benefit of a few.

Time is a wasting. The average new well sees its production drop by 50 percent or more in the first year of operation.

Meanwhile, reminiscent of the days when coal was king in Pennsylvania, forests are being cleared for drilling platforms and pipelines, and pollution of our waterways and ground water is an ever-present and growing threat.

It's time for legislators to reject Gene Barr's tired old scare tactics and join the great majority of states that have long had a severance tax.

Herb Field, a former Patriot-News Opinion writer, lives in Wheatfield Township, Perry County.