WNEP-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for northeastern Pennsylvania licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 50 from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob in Mountain Top. Owned by Local TV, the station has studios on Montage Mountain Road in Moosic.

Digital programming[link]

The station became a charter affiliate of Tribune Broadcasting's new digital multicast channel Antenna TV upon its launch on January 1, 2011, it's being carried on digital subchannel 16.2, replacing RTV programming on that subchannel.^[1] The network, whose programming will consist of classic sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s during the afternoon and evening, and movies during the morning and late night hours, will debut on Local TV, LLC-owned stations in other markets as well as stations owned by Antenna TV's parent company Tribune Company on the same date.

Translators[link]

WNEP serves one of the largest coverage areas east of the Mississippi River. This area is very mountainous meaning that some areas cannot get a clear signal from channel 50. As a result, it operates one of the largest translator systems of any station in the Eastern Time Zone. WNEP-TV is also one of a very few television stations that operates the entire translator system in digital.

History[link]

WILK and WARM[link]

There were originally two ABC network affiliates in Northeastern Pennsylvania. WILK-TV channel 34 (owned by WILK (AM)) in Wilkes-Barre took to the air on September 16, 1953. It was followed by WARM-TV channel 16 (owned by WARM (AM) in Scranton on January 2, 1954. During the late 1950s, WILK-TV was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[2]

WILK wanted to get a head start on the other local stations when it signed on in 1953, going on the air at 2 pm rather than the 3 pm sign on that the other stations did. The engineers got the signal ready by noon and decided to take a break. However, at lunch, they turned on the station to inspect their handiwork, only to find the signal was dead. They rushed back and were able to establish the link by 1:50 pm, 10 minutes before sign-on.^[3]

Getting a signal from ABC headquarters in New York City was a challenge in the early days with no access to satellites. As a result, WILK set up a microwave tower in Effort, about 45 miles east of Wilkes-Barre. From there, the network signal was bounced to the Penobscot Knob transmitter site. Often, station engineers had to adjust the Effort transmitter to accept a signal from WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (now WPVI-TV) if they were unable to receive the New York feed.

WILK-TV and WARM-TV were both losing money, in large part because their network, ABC, was not on an equal footing with NBC and CBS (and would not be until the 1970s). However, they stayed on the air because they were owned by well-respected local radio stations.

Early years as WNEP-TV[link]

By 1955, however, it was obvious that Scranton and Wilkes-Barre were going to be a single television market. Accordingly, WILK and WARM agreed to merge. The new station, WNEP-TV, went on the air on New Year's Day in 1956. It operates under WILK's license, but uses WARM-TV's channel 16 to provide more signal to its vast coverage area at less cost. Along with the merger came a new owner, Transcontinent Broadcasting of Buffalo, New York. WILK's old channel 34 was reassigned to WBJA-TV (now WIVT), another ABC affiliate in Binghamton, New York; the WARM-TV transmitter was donated a decade later to the area's PBS member station, WVIA-TV. WNEP-TV was based in WILK-TV's old studio in downtown Wilkes-Barre, but then as now it was licensed to Scranton since it assumed WARM-TV's old channel allocation. In 1962, it moved to a new studio near the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

WNEP initially struggled to survive, just like its predecessors. However, the station took off in 1958 thanks in part to ABC's color programming and the station's new transmitter on Penobscot Knob. The new transmitter, which was the first million-watt signal in the market, increased WNEP's broadcast range to cover 15 counties.^[3]

Despite its increased coverage area, WNEP bounced back and forth in the ratings for most of the next two decades. It was never able to achieve any consistency because viewers in Scranton thought of it as a Wilkes-Barre station, while viewers in Wilkes-Barre thought of it as a Scranton station. In the mid-1970s, news director Elden Hale decided to take a regional approach. He billed the station as serving "Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania," and stepped up coverage of the remote portions of the market. These areas had largely been ignored by the other stations in town. He also added the area's first (and as of 2008^[update], only) news helicopter. This approach quickly paid off. In November 1976, WNEP surged to first place for the first time in a decade. After briefly falling back to second it surged to number one in 1978, around the same time ABC became the nation's number one network. Apart from a brief period in the mid-1990s when WBRE passed it, it has been number one ever since.

Transcontinent was merged into the Taft Television and Radio Company in 1964. When Taft bought WIBF-TV in Philadelphia and changed the calls to WTAF-TV in 1969 (now WTXF-TV), it sought a waiver to keep both stations. WNEP's Grade B signal reaches the Lehigh Valley, which is part of the Philadelphia market. WNEP has also operated an outlying transmitter on channel 7 in Allentown for many years. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) normally did not allow one company to own two stations with overlapping coverage areas. While it initially granted the waiver, it reversed itself four years later (in 1973) and forced Taft to sell WNEP.

An employee group, NEP Communications, bought the station and presided over its surge to first place. Under NEP Communications control, the company established a remote production company, which operated as an adjunct to WNEP-TV.

In 1985, The New York Times Company bought the station and WNEP moved to its current studios in Moosic in 1989. The station's new facility is almost an exact copy of the building the New York Times built for sister station WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Alabama, but on a larger scale. NEP Communications retained the production unit, which became NEP Broadcasting; the company provided remote broadcast facilities for the Olympics, World Cup Soccer and the Academy Awards, as well as a studio production facility in New York City.^[4]

On January 4, 2007, the station, along with the eight other stations owned by the New York Times' broadcast media group, were sold to Oak Hill Capital Partners in a $575 million transaction. As of 12:01 a.m., May 7, 2007, the station is operated as part of Local TV LLC.^[5]

Analog broadcast tower collapse[link]

WNEP-TV's transmission tower broadcasting the analog signal on channel 16 collapsed on December 16, 2007, due to severe ice, winds, and snow at the transmitter location on Penobscot Knob.^[6] The tower collapse also destroyed the transmitter building. No one was injured during the incident.^[6] WCLH's FM antenna and transmitter, which was co-located on WNEP's analog TV tower, was also destroyed during the incident.^[7] Transmission of the digital signal on channel 49 was restored after a brief interruption of power to the tower supporting the digital transmitter and antenna. WNEP's signal on local cable systems and satellite was restored by the end of the day on December 16, 2007. WNEP-TV partially restored its analog over the air TV signal by January 1, 2008^[8] by broadcasting from the nearby American Tower on Penobscot Knob supporting the WNEP-DT antenna as well as WOLF-TV/DT's antenna.^[9][10]

As the WNEP-TV analog broadcast tower collapsed on December 16, 2007, one of the falling guy wires supporting the WNEP-TV tower damaged the neighboring tower broadcasting WVIA-TV (analog and digital) and WVIA-FM by shearing off the top section of the WVIA tower supporting the antenna for the analog and digital TV signals. The antenna for WVIA-FM remained intact, as it is located on the lower section of the shared WVIA-FM-TV tower. The WVIA-TV analog signal on channel 44 was temporarily put off the air until service was restored through a back-up tower on Penobscot Knob.^[11]

The collapse of WNEP-TV's analog tower also severed power to the transmitters for WYOU-TV and WBRE-TV putting those stations off the air for a time.^[12]

On June 12, 2009, WNEP was to operate on a new tower which is currently complete, though the antenna had not arrived in a timely fashion. Their goal was to have the new facility operating by August 2009, but it was delayed a few months.^[13] On December 5, 2009, WNEP turned off Channel 49 and moved to channel 50. Moving to channel 50 was necessary so it can alleviate possible interference from WWSI which currently operates out of Atlantic City, New Jersey on UHF channel 49.^[14]

On February 15, 2010, the channel 49 facility was put back into use by WNEP on a temporary basis with FCC approval to accommodate PBS member station WVIA-TV (Channel 44), which had suffered a partial tower collapse and electrical fire which had destroyed WVIA's transmitter building and the equipment within.^[15][16]

Local programming[link]

Many of the programs air on WNEP have been in-house productions rather than syndicated shows. The most popular of these was a children's program called The Land of Hatchy Milatchy. Another program, Uncle Ted's Ghoul School, once employed Bill O'Reilly as a writer. He was also a reporter at the station for a brief period during the mid-1970s. Also during the 1970s, WNEP produced two game shows, Bowling for Dollars and Dialing for Dollars. Unlike the station's newscasts, the game shows were absolute failures considering that they were pitted against other more successful national syndicated primetime games such as Family Feud and Match Game.

Today, WNEP produces two in-house programs: Pennsylvania Outdoor Life, a show about hunting and fishing in Pennsylvania, and Home & Backyard, a show about do-it-yourself home improvements, cooking and gardening. 'Pennsylvania Outdoor Life' airs Saturdays at 6:30 pm on WNEP and 'Home & Backyard' airs Saturdays at 9:00 am on WNEP. Both of these programs re-air on the "Newswatch 16 Anytime" channel. The station also participates in several local charity events, including the MDA Labor Day Telethon and Scranton's annual Santa Parade.

News operation[link]

The station is best known for its local newscasts which are among the highest rated in the United States.^[17] It runs their newscasts under the branding of Newswatch 16. WNEP has led the ratings in northeastern Pennsylvania for most of the last 30 years and according to Nielsen data attracts more viewers than the other stations in town combined. In 2000, the weekday morning program earned shares between 50 and 60 meaning that 50 to 60% of televisions in the market were tuned to this station. Their on-air personalities are well known in the area. Chief Meteorologist Tom Clark has been with the station since 1981 and is one of the region's more popular broadcasters. His wife Noreen does forecasts on the weekend newscasts and has been with the station since 1982. Marisa Burke, a native of nearby Danville, has been with the station since 1984 and now solo anchors at noon and co-anchors the weeknight 6 o'clock newscast with Scott Schaffer. Fox requested most of its affiliates to air local news in 1990. To satisfy this, WNEP began producing a nightly 10 o'clock newscast on the area's affiliate WOLF-TV (then channel 38) in 1991. In November 2009, after being unable to reach an agreement with WNEP on a contract extension, WOLF announced its intention to turn to WBRE to produce an hour long 10 pm newscast beginning January 1, 2010. WNEP then announced that it would begin a 10:00 pm newscast on its sister station WNEP2 on the same date.

Known as Newswatch 16 at 10 on FOX 38, it was the first instance of one station producing a newscast for another.^{[citation needed]} When the FOX affiliation moved from channel 38 to channel 56, the 10 o'clock news switched stations as well. It then became known as FOX 56 News at 10 with a secondary title of Newswatch 16 at 10 on FOX 56. WNEP airs this broadcast from a secondary set at its studios. The station runs a secondary service, known as "WNEP 2" (formerly "Newswatch 16 Anytime" and before that "Newswatch 16 on Adelphia 63"), on its second digital subchannel and area cable systems. This channel currently airs Antenna TV programming along with other local programming. WNEP was the only media outlet in the market to utilize a helicopter, known as "Skycam 16", for news gathering purposes. The helicopter was operational from 1984 until being decommissioned in February 2009.^[18][19] The station airs the Pennsylvania Lottery televised nighttime drawings live seven nights a week and the live Powerball drawing on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

In March 2009, its weekday morning news at 6 added another two hours (7–9 a.m.) seen on WNEP 2. Also in March, the station started up-converting its news programs to 720p wide screen format becoming the first one in the area to make such a change. WNEP announced on August 6, 2009 that they would begin broadcasting a 4:00 pm newscast on September 8, known as "Newswatch 16 at 4" which would have Norm Jones solo anchoring along with Tom Clark doing weather.

It has been announced in early September 2010 that Norm Jones would be leaving WNEP so he can move closer to his home in Milton. Paola Giangiacomo took over Norm as the solo anchor for Newswatch 16 at 4 on September 13, 2010. Norm's last newscast with WNEP was held on September 10, 2010. Jon Meyer took over Norm as the co-anchor with Paola for the 5 and 5:30 newscasts.

On February 10, 2011, starting with the 4 pm newscast, WNEP premiered a new HD-ready set (newscasts remained in widescreen standard definition). On July 9, 2011, WNEP began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition starting with the 6 pm newscast, becoming the first station in the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre market to begin offering local newscasts in high definition; Buffalo was the largest market without a high definition newscast until August 13, 2011, when WKBW began broadcasting its local newscasts in HD (currently, the Chico–Redding market is the largest market without any stations carrying widescreen newscasts of any kind). In early September 2011, WNEP expanded its 4 pm newscast to a full hour with an additional half-hour at 4:30 pm, with Julie Sidoni anchoring and Chief Meteorologist Tom Clark doing the weather. Paola Giangiacomo resigned from WNEP in September 2011 (Sidoni now co-anchors the 5 and 5:30 newscasts with Jon Meyer, and Trish Hartman has taken her spot for the 7:00 weeknight newscasts with Scott Schaffer).

Since 1994, the station has used an updated version of Al Ham's Move Closer to Your World, which is composed by Cliff Schwarz. From 1981 to 1994, the station used the original theme, which is currently used by ABC affiliates WPVI-TV and WKBW-TV.

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• Your Esso Reporter (1953–1958)
• The Pennsylvania Report (1958–1961)
• WNEP-TV News (1961–1965)
• WNEP-TV News Service (1965–1968)
• NewsWatch 16 (1968–present)

Station slogans[link]

• "The News Station" (1981–present)

News music packages[link]

• Move Closer to Your World (1981–1994)
• Move Closer to Your World-esque Theme (1994–present)

News team[link]

[edit] Current on-air staff^[20]

Anchors

• Marisa Burke – weekdays at noon and weeknights at 6 pm
• Trish Hartman – weeknights at 7 and 11 pm on WNEP and 10 pm on WNEP-DT2
• Jon Meyer – weeknights at 5 and 5:30 pm; also 10 and 11 pm reporter (husband of Renie Workman)
• Sofia Ojeda – weekend evenings; also Lackawanna County reporter
• Andy Palumbo – weekend mornings; also weekday morning reporter
• Mindi Ramsey – weekday mornings (5–7 a.m., on WNEP; 7–9 a.m., on WNEP-DT2)
• Scott Schaffer – weeknights at 6, 7 and 11 pm on WNEP and 10 pm on WNEP-DT2 (husband of Julie Sidoni)
• Julie Sidoni – weekdays at 4 and 4:30, and weeknights at 5 and 5:30 pm; also "Healthwatch 16" reporter (wife of Scott Schaffer)
• Tom Williams – weekday mornings (5–7 a.m., on WNEP; 7–9 a.m., on WNEP-DT2)

StormTracker 16

• Tom Clark – (AMS Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist; weekdays at noon, 4 and 4:30, and weeknights at 5, 5:30, 6 and 7 pm, also "Home & Backyard" segment reporter (husband of Noreen Clark)
• Kurt Aaron – meteorologist; weeknights at 10 and 11 pm, also "Action 16" "Does It Really Work?" segment reporter
• Noreen Clark – meteorologist; weekend mornings, also "In Your Neighborhood" segment producer (wife of Tom Clark)
• Michelle Rotella – meteorologist; weekend evenings, also weekday reporter
• Joe Snedeker – meteorologist; weekday mornings (5–7 a.m., on WNEP; 7–9 a.m., on WNEP-DT2)

Sports team

• Jim Coles – sports director; weeknights at 5:30, 6, 7 and 11 pm on WNEP and 10 pm on WNEP-DT2
• Sharla McBride – sports anchor; weekend evenings, also sports reporter
• Steve Lloyd – sports reporter and photojournalist

Reporters

• Dave Bohman – "Action 16" investigative reporter
• Sarah Buynovsky – general assignment reporter
• Jim Hamill – Central Pennsylvania Bureau reporter
• Nikki Krize – general assignment reporter
• Stacy Lange – general assignment reporter
• Ryan Leckey – weekday morning feature reporter
• Peggy Lee – general assignment reporter
• Raegan Medgie – Poconos Bureau reporter
• Jim Murdoch – Luzerne County reporter
• Bob Reynolds – general assignment reporter
• Mike Stevens – "On the Pennsylvania Road" segment producer
• Renie Workman – general assignment reporter (wife of Jon Meyer)

Local program hosts[link]

PA Outdoor Life

• Don Jacobs – host; also fill-in reporter
• Brian Hollingshead - producer
• Dave Aucker – contributor
• Dale Butler – contributor
• Susan Gallagher – contributor
• Bob Hawkins – contributor
• Rick Koval – contributor
• Randy Reynolds – contributor
• Mike Stevens – contributor
• Jackie Vass – contributor

Home & Backyard

• Jackie Lewandoski - host
• Mike Stevens - host
• Paul Epsom - host
• Doug Engle - producer
• Kevin Fonash - producer

Out-of-market coverage[link]

In Pennsylvania, WNEP is on cable in the Lehigh Valley (Philadelphia DMA) and in State College (Altoona/Johnstown DMA). It is carried in parts of Pike County (New York City DMA) as far east as Matamoras.

In New York, it is carried in the Highland Lake area of Sullivan County, New York (New York City DMA), alongside WBRE.

References[link]

External links[link]

• WNEP-TV website
• WNEP mobile
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WNEP-TV
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for WNEP-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WNEP-TV

Tom Corbett
46th Governor of Pennsylvania
Incumbent
Assumed office January 18, 2011
Lieutenant	Jim Cawley
Preceded by	Ed Rendell
46th Attorney General of Pennsylvania
In office January 18, 2005[1] – January 18, 2011
Preceded by	Jerry Pappert
Succeeded by	William Ryan (Acting)
In office October 3, 1995 – January 22, 1997
Preceded by	Ernie Preate
Succeeded by	Mike Fisher
United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania
In office November 30, 1989 – May 1, 1993
Nominated by	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Charles Sheehy (Acting)
Succeeded by	Frederick Thieman
Personal details
Born	(1949-06-17) June 17, 1949 (age 63) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan Manbeck
Residence	Governor's Residence
Alma mater	Lebanon Valley College St. Mary's University, Texas
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature
Website	Official website
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1971–1984
Rank	Captain
Unit	28th Infantry Division

Thomas W. "Tom" Corbett (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician who has been the 46th Governor of Pennsylvania since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Corbett was the Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 1997; he was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to fill the unexpired term of Ernie Preate following Preate's indictment. Subsequently he was elected as Attorney General in 2004; he served as Attorney General from 2005 to 2011, winning re-election in 2008.^[2]

Early life, education, and early career[link]

Corbett received his Bachelor's degree at Lebanon Valley College and was employed as a 9th grade teacher for one year.^[3] Corbett then earned his J.D. from St. Mary's University Law School. He served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard 28th Infantry Division from 1971 to 1984, rising to the rank of Captain.

Corbett's career has been split between private practice and civil service. He began his legal career as an assistant district attorney in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County. After three and a half years, he was hired in 1980 as assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

In 1983, Corbett went into private practice for several years. During this period, Corbett won his first election as a township commissioner in the Pittsburgh suburb of Shaler Township.

In 1988, a judge appointed him to monitor the Allegheny County jail while it was under the court's supervision. In 1989, Senators John Heinz and Arlen Specter recommended to President Bush that he nominate Corbett for the post of United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania.^[4][5] Corbett served in the post until May 1993, when he was dismissed by President Bill Clinton.^[6]

Corbett then returned to private practice, also serving as an adviser to the gubernatorial campaign of Tom Ridge. Following Ridge's victory, Corbett served on a number of state commissions including the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, which he served as chairman.

Corbett left office in 1997 and again went into the private sector, first as general counsel for Waste Management, Inc., then opening his own practice.

Attorney General[link]

1995 appointment[link]

In 1995, Corbett was appointed to the position of State Attorney General by Governor Ridge to fill the remainder of the term left by the conviction of Ernie Preate.^[7] As a condition of his Senate confirmation, Senate Democrats required him to pledge that he would not run for re-election in 1996. This is a common practice in Pennsylvania for appointments to elected offices. Jerry Pappert made the same pledge in 2003 when he succeeded Mike Fisher as State Attorney General.

2004 election[link]

The race began with Corbett, Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor, and Joe Peters fighting for the Republican party endorsement. With Corbett from western Pennsylvania, Castor from the southeast, and Peters from the northeast, it was initially expected that endorsement votes would follow geographic lines. However, four of the five southeastern county chairmen came out in support of Corbett with Castor taking only Montgomery County.

Furious that he had lost party endorsements, Castor lashed out at the county chairman with accusations of backroom deals with Bob Asher, the state's national GOP committeeman and a convicted felon connected to Budd Dwyer. During the campaign, Castor launched attack ads against Corbett for his prior employment at Waste Management Inc, and the financial support he received from Asher. Corbett's campaign responded with advertisements critical of Castor's acceptance of $625,000 in contributions from Drew Lewis after Lewis was convicted of DUI but permitted to serve his sentence at an upscale rehab facility in New England.

Corbett held on to large majorities in Western Pennsylvania including 82% in his base of Allegheny County,^[8] while Castor prevailed in the Southeast with almost a similar margin. Ultimately, Corbett won the race with 52.8% of the vote.^[9] Castor subsequently announced his support of Corbett in the general election against Democrat Jim Eisenhower.

The General election was not as contentious as it was close. After early returns were reported, the Associated Press called the race in Eisenhower's favor, only to retract that call later as the numbers closed. Corbett declared victory the following morning, having defeated Eisenhower by nearly 110,000 votes, winning 50.4% to 48.3%. Green party candidate Marakay Rogers captured 1.3% of the vote.^[10]

2008 election[link]

Corbett was re-elected in 2008. He won with the largest vote total of any Republican in the state's history.^[3] He defeated Democrat John Morganelli, bucking the trend of Democratic success in Pennsylvania that year.

Healthcare reform[link]

On March 23, 2010, Corbett, along with 13 other state attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the mandates in the just-signed federal Healthcare Bill, claiming it is unconstitutional. As of January 2011, a total of 27 states have joined this lawsuit.^[11]

Governor of Pennsylvania[link]

2010 election[link]

On March 17, 2009, it was reported that Corbett had formed an exploratory committee and had begun filing the paperwork necessary to begin a run for Governor of Pennsylvania. On September 15, 2009, Corbett formally declared his candidacy^[12] and, on May 18, 2010, won the GOP primary with nearly 70% of the vote.^[13]

In May 2010 Corbett filed a criminal subpoena against twitter ordering them to divulge "any and all subscriber information" of the person(s) behind two accounts that were criticizing the Republican candidate.^[14] Corbett's office denied that the subpoenas were related to the criticism, but rather to an ongoing grand jury investigation. Corbett's office ultimately withdrew the subpoenas. One of the account owners declined to say whether he was indeed the subject of a grand jury investigation.^[15]

In July 2010, Corbett garnered attention for suggesting that some of the unemployed are exploiting the extension of unemployment benefits prior to seeking employment, and later noting the prevalence of "help wanted" ads in the newspapers as evidence of the availability of employment.^[16][17]

In September 2010, at the first gubernatorial debate, Corbett again gained attention for seemingly violating his "no-tax pledge" in suggesting that he would consider raising the payroll contribution tax.^[18]

On November 2, 2010, Corbett was elected governor of Pennsylvania, succeeding Democrat Ed Rendell. Corbett assumed the office of governor on January 18, 2011, at 12:29 PM.

Tenure[link]

Budget[link]

Corbett became governor on January 18, 2011. One of his first actions was the proposal of a new state budget that would decrease spending by 3%. The proposed budget received significant criticism due to its cuts in state-supported higher education by 50%. Under the new budget, funding granted to the 14 universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and state-related universities Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple, and Lincoln would be cut in half, totaling $625 million. Corbett has said, however, that he will not attempt to limit collective bargaining, as have Republican Governors John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.^[19]

Natural gas[link]

As governor, Corbett maintains that Pennsylvania should not tax the natural gas industry.^[20][21] In February 2011, Corbett repealed a four month old policy regulating natural gas drilling (including hydraulic fracturing) in park land, deeming it "unnecessary and redundant" according to a spokesperson. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party called the repeal a "payoff" to oil and gas interests which donated a million dollars to Corbett's campaign.^[22] According to Corbett, "had they not given me a dime, I would still be in this position, saying we need to grow jobs in Pennsylvania".^[23]

On February 14, 2012, Corbett signed The Marcellus Shale Law (House Bill 1950).^[24] The law changes the zoning laws applicable to Marcellus Shale well drilling, which is more commonly known as hydraulic fracturing. Some of its provisions are that all municipalities must allow Marcellus Shale well drilling in all zoning districts, including residential and municipalities may not limit hours of operation. Water and wastewater pits must also be allowed in all zoning districts, including residential. Compressor stations must be allowed in industrial and agricultural zoning districts and towns may not limit hours of operation. Gas processing plants are allowed in industrial zoning districts and hours of operation cannot be limited. Gas pipelines must be allowed in all zoning districts, including residential.^[24] The law helps gain access to land for new pipelines,^[25] one of which will transport natural gas from Pennsylvania to export terminals in Maryland,^{[26][27] [28][29]} from which it will be shipped to Europe and Asia.^[30][31] Others contend that the pipeline's purpose is to transport the gas to Maryland and D.C. markets.^[32][26] There are also concerns that exporting natural gas will result in more jobs going overseas, leading to increased unemployment in Pennsylvania and other states as gas prices rise globally.^[33]

The Marcellus Shale Law (House Bill 1950) also contains a provision that allows doctors in Pennsylvania access to the list of chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluid in emergency situations only, but forbids them from discussing this information with their patients.^[34] The information can only be used for emergency medical treatment, and the doctor must immediately verbally agree to keep the information confidential and later sign a document to that effect.^[35] The bill also reduces the legal responsibility of vendors, service providers, and operators regarding the identity and impact of contents of the hydraulic fracturing fluid they use.^[35]

Personal life[link]

Corbett is married; he and his wife Susan have two children, Tom and Katherine. Tom is an interactive gaming producer and Katherine is a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's office.^[36]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	Pennsylvania portal
	Politics portal

• Governor Tom Corbett official government site
• Tom Corbett for Governor official campaign site
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Works by or about Tom Corbett in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Profile at Notable Names Database
• Tom Corbett: Pennsylvania at NAAG.org

v t e Governors and Presidents of Pennsylvania Presidents (1777–1790) Wharton Bryan Reed Moore Dickinson Franklin Mifflin Governors (since 1790) Mifflin McKean Snyder Findlay Hiester Shulze Wolf Ritner Porter Shunk Johnston Bigler Pollock Packer Curtin Geary Hartranft Hoyt Pattison Beaver Pattison Hastings Stone Pennypacker Stuart Tener Brumbaugh Sproul Pinchot Fisher Pinchot Earle James Martin Bell Duff Fine Leader Lawrence Scranton Shafer Shapp Thornburgh Casey Ridge Schweiker Rendell Corbett

v t e Current statewide political officials of Pennsylvania U.S. Senators Bob Casey, Jr. Pat Toomey State government Tom Corbett, Governor Jim Cawley, Lieutenant Governor Linda Kelly, Attorney General Robert McCord, Treasurer Jack Wagner, Auditor General Senate Joe Scarnati, President pro tempore Dominic Pileggi, Majority Leader Jay Costa, Minority Leader House Sam Smith, Speaker Mike Turzai, Majority Leader Frank Dermody, Minority Leader Supreme Court (elected) Ronald Castille Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor J. Michael Eakin Max Baer Debra Todd Seamus McCaffery Joan Orie Melvin Recused pending criminal charges AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY