LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe based his decision not to support a proposed severance tax hike on natural gas on misinformation, the measure’s sponsor said Thursday.
Beebe, who late last year said he would n0t campaign for the proposal but would vote for it, told reporters this week that he has reconsidered and now probably will not vote for it.
The governor said he changed his mind because of concerns that raising the severance tax from 5 percent to 7 percent could hinder development of oil and gas fields known as the Smackover Brown Dense, under parts of south Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
Sheffield Nelson said Thursday that he thought the governor was misinformed.
“One of the things I think he relied on is some of the misinformation about that’s a gas play down there,” Nelson, a former natural gas company executive and failed gubernatorial candidate, said after an address to the Sherwood Chamber of Commerce. “He said he was afraid (the severance tax increase) would affect … natural gas prices, but that’s an oil play. I think they’ve misled the governor.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The natural gas in the Brown Dense “is not gas you could capture and put into a pipeline, so it’s not a competitive fuel,” Nelson said.
Matt DeCample, spokesman for the governor, said Beebe was not misled.
“We know it’s predominately oil,” DeCample said, adding that “the governor had all the information, he reviewed it and drew his conclusions.”
DeCample said Nelson is knowledgeable and opinionated. He said Nelson and the governor “are friends and they sometimes have differing opinions on the issues.”
In his speech to the Sherwood chamber, Nelson downplayed a poll released this week by Talk Business and Hendrix College showing 55 percent of respondents opposed the severance tax increase proposal. Twenty-eight percent said they supported the proposal and another 17 percent said they did not know.
Nelson’s supporters are trying to gather at least 62,507 signatures by July 6 to qualify the measure for the November general election ballot.
Nelson said Thursday that “thousands” of signatures have been collected and he is optimistic that enough will be collected by the July 6 deadline.
“Everything is going extremely well,” he said. “I feel very good and the issue will be on the ballot in November.”