Campus Crossfire Live: Sheffield Nelson and Arkansas Natural Gas Severance Tax

The UATV show Campus Crossfire will interview Sheffield Nelson, a former gubernatorial candidate and former chief executive officer of ArklaGas, about his proposal to increase the severance task on natural gas in Arkansas. The interview will be at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, in Giffels Auditorium of Old Main.

As of 2008, Arkansas had a 5 percent severance tax on the market price of natural gas, but due to loopholes, the state only collected about 1.5 percent from the drilling companies. Gas drilling requires travel of hundreds of semis and other heavy trucks, which have allegedly done over $450 million in damages to Arkansas roads and highways.

To help cover the cost of damage to the roadways, Nelson is pursuing a ballot initiative to increase the severance tax to 7 percent and close the loopholes. The tax revenue would be used primarily to repair road damage. Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana have severance taxes of 7 to 8 percent. The initiative is supported by the Arkansas Municipal League.

The opposition consists of gas drilling companies, the state Chamber of Commerce, and others. They assert that an increased severance tax will make Arkansas less competitive and drive gas drilling out of the state, creating a loss of jobs.

Join the Crossfire Crew as they discuss this ballot initiative with the man behind it. There will be time for questions from the public. Questions may also be submitted through Twitter at @UACrossfire. If you can't make it in person, you can watch live on uatvonline.net or on Cox Digital Cable Channel 214 (22 on campus). This will be one of the University of Arkansas Television's first of many live broadcasts outside the UATV studios.

See the UATV Crossfire event listed on Facebook.