Mar 15, 2014 1 min read

WILLIAMSPORT (AP) — Gov. Tom Corbett is defending his opposition to an extraction tax on natural gas, telling a newspaper that higher costs could drive away the industry.

The first-term Republican governor told the Williamsport Sun-Gazetteduring a visit to the paper’s offices on Friday that he is hopeful that the gas could fuel exports.

Corbett tells the paper a severance tax would go into the general fund, as opposed to the impact fees that are directed to communities where drilling occurs.

The governor says schools depend too much on state funding, and expressed support for a new general funding formula for local districts.

Corbett is in the midst of a tough re-election battle, with a GOP opponent in the May primary and a group of Democrats vying to get their party’s nomination.