Sam Hoszwa’s letter of Feb. 11, “Tax the gas industry,” was misleading at best. Contrary to his jaundiced viewpoint, in 2012 Pennsylvania received more than $205 million in “impact fees” paid by oil and gas firms for shale operations conducted in 2011. These fees will now be an annual boon for Pennsylvania residents.

Impact fees are a new development, and were put in place by a bilateral group created by Gov. Tom Corbett.

The fees are divided and given directly to county and local governments (60 percent) and state government (40 percent) to use for infrastructure repair, training, safety, etc.

Additionally, more than 100,000 new jobs have been created so far in Pennsylvania by this burgeoning industry. And these are not minimum-wage jobs; these are good-paying, long-term careers.

In 2012 alone, Pennsylvania enjoyed an additional $14.1 billion in gross state product and $7.3 billion in labor income due to shale development.

Just look around Butler at hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and other businesses. We are in the middle of an economic boom, thanks to the oil and gas industry.

People should stop throwing uninformed stones and get the facts.