By Laura Bonawits, Contributing Writer

Gov. Corbett made his first trip to the Scranton area Thursday morning since announcing his not-so-popular budget plan, and protesters had a few St. Patrick’s Day messages to deliver.His budget? “Blarney.” His plan to tap into the state’s natural gas resource? “No fracking way.”

A crowd of about 50 residents scattered outside the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce awaiting the arrival of the governor, who was meeting with the chamber’s Board of Directors and Government Affairs Committee to discuss his budget proposal.

Protesters shared the mic to call out the governor—mostly on hydraulic fracturing— noting that their homes lie in areas that could be affected by drilling.

“This [fracking] is an extreme technology,” said Patrick Walker, Factoryville. “If we’re going to use these technologies at all, we have to strictly regulate them, but we’re looking for a gulf oil spill on land— and I say, Governor Corbett, listen to the voice of your people, and listen to the voice of science.”

Another opponent of fracking expressed concerns about the amount of water required for the process. “The most important part about hydraulic fracturing is 80 percent of water is going to go into the deep shale formations; it’s going to be outside of the water cycle forever,” Julie Edgar, a Tompton resident, said. “We don’t even have enough water as it is, but we want to give them 62 billion gallons of water for privatized profit over public health.”

Later in the day, Gov. Corbett discussed his budget in an interview with WNEP-TV. He addressed his controversial cuts to education, noting that it is not something he wants to do, but simply does not have the funds to dispense to schools and universities.

“That money’s not there this year. It’s gone,” Gov. Corbett said. “If you were out spending and somebody gave you a million dollars and you continued to spend a million dollars, and when that million dollars ran out, would you continue to spend a million dollars? No.”

He also defended the controversial appointment of Roger E. Nut as CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, a position that comes with a salary of $196,700.  “I’ve brought somebody who’s qualified, who knows what he’s doing,” Gov. Corbett said “He was president of the association of turnpike executives at one point in time. So on paper he’s a very qualified person if you just take out the part that he’s the father of my campaign manager.”