Regulating shale operations: Public Utility Commission would get new role
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The Marcellus Shale legislation awaiting Gov. Tom Corbett's signature would introduce a quiet player into the divided, often loud, world of gas drilling: the Public Utility Commission, a relatively unknown state agency suddenly charged with determining which communities are illegally regulating gas extraction.
The PUC last made headlines when the region's three utility providers filed lower monthly rates for winter, and it also makes decisions involving industries such as telecommunications and transportation. But the agency would also be asked to review the scores of local ordinances that allow municipalities to establish specific setback rules or predrilling requirements.
Under the legislation, the Public Utility Commission has the sector-shifting power to say which communities have overstepped in regulating where and how companies extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale rock formation.
Officials in Harrisburg say the change would simply add a new industry to the commission's adjudicative portfolio, but the anonymity that led to the choice of the PUC has some wondering what qualifications the state agency brings to the job.
Initial drafts of the bill gave oversight power to the attorney general's office. After a negative response, the state still needed an agency to "call the balls and strikes." Lawmakers wanted officials who weren't already tied up in the emotionally charged issue, said Drew Crompton, the chief of staff for key player Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson.
"I want my umpire boring," he said.
The umpire they found is entering a debate that's anything but boring.
PDFThe zoning argument has been louder in southwestern Pennsylvania than in the northeast portion of the state, where drilling is rampant but local regulations are not.
Mr. Crompton cited Lycoming County's ordinance in northeastern Pennsylvania as one of the state's "premier" examples of local control -- its setbacks and requirements apply to the entire county and aren't broken up by municipality.
First Published February 12, 2012 12:00 am
