Pa. House votes to send shale drilling fee to Corbett
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HARRISBURG -- After more than three hours of debate today and months of wrangling over the legislation's details, a Marcellus Shale regulatory and impact fee measure is headed to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
That legislation passed the state House of Representatives this afternoon on a vote of 101-90. It passed the state Senate yesterday, following a Monday evening conference committee meeting to move forward on the Republican-negotiated proposal.
It now awaits the signature of Mr. Corbett, who urged lawmakers during his budget address yesterday to give their speedy approval.
Shale gas wells in Pennsylvania will be assessed an annual fee, which will be pegged against the price of natural gas and adjusted yearly to reflect changes in the consumer price index. Beginning in September, companies would pay between $190,000 and $355,000 per well during the first 15 years after the well is drilled.
That fee is projected to raise more than $190 million retroactively for 2011, rising to $333 million by 2015.
Many Democrats, who had attempted to enact a larger gas severance tax, decried the fee as too low to cover local impacts and potential legacy costs related to the industry.
"It does not raise the revenues necessary to make sure the taxpayers are not left holding the bag," said House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont.
Republican supporters countered that the $3 billion that would be distributed to counties, municipalities and statewide programs over the next decade struck a reasonable balance.
"This bill may not be perfect, but we've been waiting for perfect for four years," said Rep. Dave Reed, R-Indiana. "At some point you have to stop talking about caring for our environment, about funding environmental programs, and you have to get about the business of doing something about it."
Each county would be able to decide whether to charge the fee, which would be collected and distributed by the state Public Utility Commission. If a county decides not to charge a fee -- and thus forfeit its share of local fee dollars -- officials in half of the municipalities in the county could override that decision by voting to charge the fee.
The measure also would standardize guidelines for what rules local governments can impose on gas drilling.
Municipalities cannot prevent gas drilling most area, except for residential areas of a certain density, and cannot set more stringent rules than those for other industrial activities. Tougher ordinances would be subject to review by the state Public Utility Commission, and could cost a town their share of the impact fee dollars.
In addition to the zoning and fee portions, the measure makes the first sweeping changes to the state's Oil and Gas Act since Marcellus drilling began eight years ago, including boosting penalties and bonding costs and requiring more public disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals.
First Published February 8, 2012 4:28 pm
