Marcellus Shale legislation - an overview

Intern Mauri wrote up a great summary of the recent Marcellus Shale Impact Fee legislation that recently passed the Pennsylvania legislature and is expected to be signed into law by the Governor.  See below for a great summary of the bill.
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Yesterday, Governor Corbett signed a Marcellus Shale Impact Fee into law. The bill, which was approved by the Senate 31-19 last Tuesday and won 101-90 in the House on Wednesday, will let officials within counties impacted by the Marcellus Shale play to levy fees that offset costs of drilling operations.

Those fees would be collected by the PUC.

The impact fee will be structured on a sliding scale dependent on natural gas pricing and inflation. For the first year of operation, natural gas drillers will incur a fee set between $40,000 and $60,000; the fee will be set to decline through a period of 15 years. Revenues from impact fees will be split 60/40 between local governments who have adopted an impact fee ordinance and statewide uses such as watershed protection, mine reclamation and oil and gas well plugging projects.

Another highlight of the bill includes provisions that will help low-to-moderate income families and individuals obtain housing--a serious concern in some markets where renters were priced out because of an influx of natural gas workers from other states.

County officials located within the Marcellus Shale region will have a 60-day window in which they must decide whether or not their county will impose impact fees.




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