Impact fee bill would be helpful
Pennsylvania’s highest-ranking state senator recently introduced a gas drilling impact fee bill and the numbers tell a practical story.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnatti, a Brockway Republican, says the bill would bring in $675 million over five years based on current gas prices and accepted production projections.
?How do we get there?
Companies would be required to pay the state at least $10,000 per well they are drilling from each year.
Based on the current well drilling activity as well as activity dating to 2010, the proposal would capture $121.2 million in payments by March 2012.
Besides the $10,000 annual fee, the Public Utility Commission could reap several times that depending on the price of natural gas and the volume produced by the well.
The money would be set aside for such things as road repairs, environmental cleanup or water and sewer plant improvements in drilling communities and statewide.
The first $7.5 million from the fee would go to county conservation districts for help with environmental protection efforts. After that, the money would be split so that 60 percent goes to counties and municipalities that are home to drilling activity and the other 40 percent to state-run funds.
Estimates are that each well would generate at least $160,000 in fees over a decade.
Scarnatti’s proposal is in competition with six other proposals to impose a tax or fee on the drilling industry.
But it is by far the best we’ve seen to date that generates revenues with a fair levy and assures that the money goes mostly to the communities that deal with the environmental and infrastructure situations brought on by the drilling.
— Williamsport Sun-Gazette