A Final Impact Fee In Place

Scott Detrow

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Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

February 5, 2012 | 4:09 PM

Multiple news outlets are reporting a final Marcellus Shale impact fee bill is in place.
As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, the legislation splits the difference between impact fees previously passed by the House and Senate. Counties would have the power to enact a fee, but the state – through the Public Utility Commission – would oversee collection of the levy. Another major change: the PUC, not the Attorney General, would enforce restrictions on local zoning.
The House and Senate will likely vote on the measure this week, after it’s approved by a conference committee.

More from the PG:
– Counties can decide whether to impose a fee on shale wells within their boundaries. If they decline to opt in, a majority of municipalities can overrule that decision. (House version had counties decide, but had no municipal input.)
– The state Public Utility Commission will collect fee dollars from drillers and distribute the revenues. (as the Senate version proposed.)
– The fee will be based on five classes, according to the price of natural gas. Over 15 years, it would raise between $190,000 and $355,000 per well, depending on how gas prices rise and fall. It also would be subject to adjustments based on the consumer price index. (House version raised $160,000 per well over 10 years; Senate plan had $360,000 per well over 20 years.)
– Distribution of fee revenue appears similar to past versions — haven’t nailed down a final version, but confirmed one component: 5 percent of the state’s portion would be eligible to incentivize the creation of ethane cracker and refinery facilities. (Senate version added this provision; no funding in House version.)

Capitolwire and the Associated Press also have details on the legislation.