Next Thursday And Friday Are Critical For Pennsylvania's Impact Fee

Scott Detrow

Recent Stories

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.

April 5, 2012 | 1:30 PM

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

A Cabot drilling rig, located in Susquehanna County

Next Wednesday and Thursday will be very important within the world of Marcellus Shale drilling.
On Wednesday, Commonwealth Court will hear arguments on a lawsuit challenging the impact fee’s restrictions on local control of drilling, as the Post-Gazette reports:

Appellate judges will hear arguments on April 11 at 10 a.m., which falls three days before the bulk of the statute goes into effect.
…The lawsuit argues that standardizing zoning rules for gas drilling is an “improper and arbitrary” use of state power. Officials claim it hinders their ability to adequately protect residents and to structure equitable zoning rules.

The next day, Bradford County’s commissioners will vote on whether or not to enact the $50,000-per-well fee within their borders. The vote will have a major impact on how much revenue Pennsylvania will generate from the fee, since Bradford alone is responsible for about a quarter of 2012’s expected fee revenue. Republicans hold a two-to-one advantage on the county’s board, and both GOP members are skeptical of the levy.