Two companies – EQT and Consol – have submitted bids to drill for natural gas at Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport. Allegheny County owns the land at both facilities, and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald sees the drilling revenue as a way to alleviate airline expenses at the underused Pittsburgh International Airport. “Will that bring every airline [...]
South Fayette, Allegheny County, is not a big fan of the fact that the Public Utility Commission is reviewing whether or not its drilling ordinances fit within the parameters of Act 13. More from the Post-Gazette: In a filing dated Friday, attorneys for South Fayette, which was part of the legal challenge to Act 13, [...]
Allegheny County’s bomb squad was called in to detonate a pipe bomb found next to a natural gas pipeline in Buffalo Township, Allegheny County yesterday. More from the Post-Gazette: A contractor working on a natural gas pipeline in Washington County on Monday afternoon unearthed a pipe bomb that was detonated by the Allegheny County bomb [...]
Pittsburgh’s city solicitor has asked the Public Utility Commission to weigh in on whether or not the city’s fracking ban runs afoul of Pennsylvania’s new drilling laws. The city will have to wait on an answer, though, as the PUC is waiting until Commonwealth Court has ruled on a challenge to Act 13, before it [...]
The Post-Gazette reports a Pittsburgh developer wants to build a $238 million skyscraper, but is having a hard time finding an anchor tenant. A big energy company would be a logical choice, given Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom. But developer Steve Guy says the industry is turned off by the city’s ban on hydraulic fracturing:
Just how many jobs does natural gas drilling produce? The Morning Call is the latest news outlet to take a crack at the answer, in this report from John Micek: Viewed as a whole, the raft of reports and studies pegs the number of jobs created by the industry at as few as 10,000 to [...]
Allegheny County is preparing to approve an impact fee on natural gas wells within its borders. But as the Tribune-Review reports, the county is putting the breaks on regulations setting buffers between wells and buildings: Council’s Economic Development & Housing Committee voted 2-0 today to recommend a fee on deep-shale oil and gas wells for [...]
The Post-Gazette takes a look at the southwestern municipalities who are preparing to challenge Pennsylvania’s new impact fee in court. Their problem: language limiting local governments’ ability to zone and regulate drilling: South Fayette has joined other municipalities in considering legal action against House Bill 1950, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Feb. 8. [...]
Well, that was fast. Hours after Governor Corbett signed a natural gas drilling impact fee into law, a Washington County township decided to file a legal challenge against the new measure. The Observer-Reporter has more: The Robinson Township Board of Supervisors voted Monday night to have its solicitor take action to protect the township’s zoning [...]
Local officials don’t like either General Assembly plan to impose an impact fee on natural gas drillers – so much so that representatives from more than 40 southwestern communities will meet on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the measures. It’s not the per-well levies, which begin at $40,000 in the House bill, and $50,000 [...]
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