PUC Posts Details On $223.5 Million Drilling Impact Fee Disbursements For 2014

The Public Utility Commission Wednesday published information on the PUC website regarding the final approved distribution of $223.5 million in Act 13 drilling impact fee disbursements, down slightly from last year's $225.7 million.

Over the past four years, the PUC has collected and distributed more than $855 million in impact fees.

The PUC’s Act 13 reporting website provides a detailed breakdown of the payments to county and municipal governments, along with specifics on how much money has been collected for each year, since 2011; how that money has been allocated, by category; and comparisons to previous years.

Of those funds, $123,300,000 will be distributed to county and municipal governments who are directly affected by drilling.

Also, $18 million will be distributed to state agencies that are defined by the Act-

-- $7.5 million for County Conservation Districts;

-- $5 million to DEP;

-- $1 million to Fish and Boat Commission;

-- $1 million each to PUC, and PennDOT; and

-- $750,000 each to PEMA, Office of State Fire Commissioner.

The remaining $82,200,000 will be placed into the Marcellus Legacy Fund--

-- $16.4 million to Commonwealth Financing Authority for acid mine drainage, orphan well plugging, watershed restoration, recreational and open space and sewage facilities grants;

-- $20.5 million divided equally to PA Infrastructure Investment Authority and the Commonwealth Financing Authority H2O Program for drinking water and wastewater projects

-- $20.5 million to repair or replace local bridges;

-- $12.3 million for recreation, open space and conservation projects;

-- $8.2 million to Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund; and

-- $4.1 million to Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund.

The interactive website provides numerous reports regarding the collection and distribution of these funds, along with graphical data regarding the top paying producers, well count breakdowns and top receiving counties and local governments.

Visitors to the Act 13 website can search and download statistics such as money paid by producers or money disbursed to state, county or local governments.

The information also breaks down the distribution calculations outlined in the law in areas such as eligible wells per county/municipality; and distributions to municipalities and counties with qualifying wells; and to municipalities that are located within a county with qualifying wells and are contiguous to a municipality with wells or within five miles of a municipality with wells (based on population and highway miles calculations).

The Impact Fee producer payments for 2014 total $223,500,000. The PUC has forwarded the information for payment and expects checks to be mailed prior to July 1, 2015.

Producer Impact Fee payments are due to the PUC on April 1 of each year. Distributions of the money collected by the PUC are due to county and municipal governments by July 1 of each year. County and municipal government information on how the 2013 Impact Fee monies were allocated was due to the PUC on April 15, 2015.

Under the Unconventional Gas Well Impact Fee Act, the PUC is responsible for implementing the imposition, collection and distribution of an unconventional gas well fee.

For more information, visit the PUC’s Act 13 Impact Fee webpage.