The Public Utility Commission published notice in the January 25 PA Bulletin that the Act 13 drilling impact fee will drop by $5,000 for each horizontal unconventional well for Calendar year 2019 compared to 2018.
The per well fees charged under Act 13 are calculated using a formula included in the Act based in part on the price of natural gas.
The number of permits for new unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania has dropped significantly due to the drop in natural gas prices. In the last 6 months, DEP received only about 600 new permit applications when they were expecting about 2,000 over the year.
On January 9, the Independent Fiscal Office issued a report saying this fee reduction will cut Act 13 drilling impact fee revenue set for distribution this year by 21 percent or $53.6 million.
The impact fee is distributed to counties and municipalities, helps fund county conservation districts and statewide environmental programs through the Marcellus Legacy Fund.
In recent years, monies from the Marcellus Legacy Fund have been used to support the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Program which is expected to run out of funding shortly.
Even though impact fee revenue was at nearly an all time high last year, no monies from the Legacy Fund were transferred to the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund as they normally are. Click Here for more.
For more information on the distribution of Act 13 fees, visit the PUC’s Act 13 Fees webpage.
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[Posted: January 24, 2020] PA Environment Digest
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