On June 24, Rep. Leslie Rossi (R-Westmoreland) announced that more than $1.3 million in impact fee revenue from Marcellus shale gas drilling will be distributed to Westmoreland County and municipalities in the 59th District, including Latrobe, Derry, Ligonier and Mt. Pleasant.
She framed the announcement as a win: “These funds will directly support critical projects and services in our local communities, from infrastructure improvements to environmental initiatives.”
And on the surface, who could disagree?
Our communities certainly need help with roads, water systems, and emergency response.
But let’s be honest about what this money really is.
The so-called “impact fees” aren’t gifts. They aren’t bonuses. They’re not economic development grants.
They are payments collected under Act 13 of 2012, Pennsylvania’s response to mounting public pressure to make natural gas companies pay for the consequences of fracking.
The fees were imposed specifically to offset the damage that drilling causes to communities and the environment.
According to the law itself, revenue from these fees goes toward repairing roads, bridges, stormwater systems and emergency services; cleaning up orphaned and abandoned wells; restoring polluted streams and watersheds; and supporting hazard mitigation and environmental preservation efforts statewide.
That’s not funding; it’s cleanup.
Even the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which receives a large portion of the leftover revenue after municipal distributions, focuses on environmental restoration, infrastructure repair, water safety and plugging hazardous old wells that have been left behind by past drilling operations.
It’s right there in the statute.
So yes, it’s good that our local governments are finally getting some of that money back. But these checks are not a sign of prosperity.
They are a sign of what we’re trying to recover from.
And it raises a deeper question: If these costs are high enough to justify millions in payments, what does that say about the true toll of this industry on our communities?
Here in Westmoreland County, we know what that toll looks like: heavier truck traffic on back roads, questions about groundwater safety, and a growing sense that the benefits of gas extraction often leave town faster than they arrive.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania still lacks a severance tax (something 32 other gas-producing states already have) which would generate stable, long-term investment in our future.
Instead, we have a fee system designed to clean up after the mess, rather than prevent it.
This isn’t just about politics. It’s about honesty and priorities.
Our communities deserve leaders who don’t just celebrate checks but ask why we need them in the first place, and whether the system we’ve built truly puts public health, safety and sustainability first.
Yes, Rep. Rossi, it’s good to see our residents benefit from the natural resources developed in our region.
But it’s even better to ask: at what cost?
Mary Jo Simmen-Gray is a Hempfield, Westmoreland County resident.
PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:
-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - June 28 to July 4 - 30+ Days Of Cleanup Continues At Shale Gas Pad; Failure To Comply With Plugging Order For 67 Months; Failure To Install E&S Controls For 68 Months [PaEN]
-- DEP: Active Wastewater Spill Remediation Efforts Have Continued For 30+ Days At The Seneca Resources Vandergrift Shale Gas Well Pad In Charleston Twp., Tioga County [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - July 5 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 65 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 5 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week:
-- Environmental Hearing Board Denies Request To End Appeal Of Catalyst Energy, Inc. Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well Permit In McKean County [PaEN]
-- CNX Resources Challenges Environmental Hearing Board Authority To Add Conditions To Permits For Shale Gas Wells At The Drakulic Well Pad In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County [PaEN]
-- Warren Times Editorial: Pennsylvania Needs A New Plan For Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Increasing Bond Amounts Only Part Of Solution [PaEN]
-- Penn State Extension Adds McKean County Workshop To Promote $100/Well Bounty To Find Previously Unknown Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned By Their Owners; Workshops Set In Clarion, Crawford, Mercer Counties [PaEN]
-- Guest Essay: The Real Story Behind The Act 13 Shale Gas Drilling Impact Fee - It's Not Funding, It's Cleanup Money - By Mary Jo Simmen-Gray, Hempfield, Westmoreland County Resident [PaEN]
-- Environmental Integrity Project: DEP Made Changes To Permit For MarkWest Harmon Creek Natural Gas Processing Plant In Washington County To Reduce Air Emissions, Improve Accountability [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project To Launch Compounds Of Concern Online Tool During July 16 Webinar [PaEN]
-- PA Interfaith Power & Light Launches New Faith & Fossil Fuels Initiative; Invites Congregations, Individuals To Share Your Lived Experiences With Pollution [PaEN]
-- PUC Approves $750,000 Penalty Against UGI Utilities For 2020 Natural Gas Main Eruption In Monroe County Killing 1 Person [PaEN]
-- PUC Seeks $395,000 Penalty Against UGI Utilities For 2022 Natural Gas House Explosion In Suburban Harrisburg; $50,000 Penalty Against Contractor [PaEN]
-- PJM Interconnection Grid Operator Issues Hot Weather Alert For July 6 In Its Western Region, July 7 In Its Mid-Atlantic & Southern Regions, Including Areas In PA [PaEN]
NewsClips:
-- The Allegheny Front - Reid Frazier: Commonwealth Court Rules Elizabeth Twp., In Allegheny County Violated Its Own Zoning Ordinance To Allow Shale Gas Well Pad, Pipeline To Be Built In A Residential Area
-- Observer-Reporter: EQT Shale Gas Driller Sues Morgan Twp., Greene County In Federal Court Over Limits On Heavy Equipment Hauling On Local Roads To Prevent Damage [PDF of Article]
-- PennLive: PUC Files Complaints Against UGI, Plumber For 2022 Dauphin County House Explosion
-- MCall - Anthony Salamone: UGI Fined For Christmas Day 2020 Natural Gas Leak That Killed 1 Person
-- KYW: Deadly Explosion In Philadelphia’s Nicetown Neighborhood Could Be Natural Gas-Fueled, Source Says
-- Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader: Natural Gas Leak Results In Power Being Cut To Much Of Downtown Wilkes-Barre, Turning Off Street Lights Throughout The City
-- Spotlight PA: Costs Of Amazon’s $20 Billion Promise To Build Data Centers In PA Unknown: Impact On Electricity Supply, Power Costs To Consumers, Tax Revenue Forfeit
-- TribLive Guest Essay: Summer’s Triple Threat - Energy Bills Rising, Grids Straining, Help Shrinking - By Destenie Nock, Peoples Energy Analytics
-- Reuters: US Energy Firms Eye New Northeast Natural Gas Pipelines, Buoyed By President, Demand Outlook
-- Bloomberg: Electronic Warfare During Iran Strikes Crashes Global Shipping’s Navigation System, Including Oil, LNG Natural Gas Ships
[Posted: July 2, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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