Natural gas impact fee generated $210 million in 2017, Public Utility Commission reports

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently announced that natural gas impact fees reached nearly $210 million for drilling activity occurring in 2017 and provided details about its disbursement.

County and municipal governments directly impacted by drilling during the 2017 reporting year will receive $114,784,380, and $18.25 million will be distributed to state agencies. Also, the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which provides financial support to projects such as environmental, highway, water and sewer projects, rehabilitation of greenways and other initiatives throughout Pennsylvania, will receive $76,522,900.

“Pennsylvania’s impact fee – a special drilling tax that is paid on top of all other business taxes assessed in the Commonwealth – is working as designed by enabling local governments to direct how the revenues are utilized,” Marcellus Shale Coalition president David Spigelmyer said. “The tax revenues collected from the natural gas industry support local bridge, road, and other critical infrastructure improvements, as well as community parks, first-responders, soil and water conservation districts, environmental projects and housing initiatives.”

Since 2012, the PUC has collected and distributed approximately $1.5 billion in impact fees to communities in all 67 counties across Pennsylvania. Distribution this year is roughly $36 million higher than last year due to an increase in the number of wells in Pennsylvania and an increase in the average annual price of natural gas.

The PUC provided details of impact fee distribution online for each year since 2011.

In his statement, Spigelmyer also spoke out against potential new energy taxes.

“While Pennsylvania’s drilling tax generates hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue each year, Governor Wolf continues to push for additional energy taxes that would cost local and trade union jobs, increase energy costs for consumers and hurt Pennsylvania’s economy,” Spigelmyer said. “Rather than promote uncompetitive policies, we need to capitalize on the generational opportunity to grow energy and manufacturing jobs across the Commonwealth.”