State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford/Lycoming/Sullivan/Susquehanna/Union Counties) recently discussed the proposed natural gas development severance tax and other legislative issues during the luncheon keynote at the 5th Annual UpStreamPA Conference in State College.
More than 100 upstream companies and experts in the oil and gas field attended the event, which provided attendees with the opportunity to learn about the expected upstream development in the Appalachian Basin over the coming years.
Yaw addressed several issues currently being discussed in Harrisburg including a severance tax on natural gas development, legislation adding nuclear energy to the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS), environmental permitting issues and the transportation of fracked gas to surrounding states.
Since 2012, the natural gas Impact Fee has generated approximately $1.7 billion in new revenue.
“Of the roughly 60% of the nearly $2 billion impact fee money that goes to local counties and municipalities, more than $250 million has been directed to my Senate district,” Yaw said. “If a severance tax is imposed on the industry, the impact fee must remain intact. I do not know of any time when this much money was sent back to our local governments without a long, involved grant process.”
Yaw also discussed the transportation of natural gas to surrounding states.
“As lawmakers, we have an obligation to be aware of the competing interests that involve our state and the nation. If only our state neighbors understood this principle,” Yaw said. “New York, New Jersey, and Maryland have worked to limit the expansion of pipelines, which curtails our ability to market Pennsylvania produced natural gas. In keeping with the wishes of those states to impede marketing, I intend to introduce a measure, which would prohibit the transportation and sale of any Pennsylvania natural gas that is produced by fracking to those states.”
Yaw also addressed New York State’s ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing and the fact that the state’s environmental regulators recently blocked a major natural gas pipeline that would have originated in northeastern Pennsylvania.
“The actions of the New York Governor have, in essence, stalled infrastructure development that is vital to creating new markets for natural gas and its related liquids, not only in Pennsylvania but across the northeast and world,” Yaw said. “Further, the delay in infrastructure development is contributing to the large price disparity that is putting Pennsylvania gas producers at a disadvantage, while aiding our global natural gas competitors.”