Pittsburgh Business Times
(by Paul J. Gough)
Under the 2011 Act 13 that established the impact fee, stripper wells are exempt from the impact fee.
The collection of the shale impact fee — the hundreds of millions of dollars that go to local, county and state coffers due to Marcellus and Utica drilling — is itself being impacted by an estimated $6 million due to a legal spat between drillers and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
The issue is over so-called stripper wells, which are unconventional natural gas wells that fall under a threshold of less than 90,000 cubic feet per day. Under the 2011 Act 13 that established the impact fee, stripper wells are exempt from the impact fee. One driller, Snyder Bros. Inc., and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) challenged in Commonwealth Court the PUC’s decision denying exemptions; they received a favorable ruling in 2017 but it is on appeal with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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