The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and Governor Tom Corbett announced yesterday that Pennsylvania’s Act 13 impact fees have generated $204.2 million in revenue through October 15, 2012. $108.7 million dollars will be distributed directly to local governments in areas hosting unconventional wells. The remaining $72.4 million finances the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which supports several statewide funds that finance infrastructure, environmental protection, and recreation. This chart provides a breakdown of how the $204.2 million will be allocated, while this chart indicates the amounts that will be dispersed to each county and local government. Four Southwestern town townships, South Fayette, Cecil, Robinson and Mount Pleasant, will have their impact fees withheld while drilling ordinances they have passed are being reviewed by the state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has provided E&P companies with information regarding a new requirement in Act 13 that unconventional well permit applicants submit a spill containment plan. According to the information from DEP, well permit applications submitted on or after October 14, 2012, must include a “Master Containment Plan.” The Master Containment Plan must be included in the first permit application made to each DEP regional office after that date. The information from DEP is available at its Act 13 Frequently Asked Questions page.
Babst Calland has more information in a recently posted Administrative Watch.
In July 2011, PIOGA filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania seeking to hold the United States Forest Service in contempt of court for allegedly failing to adhere to the Court’s December 2009 preliminary injunction order in the Minard Run, et al. v. United States Forest Service, et al. litigation. That order prevented the Forest Service from requiring mineral owners to prepare a NEPA document before the development of oil and gas rights in the Allegheny Forest. It also required the parties to revert to a drilling proposal process that they had used from 1980 until the litigation began in 2009.
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Tags: Cracker plant,
Energy law,
Environmental law,
Fracking,
Gas drilling,
Natural gas,
Natural resources,
PA Act 13,
Pennsylvania,
Pipeline construction,
Shale gas,
Utica Shale
Cecil Township, Robinson Township, Peters Township, and Mt. Pleasant Township, all in Washington County, and South Fayette Township, Allegheny County together filed a complaint in Commonwealth Court [add link to Complaint] arguing that Act 13 is unconstitutional. Chief among the issues raised by the municipalities is the explicit requirement that local ordinances “allow for the reasonable development of oil and gas resources”.
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On Tuesday March 20, Williams Partners L.P., a Williams Companies, Inc. affiliate, announced an agreement to acquire Caiman Eastern Midstream LLC, a midstream subsidiary of Caiman Energy, for $2.5 billion. Caiman Eastern’s holdings include existing physical assets such as a gathering system, two processing facilities and a fractionator. Expansions to the gathering system, processing facilities and fractionator are currently under construction. An ethane pipeline is also planned. The physical assets are supported by long-term contracted commitments for 236,000 dedicated gathering acres from 10 producers in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Through this acquisition, Williams Partners is able to establish a major footprint in the liquids-rich area of Marcellus shale. In coordination with this acquisition, Williams Partners is also announcing its intention to participate in a new joint venture with Caiman Energy to develop midstream infrastructure in the natural gas liquids and oil-rich areas of the Utica Shale, primarily in Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania.