Jamison Cocklin

Proposals to raise more fees against Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry are pouring in ahead of the 2015-2016 legislative session, with three put forth in the last week alone aimed at shoring up the state’s nearly $2 billion budget deficit.

UGI Energy Services Inc. on Monday announced plans for a new 35-mile pipeline in Pennsylvania that would mostly supply a planned natural gas-fired power plant in the central part of the state.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has directed its Office of Competitive Market Oversight (OCMO) to go ahead with a long-awaited investigation into the state’s retail gas market that will explore competition and potentially modernize regulations as shale gas production grows.

Although it remains in the early stages of development more than two years after it was announced, the NEXUS Gas Transmission (NGT) system is facing growing resistance from communities along its proposed path in Ohio.

Wild Well Control on Friday started the lengthy process of removing the wellhead at a Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. site in Monroe County, OH, that’s been leaking uncontrollably since Dec. 13 (see Shale Daily, Dec. 15).

Ohio’s Republican Gov. John Kasich told business officials during a year-end luncheon on Thursday that he plans to push hard in his second term to reduce the state’s income tax, an effort that could rely in part on increasing fees for the oil and gas industry.

Thomas Stewart, who for 23 years served as executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), has announced his retirement and will now step into a consulting role for the organization. Stewart worked with legislators, news media and producers during his time in the position, which was also marked by OOGA’s membership more than doubling between 2010 and 2014 with the sharp increase in Utica Shale development. He will be replaced by Shawn Bennett, who recently joined the organization as senior vice president.

Two state senators from southeast Pennsylvania said they plan to re-introduce bipartisan legislation in early 2015 to enact an impact fee on natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines along the lines of one already in place for production.

Pennsylvania’s leading oil and gas trade groups are voicing strong opposition to Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf’s severance tax proposal, ruling out any sort of compromise. They say an extraction tax would cut Marcellus Shale development and threaten the jobs and economic opportunities it has created.