Corbett

As production continues to soar in Pennsylvania and it remains the only state in the country without a tax on oil and gas extraction, lawmakers are once again considering a severance tax that could find traction sooner rather than later.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday made a rare plea to the state’s oil and gas operators, asking that they help to protect the Commonwealth’s rivers, streams and wetlands during drilling.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which includes under its regulatory umbrella much of the state’s natural gas and oil industry, needs to open its doors wider to public scrutiny, said acting DEP secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has asked lawmakers to drop the word “acting” from the job titles of two state employees: the acting secretaries of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

A nonpartisan policy research group in Pennsylvania is doubling down on its assertion that the state would be better served by a severance tax on oil and gas, adding that Pennsylvania is getting “shortchanged” compared other states like Texas and West Virginia, which both have severance taxes.

A nonpartisan policy research group in Pennsylvania is doubling down on its assertion that the state would be better served by a severance tax on oil and gas, adding that Pennsylvania is getting “shortchanged” by the impact fee under Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz of Jenkintown, PA, who has declared her candidacy for the gubernatorial race in 2014, said she would enact a 5% severance tax on natural gas if elected, adding that over a decade such a tax could generate $13.2 billion in revenue for the state.

A rulemaking designed to strengthen environmental protection performance standards governing the natural gas industry has been given a cautionary green light by Pennsylvania regulators, with the final outcome to be determined following an extended public comment period.

Injection wells in Ohio handled more wastewater from oil and gas drilling in 2012, especially from out-of-state sources in the Marcellus and Utica shales, but they are on pace to handle less of the material in 2013.