Enacted

A West Virginia city in the Marcellus Shale has enacted a 6% business and occupation (B&O) tax on natural gas companies operating within the city limits, reportedly to raise revenue to fix roads and bridges that could be damaged by drilling there.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week said localities are to receive a total of $108.7 million from the impact fees enacted under Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced Monday that localities will receive a total of $108.7 million from the impact fees enacted under Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

A series of legislative proposals that would allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and enact several other changes to North Carolina’s energy policies within two years have cleared an important hurdle and could come to a vote this summer.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday finalized how the new unconventional natural gas drilling impact fee for Marcellus Shale operators enacted under Act 13, will be imposed, implemented and collected, but because of pending litigation, rules that govern oil and gas operations were not addressed.

Texas natural gas producers are suing the City of Arlington, TX, to stop a recently enacted $2,400 per well annual fee on operators. The fee’s anticipated $781,450 annual revenue would fund the city’s “Natural Gas Well Preparedness and Response Plan,” which was adopted in March.

Representatives from a unit of BP plc began signing agreements with landowners in Trumbull County, OH, as the company readies to begin exploring its Utica/Point Pleasant Shale leasehold in 2013. In March BP completed an agreement with the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley to lease close to 84,000 acres in an unexplored area of the county, which is in the northeastern part of the state (see Shale Daily, March 28). With the agreements now in place, BP is executing individual terms with landowners, which may take up to six months. BP’s Ohio shale purchase moved it into ninth place among Utica/Point Pleasant leaseholders, according to data compiled from company reports by NGI’s Shale Daily. The top leaseholder is Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has an estimated 1.2 million net acres, followed by EnerVest and EV Energy Partners, which together lease an estimated 760,000 net acres. Chevron Corp. follows with 600,000 net acres.

A judge in New York State has ruled that an ordinance and a zoning requirement enacted last year by the town of Dryden, NY, essentially banning all Marcellus Shale oil and gas activities in the municipality, are not preempted by state law and can remain in effect.

Producers operating in the Barnett Shale town Arlington, TX, will have to comply with new rules enacted Tuesday that call for greater drilling site security and improved aesthetics of drilling locations for future wells. Surveillance cameras will be required at drilling locations, and the use of diesel-powered rigs is banned within 450 feet of residences and other designated places. The vote was 7-0 in favor of the ordinance revision with one council member absent and one seat unfilled. Previously, some members had expressed reservations about the changes, saying they might be too onerous for the industry. One change that favors drillers is the allowance of concurrent applications for specific-use permits and gas well permits. Council initially approved the rules last month (see Shale Daily, Nov. 21).