Impact

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans to distribute $123.3 million to county and municipal governments by July 1 as part of the $223.5 million it collected in impact fees last year, it said Wednesday.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans to distribute $123.3 million to county and municipal governments by July 1 as part of the $223.5 million it collected in impact fees last year, it said Wednesday.

Within days of one another, state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle emerged with another round of legislative proposals to raise more fees against Pennsylvania’s shale gas drillers.

Unconventional oil and gas companies operating in Pennsylvania paid $224.5 million in impact fees last year, representing the most collected since the fee was imposed in 2012, the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commision (PUC) said Friday.

Pennsylvania's impact fee on unconventional natural gas wells is lower than the severance tax rate levied by 10 states for natural gas extraction, according to a report released Thursday by the state's Independent Fiscal Office (IFO).

A study of Barnett Shale region water wells has found elevated levels of heavy metals near natural gas extraction sites, but a link to drilling/production activity has not been determined and may not be, researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) said.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine the impact of growing shale oil and gas development on the nation’s rail and pipeline infrastructure.

Oil and natural gas regulators in Wyoming on Tuesday initiated a rulemaking process for exploration and production (E&P) operators regarding water testing as part of the drilling permit application process.

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Thursday said it plans to develop a proposed rule requiring companies who make chemical substances and mixtures used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to report data on the chemicals.