Payments

A nonpartisan policy research group in Pennsylvania asserts that the state could have collected almost twice the revenue it has received in impact fees on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling if it had implemented a severance tax instead.

Pennsylvania officials are renewing their effort to get fellow members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to agree to revised water quality regulations that could ultimately open the basin to expanded Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.

FERC Thursday approved Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s and Dominion Transmission Inc.’s proposed system expansions to deliver gas from the Marcellus Shale/Appalachian Basin to existing markets in New England and to the Niagara Falls area of New York.

Prompted by the booming natural gas drilling industry in his district, Pennsylvania state Senator Gene Yaw (R-23rd) said he will introduce a series of bills that address issues related to the growing Marcellus Shale industry. Yaw’s district includes Bradford, Susquehanna and Lycoming counties, which are some of Pennsylvania’s top Marcellus producing areas.

Shares of Fort Worth, TX-based Quicksilver Resources Inc. soared Monday on news that an investor group is seeking to take the natural gas and oil exploration and production company private.

Bills that would place a severance tax on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, raise minimum royalty payments, require full disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and more could all soon be taken up for consideration by Pennsylvania lawmakers — but the General Assembly’s efforts to close a $1 billion budget gap might push at least some of those bills to a back burner.

Bills that would place a severance tax on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, raise minimum royalty payments, require full disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing and more could all soon be taken up for consideration by Pennsylvania lawmakers — but the General Assembly’s efforts to close a $1 billion budget gap might push at least some of those bills to a back burner.

U.S. Justice Department says lease payments for operations on federal and American Indian lands were light for a 10-year period.

U.S. Justice Department says lease payments for operations on federal and American Indian lands were light for a 10-year period.