11/18/24 - 107 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/3zb7jppr
| Share this: | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senate Republicans Send Statewide Marcellus Shale Drilling Fee Bill To House
|
|
The Senate Tuesday voted 29 to 20 to pass Senate Bill 1100 (Scarnati-R-Jefferson), which includes a uniform, statewide Marcellus Shale drilling fee that would raise $154.6 million in 2012 and a laundry list of additional environmental protection measures. House Republicans also this week passed their version of a Marcellus Shale bill-- House Bill 1950 (Ellis-R-Butler)-- which includes a county-optional drilling fee and a dozen provisions strengthening environmental protection measures on Marcellus Shale drilling.
Even though both bills were passed almost exclusively by Republicans in both the Senate and House, there are significantly different in fundamental ways, like on the drilling fee, but in many cases the environmental protection provisions overlap.
The Gov. Corbett and members of the Senate and House have all said they want to pass a final bill by the time the General Assembly adjourns for the year. For the Senate that's December 14 and for the House it's December 20.
Drilling Fee
The new fee proposal, added to Senate Bill 1100 in the Senate Appropriations Committee Monday, is expected to raise $27.5 million from fees imposed for 2010, $94.1 million in 2011, $154.6 million in 2012, $213 million in 2013 up to $295.3 million in 2015.
The original proposal in Senate Bill 1100 from Sen. Scarnati would have raised $45 million in 2010 and $76.2 million in 2011-12.
Senate Democrats offered five amendments on the floor of the Senate and in the Senate Appropriations Committee in an attempt to change the drilling fee amount, deal differently with local government regulation of drilling and additional environmental protection provisions. The amendments failed largely along party-lines.
The proposal offered by Senate Democrats would have raised $150.3 million in 2011, $260 million in 2012, $380.4 million in 2013 and $491.5 million in 2014.
Revenue from the Senate-passed drilling fee would be distributed to:
-- County Conservation Districts: $2.5 million for 2011, $5 million for 2012 and thereafter;
-- State Fire Commissioner: $1.5 million annually;
-- Fish & Boat Commission: up to $1.5 million;
-- Local Government Initiatives: 55 percent of revenues would be allocated to local governments impacted by natural gas activities-- 36 percent to host counties, 37 percent to host municipalities, 27 percent to host and non-host municipalities in host counties.
The funding could be used for local projects which: improve emergency preparedness and public safety, road, bridge and infrastructure projects, water, stormwater and sewer systems and other environmental projects, records management and information technology, tax reductions.
-- PA Housing Finance Agency for use in host counties: $5 million;
-- Statewide Initiatives: 45 percent would be allocated for these statewide initiatives:
-- 25 percent to the Commonwealth Financing Authority for projects which: recycled acid mine drainage water for use in drilling operations; plug orphaned or abandoned oil and gas wells; for planning acquisition, development, rehabilitation and repair of greenways, recreational trails, open space, parks and beautification projects; sewage treatment; and programs to establish baseline water quality data on private water wells.
-- 25 percent to Highway Bridge Improvement Restrict Account
-- 25 percent for water and sewer projects funded by PennVEST and the H2O Program
-- 5 percent to the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund
-- 15 percent to Environmental Initiatives for planning, acquisition, development rehabilitation and repair of greenways, recreational trails, open space, natural areas, community conservation and beautification projects, community and heritage parks and water resource management using a formula based on county population.
-- 5 percent for DCED in 2011 through 2013 to provide for the planning, development and construction of a facility to liquefy natural gas or convert natural gas to ethane, propane or similar substances. After 2013, the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund percentage will increase to 10 percent.
In addition to these expenditures, revenue generated from a specific fee scheduled imposed for 2010 would be used to fund a Natural Gas Development Program to be used by local governments, school districts, non-profits, the Turnpike and state-owned or state-related universities to convert buses, transit vehicles and other fleet vehicles to natural gas and to fund natural gas fueling stations.
Local Ordinances
Senate Bill 1100 does not include a blanket exemption from regulating drilling as a land use by local governments as proposed by Gov. Corbett and House Republicans.
It does include a process, loosely based on the ACRE Program adopted to deal with similar issues related to agriculture, that allows drilling companies to request the Attorney General to review local ordinances to determine whether it allows for the reasonable development of oil and gas mineral rights.
A similar provision was added to House Bill 1950 (Ellis-R-Butler) by House Republicans in their Marcellus debate this week.
Other Changes Senate Bill 1100 would also increase the blanket bonding amounts for wells, adds a new section requiring DEP to notify public drinking water systems of any spill potentially affecting their water supplies, requires gathering line operators to comply with corrosion control requirements of the Underground Utility Line Protection Law and brings all pipelines related to Marcellus Shale natural gas development under the One Call Program.
Summary Of Bill
A quick summary of the drilling fee portion of the bill is available online. A summary of the environmental protection provisions is also available online.
Sen. Scarnati released new information on the drilling fee in Senate Bill 1100: Distribution estimates to programs and local governments and estimates of revenue generated annually. An updated fiscal note is available online.
Reaction
“This legislation will help communities impacted by drilling, provide for reasonable local zoning parameters and implement strong environmental protections,” said Sen. Joe Scarnati said. “Through a reasonable and well-thought-out impact fee on shale companies, we can manage this tremendous resource in a way that improves our economy, creates new jobs and opportunities for our residents and protects our quality of life.
“The Marcellus Shale industry is here to stay in Pennsylvania – bringing us jobs, huge economic benefits and the potential for energy independence,” Sen. Scarnati said. “It makes sense to impose a reasonable impact fee on the industry to provide the funding necessary to further protect our natural resources, particularly at a time when our state is being forced to stretch our tax dollars.”
Click Here for video of Sen. Scarnati's floor remarks.
Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) released this statement on the bill:
"It is unfortunate that we were not able to reach a general agreement on all aspects of this measure and we cannot support it on final passage. There is too much at stake. We can't allow Pennsylvanians to ultimately wind up on the losing end of the battle to make sure our resources and drinking water are protected. We also need to make sure that Pennsylvanians get their fair share. Their states resources must be given away for a fair price.
"Alaska, Texas, Montana, and a slew of other states gain more from their severance fees than Pennsylvania will under this proposal. We can't allow multi-billion dollar international corporations a free pass to the vast and valuable resources that lie beneath our Commonwealth.
"We can't stand for the state taking away the rights of townships and municipalities to control their own destiny when it comes to Marcellus Shale development. The Republicans have made it clear tonight that they are willing to hand over the keys to the castle.
"Short-term benefits cannot take priority over what the majority of Pennsylvania's men and women want and deserve environmental protection and a fair fee from the companies poised to make billions more than they have already pocketed from the resources Pennsylvania provides. We can't be left holding the bag and paying for the clean-up many years from now when the natural gas rigs have been taken away and the natural gas is gone.
"I am saddened by the fact that one of the most important issues we have been negotiating for more than two years could not result in an acceptable compromise.
"I want to assure all, it wasn't for lack of effort. My Democratic colleagues and I were provided the opportunity to have meaningful input and provide ideas to improve this bill. For that, we are grateful.
"Sen. Scarnati, his staff and our members and staff negotiated at length through many issues and provided perspectives for the other to consider. But at the end of the day, we need to make sure that this bill is correct and something that Pennsylvanians can live with now and for years to come."
“This is one of the worst public policy fiascos I have seen in my entire Senate career,” said Sen. Mike Stack (D-Philadelphia), who voted against the bill. “The Republican-led Senate and the governor are bending over backwards to give out-of-state and foreign companies free reign to pillage our natural resources.
“We need revenue right now to help our entire state. We have cut funding for public education and charter schools by $900 million. We have cut funding for higher education and now tuitions will increase. We eliminated the adultBasic program,” he said. “A severance tax could have funded some or all of these programs. Instead, Senate Bill 1100 placates the natural gas drilling industry, rather than providing Pennsylvania with much-needed revenues.
“Gov. Corbett and the Republican majority aren’t giving any priority to Pennsylvanians,” he said. “They talk about jobs and opportunity, but most of the real economic benefit will take place outside our borders. I’ve never seen so many license plates from Texas and Oklahoma.”
NewsClips: Senate, House Advance Drilling Bills
Senate Approves Marcellus Shale Impact Fee
Senate Approves Impact Fee Bill Senate Passes An Impact Fee Heavily Debated Marcellus Shale Bill Passes Senate Do This Week's Impact Fee Votes Matter? Related Stories
|
|
11/21/2011 |
| Go To Next Article |
