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Lawrence County officials act quickly to get ‘impact fees’
NEW CASTLE, Pa.
Lawrence County commissioners moved quickly Tuesday to get the county its share of new “impact fees” imposed on gas and oil drilling in Pennsylvania under legislation signed Monday by Gov. Tom Corbett.
Commissioner Dan Vogler introduced an ordinance allowing Lawrence County to collect its share of what could amount to millions of dollars of new revenue to the county through the new legislation, which amends the Oil and Gas title of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.
The county must act within 60 days or face a delay in collecting the fee.
The proposed ordinance will be on display at the county chief clerk’s office and the law library for two weeks.
A public hearing on it is set for 9:45 a.m. Feb 28 in the commissioners’ meeting room at the courthouse.
The commissioners’ regular meeting will follow the hearing and the ordinance could be adopted at that time.
Vogler read from information provided by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, which outlines the way the fee would be distributed.
The fee on each well, which depends on average gas prices, would range from $40,000 to $60,000 the first year of production and drop on a sliding scale over 15 years to $5,000 to $10,000 in years 11 through 15.
Vogler said the state will receive 40 percent of the fee while the remaining 60 percent will be broken down as follows: 36 percent to the county, 37 percent to the host municipality and the other 27 percent distributed among all the municipalities in the host county.
Vogler said that the revenue from the two wells drilled in 2011 in Lawrence County would be $40,000 for the state, $21,600 for the county and $38,400 for the municipalities.
In nearby Washington County, which had 468 wells in 2011, the state would receive $9.3 million, the county $5 million and the municipalities $8.9 million.
Drilling companies are obtaining lease agreements on many Lawrence County properties and the number of wells is expected to mushroom in the near future.
The legislation allows counties to use the revenue for many purposes, including: roads, bridges, public infrastructure, tax reduction, housing, social services, judicial services, water, storm water, sewers, emergency preparedness, public safety, environmental and recreational programs, agricultural preservation, planning, records management, career and technology training for the oil and gas industry and capital reserves.
The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission would collect and distribute the fee.
Vogler commented that county government has no authority to regulate the wells; that rests with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.