Oil and gas permit fees
Rick – Wanted to get a story on your radar this morning. Yesterday, Sen. Bartolotta, Reschenthaler, Stefano, and 17 others, including leadership, sent a letter to DEP Secretary McDonnell calling on the agency to reconsider its proposed 150% increase on unconventional permit fees.
MSC also weighed in last week when the comment period closed, encouraging the agency to look at alternative funding options prior to increasing permit fees. Thought you all would be interested in this story, especially since all the senators in your coverage area weighed in so vocally.
Let me know how else I can be helpful. Thanks!
Key Takeaways from MSC Comments:
• Excessive increase: “The proposed permit fee increase from the current $5,000 per unconventional well application to $12,500 per unconventional well application – representing a 150% increase – is excessive and not proportional to the costs incurred by the oil and gas program to oversee the unconventional natural gas industry.”
o The proposed permit fee of $12,500 would be the highest permit fee in the nation, raising serious concerns regarding Pennsylvania’s competitive ability to attract jobs and capital investment.
• Fully Explore Alternative Funding Options: “The department should examine and quantify the costs of the oil and gas program attributable to unconventional natural gas operations, identify operational changes to address permit delays, and fully exhaust alternate revenue options before moving forward with such a drastic permit fee increase.”
o General Fund Allocation: “Allocate a reasonable amount of General Fund dollars to the oil and gas program, as the department does for every other program it administers;”
o Proportional Relationship: “Identify the total costs of the oil and gas program to the unconventional industry, so that revenue generated from unconventional well permit fees and the Act 13 Impact Fee bear a reasonable relationship to this total cost, in accordance with the statutory authority of the Oil and Gas Act;”
o Full Credit for All Oil & Gas Revenue: “Align special fund reimbursement policy within the department so that full credit and revenue is provided to the oil and gas program with respect to permit fees related to the Ch. 102 and Ch. 105 programs;”
o Incorporate Impact Fee: “Include, and not totally dismiss, the $6 Million annual allocation from the Act 13 Impact Fee in the base revenues utilized by the department to operate the oil and gas program as has been allocated as general practice every year since the imposition of the Impact Fee.”