Democrats Want Corbett Involved in Drilling Fee Talks

- Democrats Want Corbett Involved in Drilling Fee Talks

Friday, June 24, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Laura Olson

Calling on Gov. Tom Corbett to "engage" in the ongoing discussions of a drilling fee, Democratic state senators this morning offered yet another variation on how to assess the state's natural gas wells.

Rather than offering their proposal as a bill, they say they plan to offer an amendment to the budget bills that are expected to come up for a vote early next week.

"The governor has really decided not to engage on this issue, has suggested that it should not be part of this budget debate," said Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne. "We believe it should be. We cannot go through another budget season with more being said and less being done."

The governor said again earlier this week that he does not want lawmakers to consider a drilling fee until his Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission issues its report on July 22. Mr. Corbett said that if a budget bill reaches him with such a fee included, he is "leaning toward" vetoing it.

The Senate Democratic proposal would reverse many of the broader changes added to Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati's impact fee measure in a committee last week. The fee initially would be $17,000, changing based on the price of natural gas and a well's production level. Under the current bill, it would start at $40,000, decreasing annually for four years, and charging drillers no fee after the 10th year of production.

It also would slightly lower the amount for localities and conservation districts, boost the share for emergency responders to $2 million, and allow for a portion of the local government funding to go to areas that have no drilling but do have pipelines and other gas transportation infrastructure.

"No legislation ever gets through the state without support from all regions of the state," said Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester. "The legislation that came out of [the Senate committee] helped one region of the state, but most of the people weren't helped."

Closed-door budget negotiations are continuing among Republican leaders from both chambers and the governor's office. While it remains unclear whether a drilling fee has been part of those talks, House Republicans are likely to discuss what to do about the various fee proposals during their caucus meeting today.

Copyright (c) 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Oil & Gas Post

Promote Your Page Too