A report published in Environmental Practice this month contends that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection undercounted the number of unconventional wells in the state when assessing well impact fees for 2012. The report suggests that the state failed to include between about 15,000 and 25,000 wells that qualified under the threshold for an impact fee contained in Act 13. The DEP disputed the report’s claims and indicated that its authors failed to understand which wells could be assessed an impact fee. The Scranton Times-Tribune has more.
At its December 20, 2012, public meeting, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) clarified sections of its implementation of Chapter 23 (“Unconventional Gas Well Fee”) of Act 13 of 2012 (Act 13) in response to a Petition for Amendment and Clarification of the PUC’s Implementation Order pertaining to Act 13. By a vote of 5-0, the PUC ordered that setting a conductor pipe constitutes “spudding” for purposes of triggering the well impact fee, that the impact fee for a plugged well ceases for the calendar year following the plugging of the well, and that the approved budget reports for local governments receiving impact fee payments must be filed with the PUC on or before March 31 each year (with budget reports for both 2011 and 2012 due to the PUC by March 31, 2012). Additionally, the PUC addressed in its Order the assessment of impact fees for wells that are reclassified from horizontal wells to vertical wells, as well as addressed the issue of which producer is responsible for payment of an impact fee when the interest in a well is transferred from one producer to another producer.