Post contributed by: John Augustine – Community Outreach Manager, Marcellus Shale Coalition Act 13, bi-partisan legislation enacted in February 2012, further strengthened environmental safeguards, provided critical regulatory certainty and created a new revenue stream through an impact fee for counties and municipalities. According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Comission (PUC), Susquehanna County municipalities received $9.8 million in 2012 and $10.9 million in 2013 in impact fee revenues – new revenues that are going towards emergency preparedness, social services, infrastructure, environmental programs and other core areas of interest for the county.
In addition to the $1.8 billion in tax revenue generated by the natural gas industry over the past few years, this new revenue stream is helping to reduce the tax burden on Susquehanna County residents while allowing local governments to make critical, and often overdue, investments.
The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy recently estimated that $731 million in Marcellus Shale royalties were paid to Pennsylvanians in 2012. In Susquehanna the amount claimed in 2010 topped $133 million up from $8 million in 2006—a gain of over 1,500 percent.
Certainly good news for landowners, local business and governments.
In sum, over the past two years, $400 million – $20 million more than previously projected by the government – in impact fees have been generated state-wide by safe, job-creating Marcellus Shale development. And as more clean-burning natural gas is responsibly produced, additional revenue will flow to the state as well as county and municipality governments, ensuring that every square inch of the Commonwealth continues to benefit.
