HARRISBURG – The Impact Fee on unconventional natural gas wells will deliver more than $8.5 million to communities in and adjacent to the 25th Senatorial District this year, according to Sen. Cris Dush (R-25).
“At this point, I want to make something extremely clear: the impact ‘fee’ is in fact a ‘tax’ on our natural gas industry that was imposed before I was elected to the state Legislature,” emphasized Dush. “It is classified as a fee to ensure that ‘impacted’ communities can more directly receive a significant portion of the tax to maintain or improve local infrastructure. More specifically, this revenue is another mechanism that enables our region to produce more of the energy our nation needs to heat and light up homes and businesses.”
Impact Fees are levied over and above regular business taxes paid by every corporation in Pennsylvania. The disbursements were based on a formula established in Act 13 of 2012 to ensure communities affected by drilling receive their fair share of funding for projects such as road and bridge repairs, housing and other infrastructure needs.
The Impact Fee provides funding to the Commonwealth Financing Authority, which has generated more grants for the counties as listed below:
- $535,738.28 for Cameron County government
- $876,450.97 for Cameron County municipal governments
- $301,539.18 for Centre County government
- $201,772.63 for Centre County municipal governments
- $437,234.22 for Clinton County government
- $697,798.25 for Clinton County municipal governments
- $1,001,473.88 for Elk County government
- $1,581,891.13 for Elk County municipal governments
- $218,176.42 for Jefferson County government
- $294,251.82 for Jefferson County municipal governments
- $539,500.07 for McKean County government
- $874,349.87 for McKean County municipal governments
- $389,137.47 for Potter County government
- $647,354.85 for Potter County municipal governments
With this year’s statewide impact fee distribution total of almost $279 million – a nearly 19% increase over last year – Pennsylvania has now realized, to date, more than $2.5 billion in Impact Fee revenues benefiting communities in all of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties.
CONTACT: Ty McCauslin, Communications Director at 717-787-7084 or tmccauslin@pasen.gov