Charles Z. Keslar

Please Click Here to see the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Web Site which shows how many Hundreds of Millions of Dollars have already been paid into the Pennsylvania Impact Fee, Act 13 which has been in effect since 2012! (Note: the PUC web site loads slowly, so please be patient) See charts which illustrate the Pennsylvania Counties and Municipalities that receive the largest IMPACT FEE dollar amounts, as well as the Natural Gas Producers paying their share of the largest impact fee.

Hundreds of Millions of $$$ have already been paid to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!

PLEASE Click the video above to get a clear understanding of the difference between the Governor's proposal for an Extraction Tax, and the already existing IMPACT FEE!

Most Pennsylvania residents are not aware that the Oil and Gas Companies have already been paying Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in IMPACT FEE MONEY with the majority of the Impact Fee going to the COUNTIES and TOWNSHIPS where the actual work is being performed, and the remainder balance of the Impact Fee is already distributed to the other Pennsylvania Counties which have no drilling activities! It's called an IMPACT FEE because it is a Fee the Gas Companies MUST PAY WITH THE MAJORITY OF THAT FEE GOING TO THE AREAS THAT ARE BEING IMPACTED BY THEIR WORK! This is the FAIR way to handle things!

The Governor hasn't lived beside a Drilling Rig that drills 24 hours a day, with bright lights on all night, operating for as much as 18 months until the drilling is completed, and having a multitude of support Trucks running during most of the days and roads being used and ultimately damaged by high truck traffic. The Gas Companies are careful, and try not to be disruptive to the areas that they operate in, but there will be some disruption for a limited amount of time in the local community, so those communities deserve to receive the majority of the IMPACT FEE monies. Fortunately, the Gas Companies will ultimately finish drilling and things will calm down in the areas affected, but it will be years until each well pad is finalized, so those areas affected should be compensated.

Most Pennsylvanians do not realize there are large areas where there is no drillable Marcellus Shale available under portions of the South-South Eastern half of Pennsylvania, and from the Eastern part of Bedford County, directly to the Eastern part of the State, there is no Marcellus Shale available at all that can be drilled!

Source of Maps: Map on Organically Rich Marcellus, Courtesy of PA DCNR; Map of Marcellus Shale Distribution: Courtesy of Small Business Development Center of Clarion University

If the Pennsylvania Legislature passes the Governor's proposed "Severance Tax" or "Extraction Tax", then all of the COUNTIES and TOWNSHIPS THAT HAVE BEEN RECEIVING HUGE AMOUNTS OF IMPACT FEE MONEY, WILL LOSE THE MAJORITY OF THAT MONEY! Since those Counties and Townships are truly impacted by having tremendous truck traffic and other gas drilling related activities disrupting their communities, it is only fair that those COUNTIES and TOWNSHIPS RETAIN THE IMPACT FEE MONIES. THOSE COUNTIES ARE IMPACTED BY THE DRILLING WORK, NOT South-SouthEastern Pennsylvania.