Earlier this week, Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill overhauling the state's natural gas drilling regulations into law.

The measure imposes a $50,000  fee on every well drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale formation. But as StateImpact Pennsylvania's Scott Detrow reports, the fee is conditional, and won't go into effect unless counties approve it.

Last night, Governor Tom Corbett signed a bill overhauling Pennsylvania’s natural gas drilling regulations into law. The legislation, which takes effect in 60 days, places an “impact fee” on every well drilling for gas in the state’s Marcellus Shale formation, and will likely generate around $200 million this fall.

An impact fee or severance tax has been a major issue at the Capitol for more than three years. So now that it’s a done deal, and passed into law, what comes next?

This morning, we’ll answer your questions about the new fee by talking to three people involved in different aspects of drilling. Today’s guests:

-Myron Arnowitt of Clean Water Action

-Mike Knapp, of drilling consulting firm Knapp Acquisitions

-Doug Hill, the executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania

Yesterday, StateImpact Pennsylvania reported the Corbett Administration cut a scientific research program’s budget by nearly 70 percent in December.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials also removed research looking into the effects of natural gas drilling and climate change from a list of projects recommended for grants.

WITF’s Tim Lambert interviewed StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Scott Detrow about the implications of the budget reduction. Here’s the  audio:

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To fee or not to fee -- it was the big question of the year at the state Capitol, and lawmakers still haven’t answered it.

Governor Corbett began the year on the fence, waiting for his Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission to issue findings on whether or not to impose a levy on drillers.

Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley led the panel, which ultimately did support a fee, as well as dozens of other changes to drilling regulations, in its July report. “Let me make it very clear,” said Cawley when the report came out. “This document, in its entirety, is a recommendation to the governor. No work begins until he says ‘go.’”

A debate over state funding for higher education dominated the state Capitol this spring and summer, and ranks among witf’s top stories of 2011.

During Democrat Ed Rendell’s two terms as governor, state spending increased every single year.

Republican Tom Corbett made it clear he was taking Pennsylvania in a different direction, when he unveiled his budget on March 8th, which eliminated more than $1 billion in spending. “I said we’d cut,” Corbett told state lawmakers. “I’m not asking you to read my lips. I’m asking you to read my budget.”

Most of those proposed reductions came in education spending. He wanted to cut the money Pennsylvania sends to state-related universities and the State System of Higher Education in half.

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, blew a gasket. “It’s unconscionable that we’re going to cut 50 percent of higher [education], as it relates to our state-related, our state systems,” Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa said after the budget was announced.  “Somebody just asked the question about, how are we going to deal with that? The outcome is simple: it’s going to mean higher tuition costs for our families that are already struggling to put their kids through school.”

A key advisor in the law firm retained by the Corbett Administration to help turn around the city of Harrisburg left his previous job under the cloud of scandal.

By and large, Stephen Goldsmith has a sterling reputation: former Mayor of Indianapolis, longtime professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

There’s one major blemish, though: Goldsmith’s resignation as New York City’s deputy mayor earlier this year, after police were called to his house to settle a domestic disturbance between him and his wife. According to the July 30 report filed by Washington, D.C. police – first obtained by the New York Post – Goldsmith shoved his wife, Margaret, into a kitchen counter, and threw a phone onto the ground after she called the police.

Talk to any emergency responder in a natural gas drilling-heavy area of Pennsylvania, and he'll probably tell you it’s ‘only a matter of time’ before a Marcellus Shale well blows up.

Whether it’s the anticipated ‘big one,’ or day-to-day injuries on site, the natural gas boom is creating new challenges for firefighters. StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Scott Detrow looks at what the state Fire Commissioner’s Office is doing to prepare emergency responders for when the call arrives.

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From StateImpact Pennsylvania:

Texas Governor Rick Perry rolled out an energy policy he claims will create more than 1 million new jobs, during an appearance in Pittsburgh today.

The Republican presidential candidate’s plan boils down to this: ramp up domestic production by expanding off-shore drilling, opening up protected land like Alaska’s Artic National Wildlife Refuge, and scaling back the Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight roles.

The Post-Gazette’s Erich Schwartzel, who edits the paper’s Pipeline website, covered the event. He spoke to StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Scott Detrow about Perry’s plan.

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StateImpact will cover other candidates’ energy platforms, as the presidential race develops.