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News Regional & State News PA senator says forced pooling for natural gas drillers won't fly
Friday, 22 July 2011 15:01

PA senator says forced pooling for natural gas drillers won't fly

Written by  Mary Wilson

(Harrisburg) -- The local impact fee for natural gas drillers recommended by the governor’s advisory commission isn’t good enough for at least one state senator. The Democratic lawmaker is calling for a statewide impact fee on natural gas drillers. Senator John Yudichak says the revenue from whatever severance or impact fee is imposed on gas drillers in the Marcellus Shale needs to go to the entire state, not just the counties with drilling. He says counties like the ones he represents -- Carbon, Luzerne, and Monroe -- are home to gas pipelines, and have to pay for the upkeep of roads trafficked by drilling industry trucks. Yudichak says the commission’s report fails to recognize that. "What I’ve been reading out of the report is that they’re talking about a local impact fee, perhaps implemented and assessed at the local level and kept at the local level," he says. "We haven’t done that for any industry in Pennsylvania." The commission report also suggests pooling. That's the practice of allowing natural gas drilling on land under certain conditions without having the permission of all of the property owners. Yudichak echoed the comments of the Senate President Pro Temp Joe Scarnati when he said the issue’s a deal breaker.

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