‘Christmas in July,” is how one township supervisor in Allegheny County described it. No, this official was not referring to snow. It’s a new revenue stream, called an impact fee, that is paid by natural gas companies and distributed to local governments and state agencies by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. For this township, it means a new 3-mile stretch of road in need of repair.
Marcellus Shale operators have paid more than $406 million over the past two years in impact fees. It is worth celebrating the many ways in which communities are using this new revenue to improve their residents’ way of life.
Erie County is a perfect example of how every square inch of Pennsylvania benefits because of the Act 13 Marcellus Legacy Fund. As the Erie Times-News reported on June 26, Erie County has awarded a combined $243,000 in Greenways Program grants to the Asbury Woods Partnership; the Erie County Convention Center Authority; the Erie County Conservation District; the Union City Community House Association; the county’s arm of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; Lawrence Park and Springfield townships; and the city of Erie. This funding makes possible improvements to the region’s public parks, trails, gardens and downtown area — improvements from which everyone in the county will benefit.
Elsewhere, Clinton County is using part of its two-year allocation of more than $3.7 million toward building a new 911 emergency communications center. Fayette County commissioners have designated a portion of $7.3 million-plus received in two years for the county’s new emergency management radio system.
Bradford County residents may also feel like it’s the holidays, because more than $41 million in impact fees over two years have brought tax relief. Officials there decreased the property tax rate by 5.9 percent in the 2013 budget. In Lawrence County, which includes New Castle, impact fee dollars made it possible to avoid increasing property taxes for the next budget year.
In Centre County, several townships are using part of the county’s nearly $3 million allocation over two years to convert municipal trucks to homegrown, clean-burning compressed natural gas, and at least one township is installing a CNG fueling station.
Tioga County commissioners are directing more than $100,000 toward drug and alcohol treatment programs that may otherwise end because of losing funds from other sources.
In addition to the funds designated for municipalities and for state agencies responsible for overseeing natural gas exploration, the Marcellus Legacy Fund has $14 million in operators’ impact fee payments available this year. Municipalities and organizations can apply for this money, which can be used for flood mitigation; abandoned mine drainage abatement and treatment; watershed restoration and protection; water quality data; greenways, trails and recreation; and to plug orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells.
The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy also reports that Marcellus Shale development has “produced major economic benefits to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania” and to landowners through royalties. The report estimates that royalties paid to Marcellus Shale natural gas land and mineral owners in Pennsylvania reached a staggering $731 million in 2012, increasing payments in 2012 “by more than 6,600 percent, thanks to Marcellus Shale.
The benefits of natural gas exploration are extraordinary, and these benefits are not just being felt in the counties with drilling activity. The impact fees that operators pay ensure that critical projects, such as the ones in Erie, will continue as responsible natural gas development expands in the months and years ahead.
For those who have seen economic hard times in many parts of Pennsylvania during our lifetimes, the opportunities that come with Marcellus development seem as if they are blessings for another era. But that is not the case, as shale development is the fortuity for our time. And along with it comes the knowledge requisite to protect the environment we all cherish.
Kathryn Z. Klaber is the chief executive of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, based in Pittsburgh (www.MarcellusCoalition.org).
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