Absolutely. And just recently, the Pa. Public Utility Commission (PUC) allocated $202.4 million – which is in addition to $1.8 billion paid in natural gas-related taxes and last year’s impact fees of more than $200 million – to various programs, including conservation efforts.
Impact fee revenues – generated by the safe, job-creating shale development – are allocated largely to counties and municipalities across the commonwealth, as well as other important programs.
And as laid out in Act 13, 40% of impact fee revenues go toward the Marcellus Legacy Fund and are used for:
- 15 percent of the Marcellus Legacy Fund is distributed by the Commission to all counties, regardless of whether the county has wells located within its borders, to be used for certain environmental initiatives, as set forth in Section 2315(a.1)(5) of the Act.
- Counties ARE NOT required to report the expenditure of these funds to the Commission.
- Other funds making up the Marcellus Legacy Fund include, but are not limited to the Highway Bridge Improvement Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund.
PUC Chairman Robert Powelson called this new revenue source a “game changer” that is “helping revitalize parts of Pennsylvania that were in dire need.” We absolute agree.
