From the HARRISBURG PATRIOT-NEWS Op Ed:
…Both Senate and House bills (SB 1100 and HB 1950) essentially strip local governments of their authority to adopt ordinances to protect their communities. The bills do this by expansively defining all efforts to regulate oil and gas operations as beyond the power of local government. “Oil and gas operations” is broadly defined, and appears to include all aspects of the natural gas drilling and production process, such as seismic testing, well site preparation, well drilling and fracturing, impoundments, compressor stations and processing plants.
A municipality routinely regulates industrial operations with requirements for fencing, lighting, noise and hours of operation, but will not be able to do so for oil and gas operations….
The Senate and House bills provide different formulas for assessing an impact fee. The impact fee is not based on any calculation of the real costs to our commonwealth from gas drilling. Other states impose a tax or fee on natural gas equivalent to 5 percent of the value. HB 1950 authorizes counties to impose a fee, but caps it at 1 percent. And counties are free to establish no tax or a much lower fee…
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