PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Pennsylvania’s fee on Marcellus Shale natural-gas wells is the lowest among 11 states examined in a study released Thursday by the Independent Fiscal Office, the state legislature’s nonpartisan budget agency.
The IFO said Pennsylvania could collect less than 1 percent of the value of the production from shale-gas wells during their lifetime. Under the same scenario in neighboring West Virginia, the wells would generate nearly 12 times the tax revenue.
The state agency’s report will likely rekindle a smoldering debate in the coming gubernatorial election over whether Pennsylvania set its impact fee too low in 2012… (more)
EDITOR: The Marcelllus Shale industry donated over $2 million to Gov. Tom Corbett’s election campaign in 2010.
