July 18 PA Environment Digest Now Available

July 18 PA Environment Digest now available. Click Here to print this Digest.

Governor's Marcellus Commission Recommends Impact Fee, Forced Pooling

After a day-long meeting punctuated by lots of discussion, the Governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission finished work on about 100 recommendations which included urging the adoption of an impact fee, a general statement on forced pooling of natural gas properties and a bigger role for county conservation districts in regulating drilling operations for erosion and sedimentation problems.

The final report was passed unanimously by the Commission, but some Commission members noted not all the recommendations were supported by each member.

Members of the Commission each had the recommendations before them, but the text of the proposals were not available to the public online before the meeting or to the audience attending as handouts. All that's known about the recommendations was gleaned from verbal comments made at the meeting.

Each of the four work groups: Environmental Protection and Public Health, Local Impacts and Emergency Response, Economic and Workforce Development and Infrastructure reported generally on agreed-to recommendations. The recommendations were then voted on in groups or individual recommendations were called out by number and discussed or changed.

New recommendations, in particular by environmental groups, were suggested, discussed and voted on, but again the text of the changes were not available. Click Here for more....