--IN CASE YOU MISSED IT--

$806,000 expected in drilling revenue

Indiana County and its municipalities will receive more than $806,000 from the state’s Marcellus shale impact fee collected on unconventional natural gas wells in 2013, an increase of more than 18 percent over last year.

Of that, the county will get $344,288, and the county’s municipalities will get a combined $461,780, according to the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission, which released the information Monday.

The impact fee is paid to the state by drillers of unconventional natural gas wells.

Through a complex formula, some of the fee money is used by the state, and some is distributed to each county and on down to municipalities.

The payout is calculated on several factors including the number of wells within the municipality and the fluctuating price of gas.

Indiana County also receives some of the impact fee money for being an eligible host county to unconventional gas wells.

Last year, Indiana County received $386,709 from revenue produced from the impact fee; the county’s municipalities collectively received $292,302 last year, for a total of $679,011.

The amounts that each municipality will receive range from $115 in Smicksburg Borough to more than $62,000 in Center and Cherryhill townships. White Township is set to get $31,400, and Indiana Borough is expected to receive $18,470.

The money is distributed each year by July 1.

The PUC collected about $225.7 million statewide last year, up from $202.4 million the year before.

The impact fee, passed as Act 13, requires drillers to pay $50,000 for each horizontally drilled well and $10,000 for each vertical well drilled in 2012.

The residual revenue will be distributed with 60 percent of the remaining money being sent to counties and municipalities where drilling takes place.

Counties and municipalities may utilize the money in several ways, including for roads, public safety, environmental programs, agriculture preservation and career and technical job training.

The remaining 40 percent is placed into the Marcellus Legacy Fund, which serves as funding for statewide initiatives with local impacts. The Marcellus Legacy Fund includes the Commonwealth Financing Authority, Environmental Stewardship Fund, Highway Bridge Improvement Fund, PENNVEST and H2O Program and the Department of Community & Economic Development.

Read the article online HERE.

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