Pennsylvania state lawmakers expect to vote this week on a bill to require Pennsylvania's booming natural gas industry to pay fees for state and local government programs that could total $190 million in the first year.
A joint House-Senate conference committee approved the bill Monday evening, with majority Republicans outvoting Democrats by a 4-2 margin.
That sends it to the chambers for up-or-down floor votes as early as Tuesday morning. Negotiators said the total fee paid on all Marcellus shale wells would total $190 million in the first year, rising in ensuing years as more wells are drilled.
The proposal is a result of weeks of talks between leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett, a fellow Republican, without input from Democrats, who criticize the bill as a sweetheart deal for the industry that is full of loopholes and doesn't adequately protect the environment.
Under the bill, the impact fee would rise and fall with the price of natural gas and inflation. Counties would have the option to impose it, but a critical mass of municipalities could override a refusal.
The bill would increase the required distance between drilling and public water sources, but not to the extent sought by Democrats.
Money from the impact fee and state forest drilling would be distributed to a wide range of purposes, including environmental cleanups and buying natural gas fleet vehicles.
