Pennsylvania's New Oil and Gas Act

Abstract:     
On February 14, 2012, Governor Tom Corbett signed into law a comprehensive overhaul of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act, which, among other things, imposes impact fees on unconventional gas wells.

The Bill that was ultimately passed and signed into law had gone through many iterations and was subject to extensive and lengthy debate. The final version is 174 pages long, and is too complex for all of its provisions to be addressed in this article. Rather, it summarizes the principal provisions of the new law and provides some discussion of their significance.

The Bill comprises six different chapters, but may be broken down into three main categories of new requirements. These categories are: 1) the unconventional gas well fees (popularly called “impact fees”); 2) new environmental regulation; and 3) restriction on local ordinances.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

working papers series