PUC wants more clarity on Marcellus Shale impact fee delay

The Public Utility Commission says a state court needs to be clearer about its delaying order of parts of Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling impact fee law.

Earlier this month, Commonwealth Court ordered an injunction on portions of Act 13 restricting local drilling rules.

PUC spokeswoman, Jennifer Kocher says the agency was left wondering how to continue its job of overseeing and implementing the law.

“We were looking at some of the direction we were given by the court. We weren’t sure if it applied to specific portions or to a larger portion of our responsibilities under Act 13 and so we wanted to get clarification on that before we proceeded with our final implementation order,” she said Thursday.

In the meantime, the PUC is postponing some of its final implementation orders, which require certain information from drillers and municipalities affected by the state law.

Kocher says the delay won’t affect the exchange of money — neither from drilling companies paying fees to the state, nor the local governments getting a share of that revenue.