Post by pfsc on Mar 6, 2015 20:23:44 GMT -5
Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and Senate Local Government Committee
3/3/15, 8:30 a.m., Hearing Room 1 Main Capitol
By Matt Hess, PLS
The committee held a joint public hearing on the benefits of the Impact Fee.
Erick Coolidge, Vice-Chairman, Tioga County Board of Commissioners, shared how Tioga County has addressed changes and challenges that the oil and gas extraction has created over the past several years. He said, “The single most important benefit was having the ability to invest in our community as a result of the drilling activity. Act 13 made possible upgrades in areas until now that were not financially possible,” including additional cameras in county buildings, GPS units in county vehicles, and conversion of a county building into an emergency services facility. Coolidge also discussed Act 13 investments in the local fire departments, scholarships to local colleges, investments in rail services, investments in the Wellsboro/ Johnston Airport, and a new courthouse. He concluded, “Thoughtful consideration of investment of Act 13 Impact fee is happening every day in Tioga County, focused on opportunities to overcome the challenges for the benefit of everyone. All 67 counties benefit from the Impact Fee. Act 13 is a good thing. It is working. It needs to stay!” Tioga County has received $13,471,327 from Act 13.
Alan Hall, Chairman, Susquehanna County Board of Commissioners, said “Act 13 legislation has had a huge impact” on his county, allowing it and its constituent municipalities the ability to address some of the impacts resulting from natural gas drilling. He said the funds have allowed the creation of a new hospital and numerous other improvements. “Without the impact fees the county, municipalities and townships would be in serious trouble,” Hall said. He noted increased truck traffic has forced the hiring of additional manpower and equipment for road repairs. “The loss of the Act 13 funding would mean deteriorating conditions throughout the county with roads, bridges, infrastructure, lost jobs, and large tax increases throughout. Dealing with all the impacts without the funding will cripple our communities,” he concluded.
Chuck Morris, Chairman, Greene County Board of Commissioners, reported Greene County has approximately 560 active Marcellus Shale gas wells and said, “While the activity has been of great benefit for local businesses, restaurants and landlords, it has also given rise to issues that might be confronted by local government. These issues are, but not limited to, housing, deteriorating roads, damage to bridges, traffic safety and the demand for human services.” Morris stated Act 13 has “greatly eased the financial burden of the county in addressing the issues that have arisen.” The county has received more than $9 million and used that money for courthouse repairs, bridge repairs and maintenance, repairs to water authorities, repairs and upgrades of parks, improvements to fairgrounds, increased funding for the Drug Task Force and Legal Aid, emergency management upgrades, and compliance with “Sandusky Laws.”
Dennis Stuckey, Chairman, Lancaster County Board of Commissioners, explained that his county has received $1,383,990 in unrestricted funds from the Act 13 distribution which have been the used for the county’s Agriculture Preservation program and the county has unrestricted funds for the Bridge Capital Improvement Project. “Lancaster County supports the position that Act 13 Impact Fees must remain intact. We have demonstrated the use of these funds in supporting the preservation of production agriculture is multiplied by the leveraging of other private and charitable trust funds for that purpose. In the future, other uses of the monies received will be considered such as to the Lancaster County Conservancy. Funding support for the County’s Bridge Capital Improvement Program is playing a significant role for public safety in reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges from 33 to 13 in three years,” Stuckey stated. “Act 13 funds are vital to this goal. We urge you to protect the Act 13 Impact fee in your deliberations and decisions when considering any proposals that attach additional fees to the natural gas industry.”
Kurt Hausammann, Director, Lycoming County Planning and Community Development, remarked on the increased activity in the county’s register and recorder’s office as natural gas land men continued to scour property deeds and other legal documents and said the county has been “proactive, choosing to help shape our destiny, rather than react to the actions initiated by others.” In February 2008, the county formed a Community Natural Gas Task Force to study the issues and challenges facing the county. Hausammann discussed economic development in Lycoming County as the natural gas drilling boom has taken off, pointing out that Lycoming County is at the nexus of highway, short-line railroad, air connection points and the Transco Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline. He said, “Our designated growth areas along Interstate 180 are the closest you can locate to the drilling fields and lend themselves to the placement of drilling service companies. We now have over 120 new or expanded businesses related to gas activity.” The county has also updated zoning ordinances and quantitative studies examine impacts associated with housing, water and sewer, and transportation. Regarding impact fee funding, Hausammann reported the county has allocated funds in a way that “struck a good balance between the core county needs and the external requests we’ve received from over 20 different organizations and will benefit some 15 municipalities. Our goal was to help those communities who have viable infrastructure projects and who are willing to put some of their own Act 13 funds ‘in the game’.”
Minority Chairman Yudichak indicated that Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal will hold harmless current Act 13 dollars and questioned why the panel would be opposed to a severance tax that helps fund schools. Hall noted that Texas is considering cutting its severance tax in half to encourage growth in the industry in that state. “When an industry gets to a point when it’s cheaper not to produce because of the cost to produce in, then they stop producing,” Hall stated. “If you put the severance tax in and it works then you are all heroes. You put the severance tax and the industry walks away, which they can easily do, not only do you lose the impact fee, you lose the severance tax you want, you lose all the employment taxes, the fuel taxes, billions of dollars you will risk will have crippled the state.”
Sen. Scarnati spoke in support of Act 13 and emphasized that the natural gas industry is poised to continue to grow in Pennsylvania. “Why would we want to risk killing this golden goose? We have the highest environmental standards in place. We are creating jobs. We are bringing tax revenue to the commonwealth. Let’s not kid ourselves; we call it a fee because we had a governor who refused to call it a tax. It is a tax and they are paying a tax,” he stated. “We got to be careful here. Business people understand that there is the problem when you raise any price, or any fee, or any tax there is diminishing returns. I believe strongly, strongly that this industry will pull out of the Commonwealth and that next level of development isn’t going to happen…there are nations around this world that envy Pennsylvania: we have food, we have water and we have energy and we are an exporter of all of them. The impact fee - tax - has been a valuable asset to the region I represent but also the whole Commonwealth. The whole Commonwealth has benefited from this.”
Charles Stowe, president of the Butler County Association of Township Officials, explained there are six gas companies in his county, working on 242 wells and counting. Related impact fees, he said, brought $2.6 million to the county in 2014. He detailed the various ways Butler County’s 33 townships have spent their money. “Some have chipped, paved, resurfaced, and widened their roads. Others have replaced culverts, replaced bridges, and implemented stormwater improvements on their roads. Other townships have updated equipment such as purchasing graders, trucks, a roller, a high lift, a snow plow, and a tractor with a boom mower. Some are planning road improvement, and bridge replacement projects. Others are planning to purchase new equipment with their Act 13 monies,” he said. Stowe remarked “The impact fees have helped our townships hold the line on local taxes, plan for the future, and have expanded services for our residents.” He said residents initially voiced concerns about the negative impacts of drilling, but said the drilling companies “have addressed most of the major concerns of our residents and have worked with our municipalities to help solve the problems.”
Howard Fry, President, Lycoming County Association of Township Officials, explained that the natural gas industry created roads and the impact fee has positively benefited his township. “Act 13 money allowed me to invest in my township,” he stated. “Act 13 money is so important to a small township.” Fry warned that the industry is scaling down in Pennsylvania and indicated that vendors in his areas were requested to lower their contracts by 15 percent by the gas industry. “It tells you that gas companies are starting to take a look, because of the low gas price and nowhere to go with it, if the severance tax happens these boys are going to sit on it,” he stated. “Your revenues are not going to be what you project; it’s not going to happen.”
Elam Herr, Assistant Executive Director, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, told members that since 2012, nearly $650 million in impact fees has been allocated throughout the state - “an enormous benefit for the entire commonwealth, its municipalities, and their residents; but particularly those who have lived with significant impacts from the industry that changed their communities, particularly in the southwest and north central areas of the state.” Herr noted that while the drilling boom has brought many positives to such communities - new jobs, higher wages, business growth and lease royalties, they have also “been transformed by the drilling industry,” with traffic congestion putting great strain on roads and bridges. “Local officials are cautiously using these funds to make well-thought out investments in their communities,” Herr stated. “Local roads and bridges are being improved, often-ancient road and public safety equipment is being replaced; support for volunteer fire companies is being increased; local parks are seeing upgrades; sewer project costs are being offset; local police departments are being retained, expanded, or started. And some local officials are saving a portion of these funds for major projects in capital reserve funds, as well as for a day when the industry is gone but impacts remain.”
Chairman Yaw noted that he has spoken to delegations from foreign countries about the impact fee. “The delegation from Romania was in the process of writing a law and they were using our impact fee as a guide because the most important thing that they thought was how to get the money to the local people,” he stated. “That’s the one unique factor of our Act 13 that seems to impress everybody and is really unique apparently in the world. Pennsylvania has something to be proud of and makes Pennsylvania a leader.”
Chairman Hutchinson said the industry has been a “godsend” to Pennsylvania and argued that unlike the governor’s proposal, the amount of money for local governments will grow under the impact fee.
Chairman Yudichak spoke in support of a severance tax. “I would like to see a comprehensive economic development policy. That can’t be funded through a fragmented 67-county tax policy under Act 13,” he stated. “I’m in favor of keeping the Act 13 impact dollars at the local level as has been indicated to me by Gov. Wolf that he too wants to hold that harmless. We need to look at a more comprehensive policy. There’s no denying we lag behind the rest of the nation in job growth. Over the last four years we have not had a comprehensive energy policy, we really haven’t had a comprehensive economic development policy. Here’s opportunity to hold harmless the good work drilling counties are doing across Pennsylvania but now make an additional investment by building out the infrastructure of natural gas so Pennsylvania can take advantage of this resource in all 67 counties.”
Anthony Ventello, Executive Director, Progress Authority, described the work of the corporation in “providing full service economic development programming under contract for all of Bradford and Susquehanna Counties,” which he noted are the two highest shale producing counties in Pennsylvania. He detailed the “tremendous economic impact” of natural gas exploration and the tax receipts that have come to federal, state and local governments. He said the two counties have experienced significant growth in their tax base, with two new hospitals and a nearly 20-percent increase in taxable income. Ventello reported Act 13 has allowed for improvements to be made to emergency services, public safety, infrastructure, and for the creation of an infrastructure bank and investment loan and grant program. “Our legislators must be commended for the leadership provided with the passage of Act 13, which has been the most useful resource to maintain and improve our communities for all the impacts of shale gas drilling,” Ventello said. “Act 13 is providing for the foundation to strengthen our rural counties and prepare for additional investment.”
Jason Rigone, Executive Director, Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation, commented on his “unique position of observing and at times utilizing the Impact Fee.” He explained Westmoreland County and its 67 municipalities are eligible to receive direct funding disbursements from Act 13, and reported that with the passage of the law in 2012, the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners directed a countywide analysis and sought input for potential use of anticipated funds from the impact fee. The analysis saw “utilization focused on roads and bridges, public safety/emergency management, environmental protection and water/storm water and sewer systems,” he reported. Rigone said Westmoreland County has received approximately $6.6 million from the impact fee, of which $4 million has been discretionary funding and $1.6 million in restricted bridge funding, and nearly $1 million in Greenway, Open Space and Recreation funding. He identified a variety of discretionary spending projects, including upgrades to emergency preparedness communication systems, recycling, and farmland preservation, as well as infrastructure improvements done through the Restricted Highway allocation. Rigone also noted Impact Fee funding can be used to pay for the county’s half in projects that require a local match. Rigone told members “if the opportunity were to arise to allow local municipalities and counties to receive additional percentages of the Impact Fee directly, that would open additional opportunities to invest those dollars on local priorities. Modifying the formula to further spread the limited funding statewide would only place counties like Westmoreland at a further competitive disadvantage.”
Chairman Yaw emphasized that farming remains the strongest industry in the core drilling counties. Ventello said critics believed that natural gas drilling would create the industrialization of rural areas. “It has kept land in large parcels which is conducive to agriculture,” he stated. “It has also provided resources, funding…it has not had a negative effect on the agricultural industry.”
Jim Shaner, Executive Director, Beaver County Conservation District testified, “The overall benefit of Act 13 to all the conservation districts is to provide a predictable, stable funding source.” He explained that conservation districts have historically been funded via the state budget and that funding has declined and stagnated over time. He reported that Act 13 funding has allowed the conservation district to fulfill top priorities and create two new programs: The Agricultural Operations Assistance Program and the Stream Bank Stabilization Assistance Program. Shaner concluded, “If we lost this funding, it would be a major blow to the districts, the economy, and the environment of Pennsylvania.”
Karl Brown, Executive Secretary, State Conservation Commission, explained that under Act 13, dedicated funding for districts was ramped up over the course of three years, including: $2.5 million in 2011; $5.0 million in 2012; and $7.5 million 2013 and funding for each year is provided to districts through two different channels. “The funding provided to districts under Act 13 of 2012 provides stable and predictable baseline funding for district programs, activities and staff support. This base funding helps them maintain the technical and administrative foundation which is critical as they also compete for grants and other funding streams that allow them to address natural resource concerns such as: reducing nutrient and sediment to the Chesapeake Bay, treating acid mine runoff, keeping agricultural lands profitable and productive, and controlling dust and sediment from dirt and gravel roads,” he stated. “It is important to note that these funds help to supplement traditional DEP and PDA CDFAP line items for conservation districts, providing reasonable cost share levels for managers and technicians, and adequate support for administrative functions (audits, record keeping, etc.). Competent and skilled managers and technicians are vitally important so that the programs and services offered to local constituents are of the highest quality and are technically sound. Finally, in those counties which have been impacted by unconventional well drilling activities, these funds give them the ability to undertake special projects to address the conservation and natural resource concerns in those communities.”
Sen. Vogel noted that the environmental funding under Act 13 helps clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
Chairman Hutchinson thanked the panelists for pointing out that Act 13 provides stable funding for conversation districts. “If we want that stable funding source to continue we have to have a robust energy industry,” he stated. “If the energy industry goes away or diminishes those funds are in jeopardy.”
Chairman Yaw thanked all the testifiers and spoke in support of Act 13. “It works and it’s very clear that it works,” he stated. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Clearly from all the testimony here today it works and it works very well.”
Written testimony was also offered by the following:
• Butler County Commissioners • Sullivan County Commissioners
• Wyoming County Commissioners
• County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania
• Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
• Borough of Montoursville
• Springhill Township
• Nature Land Trusts
• Clinton County Commissioners
3/3/15, 8:30 a.m., Hearing Room 1 Main Capitol
By Matt Hess, PLS
The committee held a joint public hearing on the benefits of the Impact Fee.
Erick Coolidge, Vice-Chairman, Tioga County Board of Commissioners, shared how Tioga County has addressed changes and challenges that the oil and gas extraction has created over the past several years. He said, “The single most important benefit was having the ability to invest in our community as a result of the drilling activity. Act 13 made possible upgrades in areas until now that were not financially possible,” including additional cameras in county buildings, GPS units in county vehicles, and conversion of a county building into an emergency services facility. Coolidge also discussed Act 13 investments in the local fire departments, scholarships to local colleges, investments in rail services, investments in the Wellsboro/ Johnston Airport, and a new courthouse. He concluded, “Thoughtful consideration of investment of Act 13 Impact fee is happening every day in Tioga County, focused on opportunities to overcome the challenges for the benefit of everyone. All 67 counties benefit from the Impact Fee. Act 13 is a good thing. It is working. It needs to stay!” Tioga County has received $13,471,327 from Act 13.
Alan Hall, Chairman, Susquehanna County Board of Commissioners, said “Act 13 legislation has had a huge impact” on his county, allowing it and its constituent municipalities the ability to address some of the impacts resulting from natural gas drilling. He said the funds have allowed the creation of a new hospital and numerous other improvements. “Without the impact fees the county, municipalities and townships would be in serious trouble,” Hall said. He noted increased truck traffic has forced the hiring of additional manpower and equipment for road repairs. “The loss of the Act 13 funding would mean deteriorating conditions throughout the county with roads, bridges, infrastructure, lost jobs, and large tax increases throughout. Dealing with all the impacts without the funding will cripple our communities,” he concluded.
Chuck Morris, Chairman, Greene County Board of Commissioners, reported Greene County has approximately 560 active Marcellus Shale gas wells and said, “While the activity has been of great benefit for local businesses, restaurants and landlords, it has also given rise to issues that might be confronted by local government. These issues are, but not limited to, housing, deteriorating roads, damage to bridges, traffic safety and the demand for human services.” Morris stated Act 13 has “greatly eased the financial burden of the county in addressing the issues that have arisen.” The county has received more than $9 million and used that money for courthouse repairs, bridge repairs and maintenance, repairs to water authorities, repairs and upgrades of parks, improvements to fairgrounds, increased funding for the Drug Task Force and Legal Aid, emergency management upgrades, and compliance with “Sandusky Laws.”
Dennis Stuckey, Chairman, Lancaster County Board of Commissioners, explained that his county has received $1,383,990 in unrestricted funds from the Act 13 distribution which have been the used for the county’s Agriculture Preservation program and the county has unrestricted funds for the Bridge Capital Improvement Project. “Lancaster County supports the position that Act 13 Impact Fees must remain intact. We have demonstrated the use of these funds in supporting the preservation of production agriculture is multiplied by the leveraging of other private and charitable trust funds for that purpose. In the future, other uses of the monies received will be considered such as to the Lancaster County Conservancy. Funding support for the County’s Bridge Capital Improvement Program is playing a significant role for public safety in reducing the number of structurally deficient bridges from 33 to 13 in three years,” Stuckey stated. “Act 13 funds are vital to this goal. We urge you to protect the Act 13 Impact fee in your deliberations and decisions when considering any proposals that attach additional fees to the natural gas industry.”
Kurt Hausammann, Director, Lycoming County Planning and Community Development, remarked on the increased activity in the county’s register and recorder’s office as natural gas land men continued to scour property deeds and other legal documents and said the county has been “proactive, choosing to help shape our destiny, rather than react to the actions initiated by others.” In February 2008, the county formed a Community Natural Gas Task Force to study the issues and challenges facing the county. Hausammann discussed economic development in Lycoming County as the natural gas drilling boom has taken off, pointing out that Lycoming County is at the nexus of highway, short-line railroad, air connection points and the Transco Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline. He said, “Our designated growth areas along Interstate 180 are the closest you can locate to the drilling fields and lend themselves to the placement of drilling service companies. We now have over 120 new or expanded businesses related to gas activity.” The county has also updated zoning ordinances and quantitative studies examine impacts associated with housing, water and sewer, and transportation. Regarding impact fee funding, Hausammann reported the county has allocated funds in a way that “struck a good balance between the core county needs and the external requests we’ve received from over 20 different organizations and will benefit some 15 municipalities. Our goal was to help those communities who have viable infrastructure projects and who are willing to put some of their own Act 13 funds ‘in the game’.”
Minority Chairman Yudichak indicated that Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal will hold harmless current Act 13 dollars and questioned why the panel would be opposed to a severance tax that helps fund schools. Hall noted that Texas is considering cutting its severance tax in half to encourage growth in the industry in that state. “When an industry gets to a point when it’s cheaper not to produce because of the cost to produce in, then they stop producing,” Hall stated. “If you put the severance tax in and it works then you are all heroes. You put the severance tax and the industry walks away, which they can easily do, not only do you lose the impact fee, you lose the severance tax you want, you lose all the employment taxes, the fuel taxes, billions of dollars you will risk will have crippled the state.”
Sen. Scarnati spoke in support of Act 13 and emphasized that the natural gas industry is poised to continue to grow in Pennsylvania. “Why would we want to risk killing this golden goose? We have the highest environmental standards in place. We are creating jobs. We are bringing tax revenue to the commonwealth. Let’s not kid ourselves; we call it a fee because we had a governor who refused to call it a tax. It is a tax and they are paying a tax,” he stated. “We got to be careful here. Business people understand that there is the problem when you raise any price, or any fee, or any tax there is diminishing returns. I believe strongly, strongly that this industry will pull out of the Commonwealth and that next level of development isn’t going to happen…there are nations around this world that envy Pennsylvania: we have food, we have water and we have energy and we are an exporter of all of them. The impact fee - tax - has been a valuable asset to the region I represent but also the whole Commonwealth. The whole Commonwealth has benefited from this.”
Charles Stowe, president of the Butler County Association of Township Officials, explained there are six gas companies in his county, working on 242 wells and counting. Related impact fees, he said, brought $2.6 million to the county in 2014. He detailed the various ways Butler County’s 33 townships have spent their money. “Some have chipped, paved, resurfaced, and widened their roads. Others have replaced culverts, replaced bridges, and implemented stormwater improvements on their roads. Other townships have updated equipment such as purchasing graders, trucks, a roller, a high lift, a snow plow, and a tractor with a boom mower. Some are planning road improvement, and bridge replacement projects. Others are planning to purchase new equipment with their Act 13 monies,” he said. Stowe remarked “The impact fees have helped our townships hold the line on local taxes, plan for the future, and have expanded services for our residents.” He said residents initially voiced concerns about the negative impacts of drilling, but said the drilling companies “have addressed most of the major concerns of our residents and have worked with our municipalities to help solve the problems.”
Howard Fry, President, Lycoming County Association of Township Officials, explained that the natural gas industry created roads and the impact fee has positively benefited his township. “Act 13 money allowed me to invest in my township,” he stated. “Act 13 money is so important to a small township.” Fry warned that the industry is scaling down in Pennsylvania and indicated that vendors in his areas were requested to lower their contracts by 15 percent by the gas industry. “It tells you that gas companies are starting to take a look, because of the low gas price and nowhere to go with it, if the severance tax happens these boys are going to sit on it,” he stated. “Your revenues are not going to be what you project; it’s not going to happen.”
Elam Herr, Assistant Executive Director, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, told members that since 2012, nearly $650 million in impact fees has been allocated throughout the state - “an enormous benefit for the entire commonwealth, its municipalities, and their residents; but particularly those who have lived with significant impacts from the industry that changed their communities, particularly in the southwest and north central areas of the state.” Herr noted that while the drilling boom has brought many positives to such communities - new jobs, higher wages, business growth and lease royalties, they have also “been transformed by the drilling industry,” with traffic congestion putting great strain on roads and bridges. “Local officials are cautiously using these funds to make well-thought out investments in their communities,” Herr stated. “Local roads and bridges are being improved, often-ancient road and public safety equipment is being replaced; support for volunteer fire companies is being increased; local parks are seeing upgrades; sewer project costs are being offset; local police departments are being retained, expanded, or started. And some local officials are saving a portion of these funds for major projects in capital reserve funds, as well as for a day when the industry is gone but impacts remain.”
Chairman Yaw noted that he has spoken to delegations from foreign countries about the impact fee. “The delegation from Romania was in the process of writing a law and they were using our impact fee as a guide because the most important thing that they thought was how to get the money to the local people,” he stated. “That’s the one unique factor of our Act 13 that seems to impress everybody and is really unique apparently in the world. Pennsylvania has something to be proud of and makes Pennsylvania a leader.”
Chairman Hutchinson said the industry has been a “godsend” to Pennsylvania and argued that unlike the governor’s proposal, the amount of money for local governments will grow under the impact fee.
Chairman Yudichak spoke in support of a severance tax. “I would like to see a comprehensive economic development policy. That can’t be funded through a fragmented 67-county tax policy under Act 13,” he stated. “I’m in favor of keeping the Act 13 impact dollars at the local level as has been indicated to me by Gov. Wolf that he too wants to hold that harmless. We need to look at a more comprehensive policy. There’s no denying we lag behind the rest of the nation in job growth. Over the last four years we have not had a comprehensive energy policy, we really haven’t had a comprehensive economic development policy. Here’s opportunity to hold harmless the good work drilling counties are doing across Pennsylvania but now make an additional investment by building out the infrastructure of natural gas so Pennsylvania can take advantage of this resource in all 67 counties.”
Anthony Ventello, Executive Director, Progress Authority, described the work of the corporation in “providing full service economic development programming under contract for all of Bradford and Susquehanna Counties,” which he noted are the two highest shale producing counties in Pennsylvania. He detailed the “tremendous economic impact” of natural gas exploration and the tax receipts that have come to federal, state and local governments. He said the two counties have experienced significant growth in their tax base, with two new hospitals and a nearly 20-percent increase in taxable income. Ventello reported Act 13 has allowed for improvements to be made to emergency services, public safety, infrastructure, and for the creation of an infrastructure bank and investment loan and grant program. “Our legislators must be commended for the leadership provided with the passage of Act 13, which has been the most useful resource to maintain and improve our communities for all the impacts of shale gas drilling,” Ventello said. “Act 13 is providing for the foundation to strengthen our rural counties and prepare for additional investment.”
Jason Rigone, Executive Director, Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation, commented on his “unique position of observing and at times utilizing the Impact Fee.” He explained Westmoreland County and its 67 municipalities are eligible to receive direct funding disbursements from Act 13, and reported that with the passage of the law in 2012, the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners directed a countywide analysis and sought input for potential use of anticipated funds from the impact fee. The analysis saw “utilization focused on roads and bridges, public safety/emergency management, environmental protection and water/storm water and sewer systems,” he reported. Rigone said Westmoreland County has received approximately $6.6 million from the impact fee, of which $4 million has been discretionary funding and $1.6 million in restricted bridge funding, and nearly $1 million in Greenway, Open Space and Recreation funding. He identified a variety of discretionary spending projects, including upgrades to emergency preparedness communication systems, recycling, and farmland preservation, as well as infrastructure improvements done through the Restricted Highway allocation. Rigone also noted Impact Fee funding can be used to pay for the county’s half in projects that require a local match. Rigone told members “if the opportunity were to arise to allow local municipalities and counties to receive additional percentages of the Impact Fee directly, that would open additional opportunities to invest those dollars on local priorities. Modifying the formula to further spread the limited funding statewide would only place counties like Westmoreland at a further competitive disadvantage.”
Chairman Yaw emphasized that farming remains the strongest industry in the core drilling counties. Ventello said critics believed that natural gas drilling would create the industrialization of rural areas. “It has kept land in large parcels which is conducive to agriculture,” he stated. “It has also provided resources, funding…it has not had a negative effect on the agricultural industry.”
Jim Shaner, Executive Director, Beaver County Conservation District testified, “The overall benefit of Act 13 to all the conservation districts is to provide a predictable, stable funding source.” He explained that conservation districts have historically been funded via the state budget and that funding has declined and stagnated over time. He reported that Act 13 funding has allowed the conservation district to fulfill top priorities and create two new programs: The Agricultural Operations Assistance Program and the Stream Bank Stabilization Assistance Program. Shaner concluded, “If we lost this funding, it would be a major blow to the districts, the economy, and the environment of Pennsylvania.”
Karl Brown, Executive Secretary, State Conservation Commission, explained that under Act 13, dedicated funding for districts was ramped up over the course of three years, including: $2.5 million in 2011; $5.0 million in 2012; and $7.5 million 2013 and funding for each year is provided to districts through two different channels. “The funding provided to districts under Act 13 of 2012 provides stable and predictable baseline funding for district programs, activities and staff support. This base funding helps them maintain the technical and administrative foundation which is critical as they also compete for grants and other funding streams that allow them to address natural resource concerns such as: reducing nutrient and sediment to the Chesapeake Bay, treating acid mine runoff, keeping agricultural lands profitable and productive, and controlling dust and sediment from dirt and gravel roads,” he stated. “It is important to note that these funds help to supplement traditional DEP and PDA CDFAP line items for conservation districts, providing reasonable cost share levels for managers and technicians, and adequate support for administrative functions (audits, record keeping, etc.). Competent and skilled managers and technicians are vitally important so that the programs and services offered to local constituents are of the highest quality and are technically sound. Finally, in those counties which have been impacted by unconventional well drilling activities, these funds give them the ability to undertake special projects to address the conservation and natural resource concerns in those communities.”
Sen. Vogel noted that the environmental funding under Act 13 helps clean up the Chesapeake Bay.
Chairman Hutchinson thanked the panelists for pointing out that Act 13 provides stable funding for conversation districts. “If we want that stable funding source to continue we have to have a robust energy industry,” he stated. “If the energy industry goes away or diminishes those funds are in jeopardy.”
Chairman Yaw thanked all the testifiers and spoke in support of Act 13. “It works and it’s very clear that it works,” he stated. “If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Clearly from all the testimony here today it works and it works very well.”
Written testimony was also offered by the following:
• Butler County Commissioners • Sullivan County Commissioners
• Wyoming County Commissioners
• County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania
• Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
• Borough of Montoursville
• Springhill Township
• Nature Land Trusts
• Clinton County Commissioners