Impact fees have been in place for counties with Marcellus Shale drilling sites, but if State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) gets his way, pipelines could be the key to spreading the wealth.
Dinniman plans to introduce legislation Monday that would establish a pipeline impact fee in Pennsylvania.
He said the burden needs to be taken off those who are directly affected by the pipelines carrying shale gas to the ports of Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore.
“If we don’t have an impact fee, then the very citizens whose back yards are being dug up will end up paying for all the difficulties or any difficulties with higher property tax,” Dinniman said.
According to Dinniman, the construction in the pipelines results in many communities experiencing long-term impacts to the environment and their infrastructure.
He said because of this, it’s fair for the communities to see some form of compensation.
“There’s going to be problems that come from any pipeline,” he said. “The environmental issues, the safety issues and we have to retrain or further train our emergency service responders.”
He proposes the fees be calculated based on the acreage of linear feet plus the right-of-way width of the pipeline using the affected county’s average land value.
“It seems to me the companies making the money should be paying these impact fees just like they pay an impact fee where they drill for the gas,” Dinniman said.
If passed, the legislation calls for the PUC to collect the fees and deposit them into a “Pipeline Impact Fund” where disbursement would be split between the administration of the fund, an annual payment to each affected county and the municipality in the affected areas.
“We have as much a right to protect ourselves and have an impact fee as do the western counties and southwestern area which produces the gas,” Dinniman said.
The bill would only apply to pipelines that are constructed after the act’s effect date.
