A severance tax on unconventional natural gas development and production is likely to be part of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's scheduled Mar. 10 budget address. He took office Jan. 20 after running a successful campaign touting his desire to tax gas drillers as a way to raise revenue for education.
The state faces a $2 billion deficit. Various state lawmakers have suggested other business taxes to help close the deficit. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Montgomery, has suggested imposing a tax on Marcellus drillers in addition to an impact fee they already pay on wells.
Sens. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, and Andy Dinniman, D-Chester, plan a bill to add an impact fee for municipalities where natural gas lines are needed to transport Marcellus gas. Pipelines are proposed in the vicinity of Philadelphia and through part of Lehigh Valley.
Representatives of three oil and gas trade associations late last year warned that enacting a severance tax would substantially harm the commonwealth beyond the gas industry.
The commonwealth's economy has flourished while gas activity grew under the existing system, Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania Executive Director Stephanie Catarino Wissman said.
"Energy development is sustaining families with new jobs and generating more income for communities," she said during a Dec. 16 teleconference with reporters. "Don't fix what is not broken. Don't break the economic backbone of the commonwealth."
Marcellus Shale Coalition Pres. Dave Spigelmyer said revenue projections made during the campaign "were wildly overestimated and can't be supported by facts."
He said Marcellus gas production is yielding tax opportunities already. "Development on state properties already has generated more than a half billion dollars of royalties and rentals."
Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association Pres. Lou D'Amico, said, "Our industry is driven by investment and profit. As it stands today, its profitability is already suffering. We're facing competition from Ohio, where the Utica shale produces more wet gas and there's a more favorable regulatory environment."
D'Amico said Pennsylvania producers already pay an impact fee to help communities directly affected by development meet growing demands for basic services in addition to taxes other businesses pay.
"A new severance tax means there will be a further reduction of gas production in Pennsylvania," D'Amico said. "The number of rigs working here has been cut almost by half from 2011 to 2013. Putting a severance tax on top of the impact fee will mean a further drop."
Limited pipeline access
Pipeline capacity is limited, creating serious access problems that limit profitability, the executives noted. "Our producers receive $1.50-2 less than those in other states," D'Amico said. "With gas hovering around $3.81/Mcf, that discount means our producers get about 51% less. We also have well over 1,500 wells producing gas that can't even get into pipelines."
Spige/myer estimated a 2-5 year window to get enough infrastructure to move gas that's produced.
Wissman said, "Pipelines are a critical part of not only Pennsylvania's, but the nation's energy infrastructure."
Two state senators, John Rafferty (R-Collegeville) and Andrew Dinniman (D-West Chester), say they plan to reintroduce their bill from the last session to impose a community impact fee on new gas pipeline construction, the Pittsburgh Times-Tribune said in a Dec. 17 report.
Spigelmyer said a delegation of producers met recently with Wolf to directly share their stories.
"They explained that if a severance tax is placed on top of the impact fee, it will be harder to compete with other states which provide capital recovery periods or other features our tax structure doesn't have," Spigelmyer said. "They also made clear that if a business is heavily taxed, it won't do as well. I think the governor-elect understands these principles, and he will weigh them."
Wissman said of Wolf, "During the election, he focused on revenue. We want to turn the discussion from what can be squeezed out of the industry to what [a severance tax] is going to do to jobs and economic growth."
Many legislative leaders said in late 2014 that they wanted to focus initially on spending and dealing with issues such as pensions before turning to revenue-generation questions.
Spigelmyer said, "The economic equation for investing capital in Pennsylvania is a very sensitive one that we'll need to deal with carefully.
