Industry and state leaders agreed that a plan by Pennsylvania regulators to more than double permit fees for unconventional wells would likely not put a damper on producers’ plans to continue to drill and produce gas from the prolific Marcellus shale play. A proposed rulemaking, which the state Department of Environmental Protection has submitted to its Environmental Quality Board, would increase current well permit application fees to $12,500 for all unconventional wells from $5,000 for non-vertical unconventional wells and $4,200 for vertical unconventional wells. DEP contends that the proposed fee increases are needed to fund its efforts to regulate the oil and natural gas industry and pay for the department to augment its Oil and Gas Division staff, which has been stretched thin by the drilling boom in the Appalachian shale. The proposed fee increase is part of a package of reforms to the drilling permit regulatory scheme that […]