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Commonwealth Court Limits Clean Streams Law Penalties

In December 2016, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court agreed to hear additional oral argument in Snyder Brothers, Inc. v. Pa. Public Utility Comm’n. The case concerns the proper interpretation of Pennsylvania’s Act 13 of 2012, which exempts from the Commonwealth’s impact fee those unconventional gas wells “incapable of producing more than 90,000 cubic feet of gas per day during any calendar month . . .” Snyder Brothers argues that Act 13 exempts those marginal wells that are incapable of producing more than 90,000 cubic feet of gas per day during one or more months of the year. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission interprets the provision as requiring operators to pay the impact fee on each unconventional well that is capable to producing 90,000 cubic feet of gas per day in one or more months of the year. The PUC has ordered Snyder Brothers to pay $500,000 in impact fees on wells that have produced 90,000 cubic feet of gas per day in some, but not all, calendar months.