Pennsylvania more than doubled as of August 1 the fee for all unconventional well permit applications, while shale companies call on state officials to find other mechanisms to fund the oil and gas program of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The fee for all unconventional well permit applications is now $12,500—up from US$5,000 for nonvertical unconventional wells and US$4,200 for vertical unconventional wells. The increase is designed “to sustain the Program at current staff levels and operating costs,” according to the new rule. However, the rule and the decision to hike the fees by 150 percent were made on the basis of well permit analyses in the period 2014 through 2017, and were outdated even before the current crisis in the oil and gas industry, Laura Legere of Pittsburg Post-Gazette writes . The state reviews the fees every three years, but Neil Shader, spokesman of the Department of […]