Contrary to the wishes of Anadarko Petroleum and Talisman Energy, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with collecting Act 13 impact fees from shale drilling in the state, ruled that setting conductor pipe does in fact trigger or require a company to pay an impact fee from that point forward. Anadarko and Talisman had argued it does not constitute spudding (or starting the drilling process) for a well. The impact fee is levied when a well is spud.
From the PUC announcement yesterday:
