Snyder Bros., Inc. v. Pa. Pub. Util. Comm'n

At issue in this appeal is whether producers of natural gas from certain vertical wells are subject to assessment of the yearly impact fee established by Chapter 23 of the Oil and Gas Act ("Act 13"). 1 The vertical wells that are the subject of this proceeding utilize the hydraulic fracturing process, colloquially referred to as "fracking,"

*1058 to extract natural gas through a vertical well bore from the underlying geologic formation known as the Marcellus Shale. At the heart of this dispute is whether an impact fee will be assessed whenever a vertical well's production exceeds an average of…