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PVR Buys Chief Gathering/Marcellus Pipelines for $1B

Calling it a “transformational transaction” for the company, Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR) today announced they are buying Chief Gathering for $1 billion in cash and stock. Chief Gathering is a midstream pipeline company with assets (pipelines) located mostly in northeastern Pennsylvania in the Marcellus Shale. The deal includes existing pipeline agreements with drilling heavyweights like Chesapeake, Anadarko, Statoil, Exxon Mobil and others. PVR CEO William Shea says the new combined pipeline operation for PVR will represent 75 percent of its business by the end of next year (it’s currently 40-45 percent of their business).

From the PVR press release:

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Chief Gathering Counter-Sues 3 Families in Luzerne County, PA

In a country with a proud tradition of free speech and open dissent, there is a line that can be crossed. That line is called libel and slander, and it’s always been a gray area, most often determined by the courts. We have a new case for the courts to decide related to the Marcellus drilling industry in Luzerne County, PA.

But this is not solely a case of slander. The people accused of slandering pipeline company Chief Gathering first filed a lawsuit themselves in an attempt to use the courts to stop the pipeline. So Chief is fighting back with their own lawsuit seeking to a) have the original lawsuit filed against the pipeline overturned, and b) seeking damages for the (according to Chief) slanderous remarks of the people and their attorney. Chief says their reputation in the community has been wrongly damaged.

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Dallas Twp, PA Approves Natural Gas Pipeline Near School

On Wednesday, Dallas Township (Luzerne County), PA supervisors voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Chief Gathering to run a natural gas pipeline within a third of a mile of the Dallas district schools and through a local housing development. Some of the residents who attended the meeting strongly objected to the vote, accusing the supervisors of approving an agreement not available for review by residents and accusing Chief and other drilling industry companies of “monster arrogance.”

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