| | | | | |

PA AG Indicts 2 Workers for Conspiracy, Fraud re MarkWest Pipeline

On Friday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced her office has filed criminal charges against two men for falsifying paperwork and risking catastrophe while working on a natural gas pipeline project in western PA. The AG’s Environmental Crime Section and the US Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General investigated a case of suspected fraud in falsifying records for portions of a MarkWest Liberty Pipeline to transport NGLs.
Continue reading

| | |

Comparing PA Farmer’s Quest to Install Solar vs NatGas Drilling

Solar panels hogging up an entire field (click for larger version)

The left OPPOSES individual land rights if exercising those rights results in a tiny natural gas well pad–a pad that nobody can see from 200 yards away that allows the land above it to be used as it always has been used, whether for farming or otherwise. But if a landowner (farmer, in this case) wants to install huge, ugly solar panels that rob the land of being used for farming or any other purpose in perpetuity (for 20-30 years at least), all of a sudden the left is in FAVOR of individual land rights. Kind of funny, no? More like, it is blatantly hypocritical.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | |

PennEnergy Receives “Responsibly Sourced Gas” Rating for Most Wells

PennEnergy Resources LLC, which according to the Pittsburgh Business Times is the 11th largest shale driller in Pennsylvania (with 405 active shale wells), has achieved responsibly sourced natural gas certification from Project Canary on nearly all of its wells. Project Canary has issued its top “Gold” and “Platinum” ratings on 375 of PennEnergy’s wells.

NOTE: This article was revised from an earlier version after MDN received a copy of the official press release.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | |

Pin Oak Buys Laurel Mountain Pipe System from Williams/Chevron

Pin Oak Midstream, a subsidiary of Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH, has purchased most of the pipeline assets of Laurel Mountain Midstream for an undisclosed amount. The assets include 1,050 miles of natural gas-gathering pipelines and five compressor stations located in three Pennsylvania counties.
Continue reading

| | |

Marcellus-Fired Hickory Run Power Plant in W PA Went Online May 18

Hickory Run Energy Center (credit: Youngstown Business Journal)

The Hickory Run Energy Center–an electric generating plant built at a former manufacturing site in New Castle (Lawrence County), PA–finally went online on May 18. It took three years to construct and employs 23 people. The plant is fed by Marcellus Shale gas.
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

PA DEP OKs Dominion Pipeline to Feed PA NatGas to OH Power Plant

click for larger version

Dominion Energy’s West Loop Project will flow natural gas from western PA into Ohio to feed a new natural gas-fired electric plant being built there. We first noticed this small (but important) project in June 2019 (see Dominion Pipeline to Feed Western PA NatGas to OH Power Plant). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued final approval for the project in December (see FERC OKs Dominion Pipeline to Feed PA NatGas to OH Power Plant). And now, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has issued a Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the project.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | |

FERC OKs Dominion Pipeline to Feed PA NatGas to OH Power Plant

Dominion Energy’s West Loop Project will flow natural gas from western PA into Ohio to feed a new natural gas-fired electric plant. We first noticed this small (but important) project back in June (see Dominion Pipeline to Feed Western PA NatGas to OH Power Plant). Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final approval for the project.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | |

SWPA County Political Leaders Voice Support for Petchem, Shale

In a speech delivered October 31 to the P4 Climate Action Summit in downtown Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto declared his hatred for the petrochemical industry. He doesn’t want any more Shell crackers junking up his regional backyard. The highly negative reaction to Peduto’s idiotic (and pandering) remarks was swift. What petchem company wants to build in a region where the mayor of its largest city is trash talking the industry? In a bid to counter Peduto’s economically damaging remarks, some 20 county officials from Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Washington and Westmoreland counties issued a joint statement on Wednesday to show their support for the petrochemical and shale industries in the region.
Continue reading

| | | | |

PennEnergy Sells 4 Well Pads, Multiple Wells to GeoPetro in W PA

Here is what we believe to be an exclusive: In June, PennEnergy Resources sold/transferred four well pads (with multiple wells) located in Butler and Lawrence counties in western PA to Geopetro LLC. We have the names of the well pads and proof of the transfer. We’ve not seen this news anywhere else.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | |

Dominion Pipeline to Feed Western PA NatGas to OH Power Plant

We’re always delighted to share news of a “new” pipeline project in the Marcellus/Utica. This particular project from Dominion Energy, tiny compared to most, its unusual in that it will flow natural gas from western PA into Ohio to feed a new natural gas-fired electric plant. You don’t often see gas from PA flow to Ohio for local use. Kind of a “man bites dog” story.
Continue reading

| | | | |

Man Killed in Accident at Hilcorp Well Pad in Lawrence County, PA

An Indiana County, PA man was working at a Hilcorp drill pad in North Beaver Township (Lawrence County), PA, helping to load “large sections of steel pipeline and drilling equipment” onto a truck when the load became unstable and a large pipe fell from the truck and struck/killed the man. Leonard Clair Long, Jr., 60 years old, died at the scene. He worked for Hilcorp subcontractor Ziegenfuss Drilling.
Continue reading

| | |

Do PA Landowners Retain Mineral Rights When Selling Land to State?

In 1990 a landowner freely sold (rather than have taken by eminent domain) land in Lawrence County to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for a new highway project. In 2012 the landowner filed a lawsuit claiming when selling the land, she did not sell the mineral rights. She wants to lease under the property for shale drilling. Yesterday Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania denied her request.
Continue reading

| | |

Huge Pieces of Hickory Run Power Plant Arrive in Port of Erie

Calypso Sal – the ship delivering Hickory Run parts at Port of Erie

In February 2013 MDN told you about a plan to build the Hickory Run Energy Center–a $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site in New Castle (Lawrence County), PA (see NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant). Original plans called for Hickory Run to be online and operating sometime in 2016. That never happened and the project seemed to have died. But then the project got sold by LS Power, the original owner, to a subsidiary of Japan’s second largest corporation, ITOCHU Corporation. And new life was breathed into the project. The initial design called for a 900 megawatt facility, powered by Marcellus gas. More recent plans indicate the facility will be 1,000 megawatts (or 1 gigawatt), enough electricity to power 1 million homes! Ground was broken for Hickory Run last year (see Ground Broken for Lawrence County, PA NatGas-Fired Electric Plant?). Fast forward to this year. A massive load of components for the plant arrived by ship at the Port of Erie on Sunday. It is by far the largest ship to dock at the port in the last five years. Aboard the ship are more than 13 million tons of components and parts destined for the plant. Special permits and trucks will be required to get the equipment on location some 100 miles away in New Castle…
Continue reading

| | |

Flaring Marcellus Wells in SWPA Light Up Night Sky, 911 Called

Residents in western Lawrence County, PA had a bit of a scare when they noticed a red glow in the sky Saturday night. They took to social media to speculate what it might be. Some called 911 to report what may be a big fire. Turns out it was flaring from a couple of Hilcorp Energy Marcellus Shale wells. The wells are already drilled and producing, so why did they flare? Flaring–or burning of natural gas at the wellhead, is a safety precaution to prevent explosions from too much pressure in the well. A Hilcorp rep said what likely happened is that compressors that compress and send the gas down the pipeline sometimes get moisture in them, and with the freezing cold temperatures, that moisture can freeze and lock up the compressors. Instead of gas building up to dangerous pressures because it can’t flow on down the pipe, the automatic flaring mechanism kicked in to burn off some of the gas–creating the red glow in the night sky. It’s good to see technology–especially safety technology–working as designed…
Continue reading

| | |

Siemens Providing Turbines, $$ for 1 GW Hickory Run Power Plant

The picture shows the assembly of the SGT5-8000H at the gas turbine plant in Berlin.

In February 2013 MDN first told you about a plan to build the Hickory Run Energy Center–a $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site along the Mahoning River in Lawrence County, PA (see NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant). The initial design called for a 900 megawatt facility, powered by Marcellus gas. More recent plans indicate the facility will be 1,000 megawatts (or 1 gigawatt)–enough electricity to power 1 million homes! In August we shared the exciting news that one publication was reporting ground has been broken for the facility (see Ground Broken for Lawrence County, PA NatGas-Fired Electric Plant?). Whether bulldozers are pushing dirt or not, activity around the project continues at a brisk pace. German engineering giant Siemens announced on Monday that they have been awarded a contract to provide the guts for the plant–two H-class gas turbines, one steam turbine and three generators–along with a long-term service contract. Siemens also revealed they’ve made an unspecified (large) investment in the project and will own 20% of it. Here’s the good news that the Hickory Run Energy Center will get some Siemens love…
Continue reading