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Obama Report “Praises” Fracking Ahead of Ominous EPA Carbon Rules

kick in the groinEvery body hold your breath–literally. And get ready to turn the lights out or be forced into rolling blackouts. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to release guidelines for how much carbon you exhale and in the process assassinate states rights. That will happen with the release, on June 2, of new EPA “guidelines” (i.e. jackbooted regulations) for how much carbon (the stuff you breathe out with every breath) can be emitted from electric generating power plants. The new rules are expected to harm–perhaps mortally–states like Pennsylvania, the second largest electric generator in the country…
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Pivotal Court Date Next Week for Future of NY Fracking

Next week will prove to be one of the most important weeks in the entire debate over whether or not fracking will ever come, in a significant fashion, to New York State. MDN editor Jim Willis is often asked, “When will New York see fracking begin?” Our answer for the past year-and-a-half has been the same: When the Dryden/Middlefield town ban cases are finally decided. Next Tuesday oral arguments in those twin (and joined) cases will be heard in Albany…
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DOE Changes Way They Evaluate/Approve LNG Export Facilities

The news came fast and furious yesterday from various quarters of the Obama administration. Almost lost in the shuffle was a major announcement from the Ernest “Hair” Moniz’s Dept. of Energy. The DOE plays a major role in deciding which (or whether) a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility is allowed to be built. Since 2010 some 25 LNG export facilities have been proposed, seeking DOE approval. How many have been approved? Precisely one–a new facility by Cheniere Energy for a facility along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast…
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Curious: Everyone’s Happy with WV Ban on Imported Drilling Sludge

Earlier this week MDN told you that a couple of containers with drilling sludge (mud, leftover rock and dirt) from Range Resources containing low levels of radioactivity were sent to a landfill in Bridgeport, WV for disposal (see Range Radioactive Containers Sent to WV for Disposal). The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection caught wind of it and has banned any further out-of-state shipments of drilling sludge from disposal in WV…
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StateImpact PA Claims Another Scalp for their Anti-Drilling Wall

scalpingEarlier this month MDN told you about the anti-drilling advocacy organization pretending to be a news organization, StateImpact Pennsylvania, and their crowing over their efforts to get a law firm to withdraw from representing Sunoco Logsitics and their Mariner East Pipeline project (see PA Reporter Gets Law Firm to Withdraw from Sunoco Pipeline Case). StateImpact is back with a new scalp to add to their collection. They’ve just cowed the chairman of the PA Public Utilities Commission, Rob Powelson, into resigning from the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team–a Chamber of Commerce organization aimed at promoting business and all forms of energy in the state…
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Marcellus Supply Chain Success Story: Universal Well Services

There is an inescapable fact in business: those who take risks are the ones who get the rewards. A corollary is this: Those who take the biggest risks get the biggest rewards. And so it is for Meadville (Crawford County), PA company Universal Well Services, a company that specializes in pressure-pumping wells, cementing well pads and other well services. Ten years ago Universal’s business was 100% servicing the needs of conventional oil and gas drillers. The company decided to take a leap of faith–they temporarily suspended their work for conventional drillers and instead worked on a single Marcellus Shale (unconventional/shale) project. It was a huge risk for a relatively small company…
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Girard City Council Approves Pipeline Easement for Halcon

Girard City (Trumbull County), OH Council members made a smart move. Earlier this month the Girard City Council voted to approve a right-of-way agreement that allows a natural gas transmission line to run through part of the Girard Lakes property. The 14-mile pipeline will service and run from Hilcorp Utica wells near Vienna to a fuel depot near Lordstown. Why was it a smart move?…
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PEC Slams Bill Separating PA Conventional/Unconventional Regs

Earlier this month MDN told you that three Pennsylvania state senators would soon introduce new legislation to separate regulations for oil and gas drilling between conventional/vertical only and unconventional/shale (see New PA Bill Would Separate Conventional/Unconventional Regulations). The new legislation was introduced, as Senate Bill 1378. At the time we said we believe the bill has good intentions, but we’re kind of skeptical. So MDN found it unusual (and somewhat distressing) that the anti-drilling Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is on the same side we’re on!…
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