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CWA v Waste Treatment Corp Wastewater Discharge Lawsuit Settled

lawsuitIn October of last year MDN told you the radical national anti-drilling organization Clean Water Action (CWA) had sued a small Pennsylvania company by the name of Waste Treatment Corporation (WTC) in Warren, PA in federal court claiming the company continued to accept, treat and discharge Marcellus drilling wastewater into the Allegheny River (see CWA Sues/Accuses Waste Treatment Corp of Continued Shale Pollution). WTC was supposed to have stopped that practice two years earlier, in 2011, after then-Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), Michael Krancer, got all such operations to cease and desist. Responses to the CWA lawsuit from both the WTC and the DEP raised more questions than they answered for us (see Waste Treatment, PA DEP Respond to CWA Lawsuit). Since last year, the lawsuit has been quiet–at least publicly. Yesterday CWA announced they’ve reached a settlement of the case with WTC agreeing to immediately stop accepting/discharging Marcellus wastewater (even though they say they don’t), install expensive new equipment over the next 8 months, and then restart accepting Marcellus wastewater processing again…
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PA “Snubbing” Company DWS Experiences Rapid Expansion

What do you think of when you hear the word “snub”? We always thought it meant how Webster defines it: “to treat with contempt or neglect”. However, in the world of oil and gas drilling, to snub, or “snubbing” means something completely different. Deep Well Services (DWS) is the only “snubbing” oilfield services company located in Pennsylvania. With headquarters in Zelienople (Butler County), PA, the company has gone through a rapid expansion adding dozens of new employees over the past four months. So, what is snubbing and why should you care about it?…
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FEMA Discriminates, Won’t Help PA Landowners with Gas Leases

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a reputation as a dysfunctional government agency–deservedly so. They botched the response to folks in need in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina under Pres. George W. Bush, and they botched the response to Hurricane (then “super storm”) Sandy in New Jersey and New York under Pres. Barack Obama. Many folks in New Jersey and New York still aren’t back in their homes or in comparable replacement homes–two years later. Now we learn that FEMA continues their losing streak with a new rule (published in May of this year) that if you’re a landowner with a shale drilling lease and you get flooded–you’re outta luck. FEMA will not grant flood insurance for properties, nor will they purchase flooded properties, that have a drilling lease. Landowners Pete and Sharon Morgan from Meshoppen Township (Wyoming County), PA have learned that the hard way…
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Shell CEO van Beurden Talks on American Shale, Global Warming

Last Friday Shell’s still relatively new CEO, Ben van Beurden, had a sit-down interview with editors and reporters from the Washington Post. You may recall that not long after taking the reigns of Shell (in March 2014) van Beurden announced the company would shed some of its American shale assets (see Cuts Coming to Shell’s Marcellus Shale Operations). Sure enough, they did (see Rex Energy Takes Shell to the Cleaners – Picks up 208K Acres). But a few days later Shell picked up more Marcellus acreage, making our heads spin (see After Selling 208K Marcellus Acres, Shell “Buys” 155K More Acres!). When asked by Post editors about Shell’s stumbling and bumbling in American shale, van Beurden said the company is not abandoning American shale–just being picky and going after “the best of the batch”…
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MSC, PIOGA, Chamber of Commerce Join National LNG Export Coalition

Pennsylvania is blessed with two industry premier trade groups and one premier business trade group that represent the oil the gas industry: the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA), and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce. In an announcement yesterday, all three PA organizations signaled their support for an increase in exports of natural gas by joining a national coalition of groups called Our Energy Moment (OEM). With nearly 50 business and and economic development organizations, OEM raises awareness and (yes) “celebrates” the many benefits of expanded markets for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and exporting U.S. natural gas to our friends around the world…
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EnLink Gets New Top Lawyer, 1st Major Personnel Change Since Merger

Last year midstream company (pipelines & processing plants) Crosstex Energy announced it would merge with the midstream division of Devon Energy. The resulting new company was christened EnLink Midstream (see Crosstex Energy Gets a Name Change, Merger with Devon Proceeds). Both Crosstex and Devon had/have major operations in the Marcellus/Utica–so this was and is an important story for MDN. We further told you that the new EnLink would be retain the Crosstex leadership–and that those leaders have a heart (see A Peek Behind the Curtain of Crosstex/Devon Midstream Marriage). The leaders of the new EnLink vowed not to lay people off–and they didn’t. The new news is that one of those leaders, Joe Davis (executive vice president and general counsel) is now either cashing in his chips and retiring, or cashing out and moving on–we’re not sure which. This is the first major change-up in EnLink’s leadership we’ve spotted since the merger was officially completed in March of this year…
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