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Small Explosion/Fire at P&G Well Pad in NEPA, No Injuries/Damage

P&GNot much to report on this, thankfully. MDN has told you in the past one of the most under-appreciated stories we know of is that the only Proctor & Gamble manufacturing plant out of their 150 plants worldwide that is 100% energy self-sufficient is a plant in Wyoming County, PA–near Wilkes-Barre in northeast Pennsylvania (see P&G’s Only Energy Self-Sufficient Plant is Powered by Marcellus). The plant uses Marcellus Shale gas from wells drilled on plant property to power an electric generator that supplies all of the electricity the plant needs–with some left over to sell to the local utility grid. How cool is that? The company, using Warren Resources, continues to drill more wells on the property. One of those operations, as it was nearing completion, accidentally vented a small amount of natural gas that ignited and caused a small explosion yesterday…
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PA Court Rules to Allow More Leasing/Drilling of State-Owned Land

In a crushing blow to the litigious anti-drilling group Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF), the PA Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday against the PEDF’s lawsuit that attempts to stop all drilling and leasing of state-owned lands for oil and gas drilling. The court said a) such drilling is just fine and b) the decision of whether or not to allow drilling on state-owned lands (and which parcels) rests with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The court further said that the General Assembly can decide how the monies received from leasing and production royalties will be spent–even as part of the general budget (former Gov. Ed Rendell leased hundreds of thousands of acres so he could use the money to prop up his failing budgets). It was a clean sweep. The PEDF lost all of their points in the lawsuit. The downer is that incoming Gov. Tom Wolf has said he won’t lease any more state lands for drilling…
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Reporter Falls for Delaware Riverkeeper Anti-Pipeline Bamboozle

THE Delaware Riverkeeper and anti-driller, Maya van Rossum, continues her bamboozling ways. van Rossum finds conspiracy and evil intent behind every new pipeline project (or shale well) she hears about–and she’s only too glad to spread FUD–fear, uncertainty and doubt–about every announced project. The latest “angle” by van Rossum is to say when a huge pipeline company like Williams plans expansions to its largest pipeline system, the mighty Transco (10,200 miles of interstate pipelines), if Williams doesn’t combine all of those expansions in different geographic locations into one big, massive project, they’re trying to hide something. They’re trying to game the system. They’re trying to downplay the so-called environmental impacts all of those projects collectively will have on Precious Mother Earth. It’s just more fast talking by van Rossum…
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The Beginning of the End of NY’s Frack Ban: Jan 5, 2015

beginning of the endIt’s a wrap. MDN predicts one day we’ll look back on January 5 and the pro-drilling rally hosted by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York as the date when landowners and those of us who support shale drilling fully committed ourselves to ending Andrew Cuomo’s frack ban in New York State. We will one day look back and say, “It all started there, on that date–our eventual victory.” Landowners now understand they cannot be silent, they cannot depend on lawsuits alone, to change the situation in New York. Landowners, union members and even those without land but who support drilling were at the rally in huge numbers, they were mad and they expressed their willingness to fight to protect our Constitutional property rights. Make no mistake, it will be a fight. MDN previously wrote up our impressions of the meeting (see NY Rally Fires Up Landowners to Fight Cuomo Frack Ban). Below we have a recap of this seminal event from the JLCNY, along with links to news stories about the event, in case you were not able to attend. This is where the beginning of the end of New York’s frack ban began…
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9 Anti-Drilling Groups Sue EPA Hoping to Damage the O&G Industry

Here we go again. In what has been a tried-and-true formula for success for anti-drillers, a group of nine far-left anti-drilling “environmental” organizations have sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claiming the agency doesn’t require the oil and gas industry to spend big bucks to fill out reams of paperwork to prove it’s not polluting Precious Mother Earth with nasty chemicals. The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Integrity Project, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Effective Government, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), the Clean Air Council, THE Delaware Riverkeeper Network (i.e. Maya van Rossum), the Responsible Drilling Alliance, and Texas Campaign for the Environment. The lawsuit by the litigious gang of nine will provide cover and an excuse for the EPA. What happens next is easy to predict. The EPA actually WANTS this lawsuit. They send a junior lawyer to defend themselves in the case, intentionally lose the case, and the court orders the EPA to start doing something they are not otherwise legally empowered by current law to do. That is, a liberal judge just created a new law that the EPA is then only too happy to follow. That’s how this sleaze tactic works…
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Sen Inhofe Takes Helm of EPW, Targets EPA, Endangered Species Act

happy dance - SnoopyThe cavalry has just arrived! Very good news: U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican from the great state of Oklahoma, will be the new chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). Top on Inhofe’s agenda is to reign in an out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency, and clamp down on the nonsense and abuse of the Endangered Species Act. Both of those things, plus others (like beating back an effort to redefine “waters of the United States” to include everything but mud puddles), will benefit the shale drilling industry in the northeast and beyond. At MDN HQ we’re doing the happy dance that Inhofe is at the helm of the EPW! Here’s the announcement, which sets out Inhofe’s focus and agenda…
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Marcellus/Utica Lead in New Record High Production for Dec 2014

Bentek Energy, a division of Platts, is fresh out with its estimate of natural gas production numbers for December 2014 (official numbers from the EIA won’t be out for another two months). Bentek estimates December production was 72.8 billion cubic feet per day on average–a new all-time high record. And guess which shale plays led the pack? Yep–the Marcellus and Utica Shale region “continues to lead the growth in natural gas production” according to Bentek. Here’s the numbers from one of the premier analytics services in the world…
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Eureka Hunter Nears 1/2 Billion Cubic Feet per Day in WV/OH

Magnum Hunter announced yesterday that its pipeline/midstream subsidiary Eureka Hunter has set a new record. Eureka pumped more than 400,000 million Btus per day (MMBtu/d) in West Virginia and Ohio by the end of December, and they expect to be pumping more than 500K MMBtus by the end of this month. A half million MMBtus works out to be roughly half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day…
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Reminder: Enter to Win $25K Prize in Shale Gas Innovation Contest

Attention small businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs in Pennsylvania or West Virginia. If you have a new product or service that serves the shale energy space, submit your application (FREE to enter!) for the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center’s 4th Annual Shale Gas Innovation Contest before the February 1, 2015 deadline. If you do, you’ll be in the running to receive a $25,000 prize. Four such prizes are awarded each year. What are you waiting for?! Details…
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Primoris to Install Pipeline in NEPA

Primoris Services Corporation, a pipeline building company based in Dallas, TX, announced yesterday they’ve landed two small contracts in the Marcellus Shale with “major midstream operators.” One project is for 2.5 miles of 24-inch pipeline and the other for 1.1 miles of 12-inch pipeline and 2.3 miles of 24-inch pipeline–both projects in northeast Pennsylvania. In addition, Primoris landed a contract to install 88.6 miles of 36-inch crude oil pipeline in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale play…
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