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Guest Post: HB 1391 Will Restore What Bradford Landowners are Owed

guest postLast Friday MDN ran a guest post from an executive who works for a Pennsylvania exploration and production company (E&P, what we call a “driller” here on MDN). In the post, titled Why PA HB 1391 Bill is Bad for the Marcellus, MDN invited those with an opposing view to send us a guest post on the other side of the issue. A landowner from Bradford County has done just that (read it below). We also include a recent AP article highlighting other landowners in Bradford who have been wronged by Chesapeake Energy (according to the landowners interviewed). With the highest amount of respect to the Bradford landowner writing the guest post, we must point out that in a way his post “makes the case” for the industry’s view as posted last Friday, a case *against* HB 1391. How?…
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PennEast Tweaks Pipeline Route in 26 PA, 7 NJ Locations

penneastContrary to irrational fossil fuel haters and the lies they spread about pipeline companies, those companies do listen and work with local communities and individual landowners to tweak the route of a proposed pipeline in an effort to minimize impacts. Case in point: PennEast Pipeline is a $1 billion, 118-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will get built from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. It’s being vigorously opposed by anti-drillers including THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the Sierra Clubbers and others. Last Friday PennEast filed 33 changes to the proposed route with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to accommodate landowners and communities. This is how adults behave, unlike the childish, petulant, spoiled children who run organizations like Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club. PennEast listened, reflected, and changed. The response from the antis? “You can’t build it. CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T.” There is no reasoning with people who are un-reasonable. Here’s a description of the changes PennEast made to the route through PA and NJ…
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Militant Enviros Turn Ugly at Trump Protest Following Speech

protesters_duquesne_club
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MDN editor Jim Willis attended the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight conference last Wednesday and Thursday in Pittsburgh (see Highlights from 2016 Shale Insight, Day One and Highlights from 2016 Shale Insight, Day Two – Trump!). We had heard, via media reports, that protesters would be present to try and disrupt The Donald’s talk on Day Two of the event (last Thursday). But we didn’t hear or see anything–at least during the conference. Trump’s keynote address was the closing talk at the conference. After he finished speaking, Jim made a beeline back to the MDN booth to get started packing it away since the conference was essentially over (officially ended at 1 pm). After shipping the booth and returning to the place where Jim was staying, he decided to change and, being a fantastically sunny and warm day, head several blocks away to a Starbucks for latte and to sit and get some work done on stories for last Friday. Literally around the corner from where Jim was staying, on Sixth Avenue in Pittsburgh, is an exclusive members-only club called The Duquesne Club. In walking past the club Jim noticed a large police presence, along with a remnants of what looked like the usual suspects he sees at protest rallies–a mix of college kids and old hippies with long gray hair tied back in a pony tails. Jim also saw PA House Speaker Mike Turzai walking on the sidewalk in front of the Club. So he wondered if perchance The Donald had gone to the club for lunch following his speech. Sure enough, in checking the news, Trump held a fundraising dinner at the Club immediately following his speech at Shale Insight. Since the protesters weren’t even noticed (by the press) at the mammoth David L Lawrence Convention Center where Trump spoke, they figured they would get noticed if they jammed the street in front of The Duquesne Club instead. And sure enough, it worked. Police were there in riot gear, and it’s a good thing, because some of the protesters were borderline violent–threatening to break into the private club…
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PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8

Scott Perry, PA DEP
Scott Perry, PA DEP

Some important news came out of a session held last week at the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight event. During one of the sessions, Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Deputy Secretary of the DEP’s Office of Oil and Gas Management, Scott Perry, said that the very long awaited new Chapter 78a shale drilling rules will go into effect on Oct. 8th. You may recall the last time MDN covered the issue, in August, there was some controversy and question over whether or not the final new rules would get published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin (see New PA Drilling Regs Closer to Reality, Questions Remain). We can now lay that question to rest. On Oct. 8, according to Perry, the rules as they are (no further tweaks) will get published and then, immediately, become law…
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EIA: Utica Shale Turned Out to be a NatGas (Instead of Oil) Play

EIAWhen Aubrey McClendon first trumpeted his find in the Ohio Utica Shale, he famously said the Utica Shale could be worth $500 billion, and the “biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow.” Not quite as famous, but on the same day at the same event, McClendon also said the Utica “is likely most analogous, but economically superior to, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.” That one turned heads and got tongues flapping. McClendon made those remarks five years ago this month at the Ohio Governor’s 21st Century Energy & Economic Summit in Columbus, OH. The reason Aubrey was so excited was because of the oil potential in the Utica. But fate is a funny thing. As it turns out, it is natural gas that’s turned out to be the big story in the Utica. Last Friday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published an article that chronicles the development of the Utica and illustrates, with charts and graphs, how the Utica has turned out to be a gas rather than an oil play–at least so far…
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NY NatGas-Fired Electric Plant an Inside Job for Corrupt Cuomo Aide

bribery.jpgU.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is about to claim another high-level scalp in corruption that seems to pervade New York State. Bharara has already brought cases that convicted both the Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver (a Democrat) and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (a Republican) for corruption and bribes. With each case Bharara gets closer to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Last week he got REALLY close. A former close Cuomo aide was indicted on bribery charges. The unfortunate aspect of this story is that he was bribed in connection with a project MDN has lent moral support to–a $900 million natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Orange County, NY (see Orange County, NY Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant OK’d by Judge). The power plant is being opposed by local anti-drilling ninny nannies, including Hollywood star James Cromwell. Yeah, that plant. According to charges filed by Bharara, Joseph Percoco, a 47-year-old former executive deputy secretary to Cuomo sought and got $280,000 in bribes from Competitive Power Ventures, the company building the power plant, and Percoco’s wife got a $90,000/year job from CPV to do nothing, all connected to getting the project approved and built. Crony capitalism is always disgusting–whether it’s for a good cause or not. The CPV plant planned for Orange County will be fed by Marcellus Shale gas, piped to it via the Millennium Pipeline. Is that project now in doubt?…
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$1.1B Utica-Powered Electric Plant in Columbiana Gets State Approval

approvedNatural gas-fired electric plants are a really big deal throughout the Marcellus/Utica region. Each time one of these plants gets built, it injects upward of $1 billion (or more) into the local and regional economy, creates 500 or more temporary jobs and 25-30 permanent jobs. And the gas it uses…oy vey! They are an important new customer for the abundant supplies of natural gas we have. So it’s a big deal when a new plant gets announced, and then, when that plant gets officially approved. Last October (nearly a year ago now) Advanced Power Services announced they want to build a second mega-electric generating plant that taps into and uses Ohio’s Utica Shale. The new plant will generate a whopping 1,100 megawatts of electricity and be located in Columbiana County, OH (see New $1.1B Utica-Powered Electric Plant Coming to Columbiana County). Good news: the Ohio Power Siting Board has given the project its blessing. Construction will begin in January 2017…
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Ohio Appeals Court: NEXUS Can Enter Private Property for Surveys

Gavel-falling.jpgOhio’s Ninth District Court of Appeals has upheld the right of NEXUS Gas Transmission to enter onto private land in order to conduct surveys for a potential pipeline route. Ohio’s Sixth District Court previously made a similar ruing in favor of NEXUS. Top energy law firm Bricker & Eckler argued for NEXUS in both cases and turns in the following report:
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Sep 26, 2016

best of the restThe “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Utica Shale decline curves 2014 to 2016; Permian gas output remains high; Trump promises $50 trillion energy economic stimulus; Kinder Mogan’s biggest failure; trends in midstream M&A; why Japan’s LNG demand will increase; and more!
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