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Truck Accident Spills 4,200 Gal. of Wastewater in Lycoming County

A truck hauling produced water–naturally occurring water from the depths that continues coming out of a drilled well long after it’s been fracked–overturned and spilled approximately 4,200 gallons of that wastewater. The wastewater, often called “brine” due to its minerally or salty composition, came from Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) shale wells and was being hauled by Stallion Oilfield Services. It spilled on the ground “adjacent” to a “native trout stream” in the Pine Creek area in Lycoming County, PA.
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Price of NatGas Doubles in NEPA – Thanks to Atlantic Sunrise Pipe

The evidence continues to pour in that the addition of Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, a 200-mile greenfield pipeline from northeastern to southeastern PA where it joins the Transco Pipeline, is having a dramatic and ongoing effect on natural gas prices in northeastern PA. As in, the price drillers get for their gas has doubled. Atlantic Sunrise went online in early October (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise for Startup! Pipe Opens Sat. Oct. 6). The main shipper on Atlantic Sunrise is Cabot Oil & Gas. But Cabot isn’t the only shipper, and not the only beneficiary, of higher prices. Seneca Resources and Range Resources are also shipping gas on Atlantic Sunrise, and reaping the price benefits.
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Court Rules on “Diligence” in Locating OH Mineral Rights Owners

How much “diligence” is required when trying to locate the heirs of mineral rights owners in Ohio, as stipulated by the Ohio Dormant Minerals Rights Act (DMA)? That issue was addressed, once again, last week–this time by Ohio’s 7th District Court of Appeals. The DMA requires a surface owner to exercise “reasonable due diligence” to ascertain the names and addresses of mineral holders and their heirs prior to serving notice of abandonment by publication. The question is, what is “reasonable due diligence”? Is there a common standard? The 7th District decided there is no common standard, and what’s reasonable in one case may not be reasonable in another. In other words, it all depends–and is unique in each case.
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Mariner East Defends Itself Before Same Judge Who Once Blocked It

In May of this year, Elizabeth Barnes, an administration law judge for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), unilaterally ordered Sunoco Logistics Partners to “cease and desist all current operation, construction, including drilling activities on the Mariner East 1, 2 and Mariner East 2X pipeline” in West Whiteland Township in Chester County, PA (Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). The judge also shut down all operations of Mariner East 1 across the entire state, ruling that she was “enjoining Respondent from operating Mariner East 1.” It was a breathtaking display of arrogance and seizure of power that does not belong to her. Barnes’ closure of ME1 and ME2 was later overturned by the full PUC (see PA PUC Overrules Lib Judge – Mariner East 1 Returns to Service and PA PUC Allows ME2 Pipeline Work to Restart Near Philly). Last week a ginned up “emergency relief petition” was aired before Barnes. Same deal. Antis want to shut down ALL of the Mariner East projects–permanently. Barnes was the judge hearing the “testimony” of the antis, along with a vigorous defense by Sunoco. Did she learn her lesson the first time?
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Small but Determined Group Wants to Block Ohio Cracker Plant

Last week the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency held an information session (to give out info) along with a public hearing (to accept comments) on the draft air pollution permit for PTT Global Chemical’s proposed ethane cracker plant complex in Belmont County, OH (see Ohio EPA to Hold Air Permit Hearing for PTT Cracker Nov. 27). Some 100 or so people turned up for the hearing, according to media accounts. Perhaps 35 people spoke during the public comment period. There were both supporters and detractors. We suppose we knew there were folks opposed to the project, but this is really the first time we’ve read about an organized effort to stop the project. That effort comes from the usual (irrational) anti-fossil fuel suspects who oppose all drilling, pipelines, and anything else to do with fossil fuels.
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Duke Energy Florida Power Plant Goes Online Using M-U Gas

Duke Energy Crystal River Gas-Fired Plant

Duke Energy issued a press release on Friday to announce that its massive 1,640 megawatt natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Crystal River, Florida (Tampa area) is now “fired up” and operating, churning out enough electricity to power 1.8 million homes in the Sunshine State. The new gas-fired plant replaces several 52-year-old coal-fired units. The super cool news is that some of the gas powering the plant comes from the Marcellus/Utica. Really?! How? First the gas goes south from our region by hitching a ride through the mighty Williams Transcontinental Gas Pipeline (Transco)–all the way to Alabama. Then, the Sabal Trail Pipeline, a 1.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) pipeline, runs more than 500 miles from an interconnect with Transco in west-central Alabama to the Orlando, FL-area.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Dec 3, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: New law allows ODNR to plug more wells; Tompkins County Legislature opposes natural gas at Cayuga Power Plant; U.S. shale production set to surge in 2019; Winter demand offsets NGL fractionation capacity constraints; Natural gas prices at multi-year highs, will demand grow further?; Details of the horrible carbon tax bill; Qatar is pulling out of OPEC; RWE to buy more U.S. LNG as Trump promotes gas in Europe; The physics of extracting gas from shale formations; New rules at Panama Canal expected to boost U.S. LNG industry; Magnetic sun storms could hold the secret to natural gas prices; Global natural gas prices tied to sunspot activity.
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