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Seneca Drilling New Utica Well *on* PA State Land in Elk County

This is a “man bites dog” kind of story. Typically when we read about drilling on Pennsylvania state-owned land, the drilling happens on private land adjacent to the state land with the lateral reaching under state land (leased for that purpose). This time we spotted a story about a new well due to be drilled this year in Elk County, PA that sits directly *on* state land, and will reach under private land!
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MVP Work on Streams/Rivers in WV & VA May Restart Soon

Last week the Mountain Valley Pipeline project, being built by Equitrans Midstream, got a boost from the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP). WVDEP has submitted a revised stream/river crossing permit previously rejected by a federal court. The reworked permit means construction will once again resume in some areas where it’s currently stalled, maybe by mid-year.
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Bummer: Trump Won’t Waive Jones Act for Domestic LNG Shipments

Last week we brought you the news that President Trump is considering a waiver to the 1920 Jones Act for LNG to be shipped from port to port in the U.S., even if the ships used are foreign flagged (see Trump Considers Waiving Jones Act to Allow Domestic LNG Shipments). We like the idea because it means we may be able to move more of our Marcellus/Utica gas to New England without using pipelines.
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Full PA House Votes to Restore Sanity to Enviro Regulations

Two weeks ago MDN told you the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee approved a series of five bills that restore some sanity in how environmental regulations are made and paid for in the Keystone State (see PA House Committee Votes to Restore Sanity to Enviro Regulations). The bills begin, in a small way, to take back control of our system of creating laws, returning authority for making laws to the PA legislature, instead of creating and forcing laws on citizens by unelected, nameless, faceless, swamp-dwelling bureaucrats in regulatory agencies–like the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Good news: The full House has passed four of the five bills.
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PA DEP Secretary Reconfirmation Hearing Scheduled for May 8

Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Pat McDonnell will get his day in court, or rather, his day in a reconfirmation hearing–on May 8. We previously wrote about the delay of McDonnell’s reconfirmation hearing (see Philly Gang of Five Win Delay of PA DEP Secretary Reconfirmation). Although there is a small band of leftists from Philly opposed to McDonnell because of his approval of the Mariner East pipeline projects, the delay in his reconfirmation hearing was not because of that.
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The Lunacy of Opposing Coal and Fracking at the Same Time

So-called environmentalists, best typified by the odious Sierra Club, are on a mission to rid the world of its dependency on fossil fuels–coal, oil and natural gas. Most often they object, protest and otherwise hate coal and “fracking”–at the same time. Yet to do so is clinical insanity. Why? Because you need either coal or natural gas to produce steel. Without steel, you don’t have a civilization. No new buildings, no new cars, no new iPhones. Kaput, all of it, without steel. And yet that is exactly what the nutters of the Sierra Club are lobbying for.
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US a Net Exporter of Natural Gas for Past 12 Months and Counting

For the past 12 consecutive months and counting, the United States has been a net exporter of natural gas. That means we sell more gas to other countries than we buy. What a turnaround from just a few years ago! What may surprise you is that the way we export most of our gas is via pipeline–to Canada and Mexico. And what may further surprise you to learn is that our exports to Canada have hit new record highs thanks mostly to two Marcellus/Utica pipelines–Rover and NEXUS.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, May 2, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Appalachian Basin’s methane emissions fall despite increase in gas production; Coalition pushes for natural gas pipeline project; Capitalize on natural gas opportunities; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: McDermott expects Cameron LNG ‘fully online’ by 2020 as timetable slips; Enterprise’s Lumberjack pipeline to expand Haynesville gas takeaway; NATIONAL: One in four U.S. homes is all electric; INTERNATIONAL: US natural gas exports to Europe surge nearly 300%.
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