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PA Supremes Reject Effort to Block Apex Shale Drilling in Penn Twp

Last November the judges in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court issued a ruling in favor of Penn Township (Westmoreland County) granting “special exception” permits to Apex Energy, allowing them to drill four shale wells (see Anti Group Loses Penn Twp Frack Ban Case in PA Commonwealth Court). Anti fossil fuelers, backed by Big Green lawyers, appealed the decision to the PA Supreme Court. Yesterday the Supremes denied the appeal, meaning it’s A.O.K. for Apex to begin drilling in Penn Township.
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Gov. Wolf Holds Hiking Trail Hostage – Won’t Reopen w/o Sev. Tax

Pennsylvania’s worst governor in a generation, Tom Wolf, continues his Santa Claus routine. Only this time with a twist…he’s become Bad Santa. Wolf has traipsed around the state for the past few months touting his so-called Restore PA program–a program that will fund all sorts of projects around the state–to the tune of a massive $4.5 billion. However, the only revenue source Wolf will consider to fund his Santa Claus giveaways is a Marcellus-killing severance tax.
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Antis Try Last Desperate Attempt to Block Mass. Compressor Station

Anti-fossil fuel kooks in Massachusetts are desperate to block a federally (and state) approved compressor station from getting built in Weymouth, MA. Antis have one remaining, way-outside chance of blocking the project: Bully the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) into reversing the permit it has already issued for the project.
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Columbia Pipeline Shareholders Sue re 2016 Sale to TransCanada

TransCanada Corporation, which renamed itself TC Energy earlier this year, made a play for and bought out/merged in U.S.-based Columbia Pipeline Group in 2016 (see TransCanada and Columbia Pipeline Tie the Knot Today). TransCanada paid $13 billion for Columbia, including assumption of $2.8 billion of debt. Columbia has major pipeline operations throughout the Marcellus/Utica region.
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PA First Responders: Apply for $6K Act 13 Grants…NOW

Ever notice the tagline under the MDN logo? It says: “Helping People & Businesses Profit from Northeast Shale Drilling.” Not mentioned are non-profits, but even non-profits can “profit” from shale drilling. How? By applying for grants awarded either by the industry itself (drillers, pipeline and utility companies), or, in this case, by applying for grants from the PA state government.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, May 22, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Passman leaves post as SVP of operations at CNX Resources; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Texas toughens laws against pipeline protesters; Oklahoma quake shuts down three injection wells; NATIONAL: Dallas Fed: Shale gains bring U.S. oil breakeven price down to $50 a barrel; ‘Earthworm dilemma’ has climate scientists racing to keep up; The Green New Deal’s bad science (video); INTERNATIONAL: Sempra Energy strikes deal to sell liquefied natural gas to Saudi Arabia.
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