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Penn State: PA Oil & Gas Drilling Contaminates 0% of Water Wells

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University, using a new testing protocol that uses existing, affordable water chemistry tests, have tested 20,751 water well samples from wells located near high levels of both conventional and shale oil and gas drilling in PA. The tests show whether or not existing/naturally occurring methane is in the water well, or whether methane from nearby drilling is present in the water. Know what they found? Out of 20,751 samples, they found 17 wells (0.08%, less than one-tenth of a single percent) showed “possible signs of methane contamination.” Statistically speaking, it’s zero.
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As Risberg Pipe Nears Finish, $474M Plant Locates in Ashtabula

Credit: Erie Times-News (click for larger version)

The Risberg Line, a 60-mile pipeline from Crawford County, PA to Erie County, PA, and from there across the border into Ashtabula County, OH, began construction in February (see Construction Begins on “Massive” PA to OH Risberg Pipeline). As the project nears completion, Ashtabula is already seeing the benefits. A $474 million pig iron plant is being built in Ashtabula that will use gas from this pipeline to power it. The new plant will use 500 construction workers to build it, and 110 permanent workers to operate it. And this plant is only the beginning for Ashtabula.
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Work Continues to Clear Site for NEPA Landlocked LNG Export Plant

New Fortress Energy is in the process of building the first (of two or more) LNG liquefying plants in Wyalusing, PA–nowhere near a shoreline. The company will truck (eventually rail) the LNG to a port located on the Delaware River along the New Jersey shoreline for export to Puerto Rico and other destinations. As we reported in July, work is now underway to clear the site before actual construction of buildings begins (see Work Begins to Clear Site for NEPA Landlocked LNG Export Plant). The site clearing work has progressed, rather nicely…
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Mass. Regulator Blames Cuomo for Blocking Pipelines to New England

In what we would say is an unusual, very public rebuke of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the former chairperson of the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Utilities says that Cuomo is to blame for a near-emergency situation in New England during the winter of 2017/2018 when the region was within two days of a massive blackout due to lack of electricity. The lack of electricity is because New England doesn’t have enough natural gas to feed power plants during critical load periods.
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Legal Sharks Circle in Class Action Against EQT/Rice 2017 Merger

In June MDN told you that the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Retirement System is not happy with their investment in EQT shares of stock, so they’re suing the company (see Mass. Retirement Fund Sues EQT for Plummeting Stock Price). They hope to turn the lawsuit into a class action on behalf of other shareholders. Now a group of seven law firms (six in addition to the lawyers for Cambridge) are all petitioning the court to make their firm the lead counsel on a class action lawsuit against EQT.
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Blackstone Floats $3B Offer to Buy Rest of Tallgrass Energy

Back in January Tallgrass Energy, builder and operator of the mighty Rockies Express (REX) pipeline which is a critical link that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to Midwestern markets, dropped the bombshell announcement that investment firm Blackstone was buying a “controlling” interest in the company (see Blackstone Buys Controlling Interest in Tallgrass Energy). Blackstone now wants to buy the rest of the shares they don’t already own–and take Tallgrass private.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Aug 28, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: UGI opens CNG fueling station in Wilkes-Barre; West Virginia must embrace potential in petrochemicals; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Sabine Pass LNG berth expansion gets positive FERC environmental review; NATIONAL: Bernie Sanders wants to prosecute oil and natural gas companies, but doesn’t know what laws they violated; Toll of Trump’s trade war starting to show in oil industry; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. glut in natural-gas supply goes global; Mexico reaches deal in natural gas pipelines controversy.
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