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Shale Drilling Equipment Manufacturer Lays Off 45 in Altoona

In yet another sign of a slowdown in Marcellus/Utica drilling, a company that manufactures drilling equipment and fracking pumps, Gardner Denver, is laying off 45 employees at its plant located in Tipton, PA (near Altoona). That’s two-thirds of its local workforce. Why? According to a company rep, because of the slowdown in drilling and because of ongoing depressed gas prices.
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U.S. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear MVP Eminent Domain Case

Global warming fundamentalists have struck out yet again. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case appealed from a lower court by a group of Lancaster County landowners who claim Williams and their Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project abused eminent domain authority by building the pipeline before litigating (for years) how much money landowners should receive (see US Supreme Court Rejects Landowner Case Against Atlantic Sunrise). Big Green tried again in July, this time using Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) as their eminent domain test case (see Another Supreme Court “Quick Take” Eminent Domain Case – Using MVP). The Supremes have just declined to hear the MVP case, as they did the Atlantic Sunrise case.
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PennEast Pipe Asks FERC for Help in Overcoming Bad Court Decision

In September MDN brought you news of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruling that disallows PennEast Pipeline from using the delegated power of eminent domain to cross properties either owned by, or with easements granted to, the state of New Jersey (see Federal Court Rules PennEast Pipe Can’t Run Thru NJ State Land). We expressed our concerns that this ruling, which sets a precedent, may result in new pipeline projects in lefty states (like NY, NJ, MD, CA, etc.) getting blocked. Turns out we were not the only ones concerned (see Worst Fears May Come True with PennEast Pipeline Court Decision). PennEast has come up with a novel way to fight back against the court’s bad ruling: Ask FERC for help.
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NFG On Track to Build Northern Access Pipe in NY in 2022/23

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), the utility and midstream giant based in Buffalo, NY, remains committed to building it’s Northern Access Pipeline project, a $500 million project that includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton. Although New York State (under the profoundly corrupt Andrew Cuomo) continues to try and block the project, NFG says they will build it–in the 2022-23 time frame.
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HB 1100 Would Bring Cracker-Type Investment to Northeast PA

In April, Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Turzai, Speaker of the House, and a group of conservative Republicans, announced a plan for the future of PA (see PA Republicans Launch “Energize PA” to Counter Wolf’s “Restore PA”). Called Energize PA, Turzai’s plan, as codified in eight bills he and others introduced, would “make it easier for companies to get environmental permits, encourage development on abandoned industrial sites, and make it cheaper to run natural gas lines to businesses.” One of the eight bills is House Bill (HB) 1100, a bill offering a tax incentive, a reduction in taxes, IF a company builds a new petrochemical plant in the state–particularly in the northeast “dry gas” area of the state.
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I-68 Extension Key to Future WV Shale Development

In April MDN told you about efforts by the Route 2 | I-68 Authority in West Virginia to expand Route 2 to four lanes from Parkersburg, WV to Chester, WV, and to extend Interstate 68 from I-79 near Morgantown, WV westward to WV Route 2 along the Ohio River Valley, some 73 miles (see WV Wants to Extend I-68 Another 73 Miles for Shale Industry). The reason for the $1 billion project? To handle more shale-related traffic. We have some new information about the project.
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More Reckless Accusations that Shale Causes Cancer in SWPA Kids

Here’s how it works for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “reporters” Don Hopey and David Templeton. A group of fellow travelers who hate the fossil fuel (shale) industry as much as they do gather at a small, pre-announced meeting, preferably at a school, and make wild, unsubstantiated, frankly reckless (actionable?) accusations against the “hated” shale drilling industry. Stenographers Hopey and Templeton are there to record it all and share it with the general public. That’s what happened yesterday at meeting in Washington County, PA.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Oct 8, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Delaware River Basin Commission names Kristen Bowman Kavanagh, P.E. deputy executive director; Good water quality reports in one Pennsylvania river basin raise questions about possible fracking ban in another; Long Island liberals wake up to how green extremism hurts constituents; #TobyTalks: EQT CEO updating employees on the 100-day plan; NATIONAL: Opinion: Want to Ban Fracking? Think Again.
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