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PA Drilling Permit Requests Way Down After Huge Fee Increase

Leftists, like Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, always have to learn lessons the hard way. In August, Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finalized and put into effect a massive increase in the permit fee to drill new shale wells, going from $5,000 per well to $12,500 (see Permit Fee to Drill PA Shale Well Officially Went Up 250% on Aug 1). The fee was based on the assumption the state would continue to see 2,000 new permit applications per year. From August to November the state received (drum roll please)…202 new permit requests. A total BUST.
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Weymouth, MA Compressor Station Slight Delay in Startup – Now Jan.

Two weeks ago MDN reported that Enbridge, builder of the Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station, said the compressor would come online Dec. 4 (see Weymouth, MA Compressor Station Starts Up on Friday, Dec. 4). That didn’t happen. Enbridge now says the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) still needs to lift last-minute restrictions, and that won’t happen until early next year–sometime in January.
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VNG Files Revised Pipeline Expansion Project for NE Virginia

The northern part of the Header Improvement Project (click for larger version)

That didn’t take long. Last week we told you that the Virginia State Corporation Commission dismissed a request to approve a $346 million pipeline project in northeastern Virginia called the Header Improvement Project (see State Board Rejects $346M Pipeline Expansion Project in NE Va.). Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), the builder, has already filed a revised and scaled-down plan to build a similar project instead.
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Va. Approves Tiny Gas-Fired Plant for Shipyard, Antis Claim Racism

Anti-fossil fuelers have a new favorite lie to tell: Any kind of power plant or pipeline that uses natural gas is racist. It’s a sick and twisted lie, but that’s the line they now use. For example, the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board recently approved a permit for the construction of a new 17-megawatt natural gas power plant to power the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. Environuts are hollering it’s racist.
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PA DEP Proposes Changes to Ch. 105 Water Permits

In Pennsylvania, there are two permits required by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for nearly every shale well drilling project: A Chapter 102 (erosion and sediment control) and a Chapter 105 (water obstructions and encroachments). The DEP has proposed and is seeking comments on wide-ranging amendments to its Chapter 105 regulations.
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WVU Co-Authors Study Using CO2 to Extract More Oil/Gas from Shale

The story of the Marcellus/Utica is a story of natural gas. At least, mostly. We focus almost exclusively on natgas production here on MDN. But there is another story in the M-U, and that’s shale oil. More oil is produced in the Ohio Utica than in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Marcellus, but all three states produce at least some oil from their shale plays. We spotted a new report about the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its use in “enhanced oil recovery” or EOR. The report covers (in part) the Marcellus region and was co-authored by researchers at West Virginia University.
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 17, 2020

NATIONAL: U.S. liquefied natural gas exports set a record in November; Centrist group urges Biden to strike bargain on gas as part of clean energy grid; Downhole drilling player expands U.S. footprint; INTERNATIONAL: ‘There is hardly any gas’: LNG price rally exacerbates gas crunch in Asia.
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