A disturbing article by the Associated Press hints that PA Gov. Tom Corbett may be about to cave and endorse a severance tax. Never in our wildest dreams would we believe it–we don’t want to believe it. But Corbett spokeswoman Lynn Lawson has “declined to say if Corbett still rules out an extraction tax” that would be used to meet a budget short-fall, particularly in education…
Read More “Is PA Gov Corbett Considering a Severance Tax?!”
Back in March MDN told you that Doug “the ax” Lawler and his boss corporate raider Carl Icahn had decided to spin off Chesapeake Oilfield Operating (COO), the oilfield division of the company (see Chesapeake Rushes to Spin Off Oilfield Services into New Company). Today Chesapeake reiterated that COO will be spun off by the end of June. Not only that, but Chessy is dumping a bunch of other assets in order to work down their debt…
Read More “Latest Slash and Burn Asset Sales from Chesapeake”
The news keeps rolling in with respect to the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). Yesterday MDN told you about a new grant to the organization (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). Today we know how much the unspecified grant was for, and more importantly, why it was so important. We also have news that after 14 months of existence, the CSSD has it’s very first application for certification…
Read More “Heinz & William Penn Cut Ties with CSSD; 1st Application for Cert”
Once upon a time there was a Kung Fu Panda…er, no, wrong story. Once upon a time there was a Moxie, as in Moxie Energy, that got the bright idea to build an electric generating plant in the middle of the most abundant and cheap natural gas supply in the world–in the Marcellus of Bradford County, PA. They named it Liberty, as in Moxie Liberty. However, Moxie decided to sell their idea (and the authorizations/permits to proceed) to someone else. That’s where the Panda comes in–as in Panda Power Funds (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). The renamed Panda Liberty officially broke ground yesterday on a project that will create 600 jobs and pump an estimated $6 billion into the local economy…
Read More “Panda Liberty Breaks Ground on Bradford, PA Electric Plant”
It’s a pretty simple equation: Jobs = Energy. It also happens to be true. Makes for a great campaign slogan, which is why it was coined and continues to be used by Pennsylvania Tom Corbett. Yesterday Corbett announced another 50 new energy-related jobs are on the way in Blair County (Altoona area), courtesy of a new facility for a manufacturer of commercial service vehicles used in the Marcellus Shale…
Read More “Energy = Jobs in Blair County, PA – 50 New Jobs on the Way”
An unexpected and pleasant surprise: Cabot Oil & Gas and Southwestern Energy are producing so much Marcellus gas in Susquehanna County, PA (northeastern part of the state), they need extra pipeline takeaway capacity. Even with the forthcoming Constitution pipeline (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route), more capacity is still needed. Enter DTE Energy and their Bluestone Pipeline, which is about to get a major expansion…
Read More “Cabot, Southwestern Contract for More Pipeline Capacity in NEPA”
Last September the U.S. Dept. of Energy gave it’s blessing to the Cove Point, MD LNG export facility that Dominion wants to build (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). DOE approval was a major hurdle. A second major hurdle has just been spanned. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (copy below) and found…
Read More “FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment”
Finally, some real scientific inquiry is about to take place in the PA Marcellus. Instead of yesteryear hippies who teach at places like Cornell and “analyze” other people’s data, reading into it whatever they want to (cough Ingraffea/Howarth cough), we’re about to have a groundwater quality monitoring program in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–Lycoming County–and they’re going to use real, in-the-field-measurement science…
Read More “Real Science: Comprehensive Water Study in Lycoming County, PA”
Like an athlete overdosing on steroids to pump up his body mass, the EPA is injecting the Clean Air Act with an equivalent of steroids in order to make itself the regulator of oil and gas in the U.S., countermanding the U.S. Constitution. The latest egregious attempt at a federal takeover comes from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who announced yesterday a “proposed” new rule for air monitoring around “refineries”. The proposed new rule (full copy below) is 813 pages long. You know when it’s 813 pages long, it’s going to cost a lot of people a lot of money…
Read More “EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries”
1st NRG Corporation has been saying since October 2012 they want to drill in the Utica Shale, if only they could get a little investor love (see 1st NRG Corp Newest Entrant in OH Utica Shale). At one point they got a $7 million loan to drill in the Utica and other plays. The Utica part never materialized. But 1st NRG is back with a another press release hawking Utica drilling…
Read More “Latest 1st NRG Corp Press Release – Still Want to Drill the Utica”
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 16, 2014”