Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Appeals Article 78 Case to Higher NY Court
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Yesterday the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) along with several individual landowners filed an appeal in their Article 78 lawsuit that was dismissed by a lower court in Albany County, NY earlier this month. You may recall that the JLCNY sued NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens, and state Health Dept. Commissioner Nirav Shah over their refusal to deliver fracking regulations (see D-Day: JLCNY Files Lawsuit Today Against Cuomo, Martens, Shah). Albany County Supreme Court, a lower level court in New York, said the JLCNY and others who filed the lawsuit had no “standing” to bring the suit (see (see NY Pro-Drillers Lose 2nd Important Shale Drilling Court Case). Not true, according to JLCNY president Dan Fitzsimmons…
Read More “JLCNY Appeals Article 78 Case to Higher NY Court”
Cameron County | Elk County | Energy Companies | Lycoming County | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources

Seneca Resources 3Q14: Drilling Moves Away from Lycoming County
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Seneca Resources, the Marcellus Shale drilling division of midstream and utility company National Fuel Gas headquartered in Buffalo, NY, issued their fiscal third quarter (everyone else’s calendar second quarter) update yesterday. Among the interesting items: Seneca has shifted its focus on new drilling away from Lycoming County, PA (Williamsport area) westward to Elk, McKean and Cameron counties. The shift in focus will remain until Williams completes its recently announced Atlantic Sunrise Expansion pipeline project. Also of note was the increase in Seneca’s production and where it came from…
Read More “Seneca Resources 3Q14: Drilling Moves Away from Lycoming County”
Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range CEO Says Path to Producing 3 Bcf/d in Company Sights
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

By all accounts, Range Resources had a busy second quarter 2014. The company increased production by 21% over the same period last year–to 1.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas–most of it coming from the Marcellus. And that was despite the problems with a MarkWest processing plant going offline from late May to mid-July following a lightening strike (see MarkWest Re-Opens Chartiers, PA Plant, New Plant in OH) and despite unplanned downtime for the Mariner West pipeline which carts Range’s ethane to Canada. Even so, production (and profits) were at record highs for Range in 2Q14…
Read More “Range CEO Says Path to Producing 3 Bcf/d in Company Sights”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EQT’s (Mis)Use of 2013 Royalty Law Creates Forced Pooling
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

A Pittsburgh-based attorney who, it appears (from his byline) sues shale drillers for a living, nevertheless offers up an excellent article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News that helps us understand the ill-advised royalty bill signed into law one year ago this month (see PA Gov Corbett Signs Back-Door Forced Pooling Bill into Law). The bill was meant to help landowners receive better, more transparent information in their royalty statements, but at the last minute a provision was added that allows leased properties to be pooled for horizontal drilling. Immediately after the royalty bill passed, EQT used the eleventh hour provision, called Secton 2.1 of the law, to sue 70 landowners (see Bad News: EQT Sues 70 Landowners Using New PA Forced Pooling Law). As with all things legal, this is complicated, but thanks to the lawyer’s article, we now have a better understanding of it…
Read More “EQT’s (Mis)Use of 2013 Royalty Law Creates Forced Pooling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco | Williams

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Will Get Environmental Impact Statement
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Last week regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced they will perform a full blown environmental impact statement (EIS) on Williams’ proposed $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Expansion pipeline project that will expand the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania in order to feed cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas into a pipeline running to southern states. MDN has a copy of the FERC “Notice of Intent” to conduct an EIS. As part of the review process, FERC will hold four public hearings throughout PA next week to get feedback on the project…
Read More “Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Will Get Environmental Impact Statement”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MSC Releases Annual Workforce Survey: Marcellus Continues to Hum
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Another 2,000 new Marcellus jobs are being added this yes–in 2014–by Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) members according to the latest annual Marcellus Workforce Survey conducted by the MSC. The latest survey (full copy of results below) is increasingly hiring skilled workers in engineering and construction. High-paying skilled jobs accounted for 26.5% of all new hires last year in the Marcellus Shale. And there’s lots more where that came from…
Read More “MSC Releases Annual Workforce Survey: Marcellus Continues to Hum”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research | Wastewater

Partisan GAO Report Says EPA Falling Down with Injection Wells
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

The partisan and biased so-called Government Accountability Office (GAO), populated with liberal activists, issued a 103-page report yesterday telling the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get off it’s rear and get more aggressive about regulating shale wastewater injection wells. The GAO was asked by Congressional Democrats to “review” EPA’s stewardship and oversight of injection wells related to shale drilling and this “report” is the result…
Read More “Partisan GAO Report Says EPA Falling Down with Injection Wells”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Lt Gov Candidate Supports Raiding Drillers for Big Education
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

Democrat Mike Stack, a PA State Senator from Philadelphia, is his party’s nominee for Lt. Governor this fall. Stack has close ties to big education and is a tool of teacher unions who want to raid another industry–shale gas drilling–to feed their addiction to ever-higher salaries while turning in ever-lower education standards for their students. So it’s no surprise that Stack is one of the toadies that introduced legislation to enact a sky-high severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling…
Read More “PA Lt Gov Candidate Supports Raiding Drillers for Big Education”
Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

12 US Companies Commit to Pay Sky High Rates for Renewable Energy
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

The following public announcement is a complete and total exercise in public relations by some of America’s largest companies–not meant to be anything other than a bunch of hot air with no real results. Companies including Mars, Sprint, Walmart, GM and Facebook have allowed their brands and logos to be (ab)used by the WWF (no, not the World Wrestling Federation but the World Wildlife Fund, although they’re very similar) to say “ain’t enough renewable energy out they’a for us all to use, we need more.” Which is, of course, a lark. A sham. A scam. Renewables won’t be able to compete with fossil fuels for at least the next 50 years, maybe 100 years–and efforts to “demand” more of it are just so much hot air…
Read More “12 US Companies Commit to Pay Sky High Rates for Renewable Energy”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jul 29, 2014
July 29, 2014July 29, 2014

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: Tue, Jul 29, 2014”