PA Gov Wolf’s High Tax Budget Goes Down to Defeat – 9 Dems Against
In the end, it was PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s own Democrat Party House members that sunk his latest high tax budget proposal. Nine Dems voted against the Wolf budget, showing bipartisan support for defeating Wolf’s high taxes, including lack of support for a high severance tax. Every single Republican, even the RINOs, voted against Wolf’s unpopular budget proposal. Trying to spin his humiliating defeat as some sort of plus, Wolf said he was “encouraged” that “so many Democrats” actually voted yes for his budget. Talk about chutzpah. Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, has some big cojones–he equated Wolf with a thug trying to mug somebody, taking all of their money at gunpoint. Wow! It’s about time there was some frank talk about the bully Wolf has become in ten short months–and some push-back against it. Time for Republicans to pass a budget and get a few of those Dems to go along and override a Wolf veto. Time to govern without Wolf if he refuses to do his job…
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Don’t look now but Utica/Marcellus condensate being produced at a MarkWest Energy processing plant in Cadiz, OH is being exported out of the country via a ship docked on the Hudson River at Perth Amboy, New Jersey–just across the river from Manhattan! The condensate is transported to NJ via railroad in specially designed rail cars. A second ship is being loaded up and will leave with Utica/Marcellus condensate from MarkWest, according to the Reuters story below. The first ship loaded with condensate left Perth Amboy one month ago heading to the Netherlands. No word yet on where the second load is heading, but sources say exporting condensate from Perth Amboy is now set up to become a routine thing, which is fantastic news for drillers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia that produce condensate…
Oilfield service giant Baker Hughes released their venerable monthly rotary rig count report yesterday for September 2015. After posting gains in the overall land-based U.S. rig count number for two straight months in July and August, the September numbers dropped like a rock. September U.S. active land-based rigs averaged 848, down 35 from the average of 883 in August and down 18 from July’s average of 866. Rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica also continued to drop, showing another four rigs were idled during September across the combined PA/OH/WV. It’s getting bloody out there…
On Tuesday a Medina County, OH judge ruled that the NEXUS pipeline does have a right to enter private land to survey it for possible routes for the pipeline. The judge said Ohio laws allow private companies to survey land for eventual appropriation (including eminent domain) as long as the company can prove it is an energy or utility company. The judge said the law is quite clear on that point–plain and simple to understand. The judge’s decision didn’t sit too well with the CORNballs of CORN (Coalition to Reroute Nexus pipeline). We’ve written plenty about CORN and their effort to “reroute” the NEXUS (
One of the arguments sometimes trotted out by anti-drillers is that heavy trucks lumbering up and down rural roads will destroy them. And indeed, sometimes it does–when the road is old or not constructed to handle heavy truck traffic. Typically drillers will repair the roads to better-than-new condition–we’ve seen it in some PA counties. But here’s something you don’t often hear: Gulfport Energy is about to spend $8 million on road repairs to roads BEFORE they use them, not after. The repairs will be done over the next six weeks in Belmont County, OH, and it delights Belmont County Commission members. Somebody else footing the bill for rebuilt roads will put a smile on any county commissioner’s face…
Carrizo Oil & Gas CEO S.P. “Chip” Johnson continues to sell off his personal shares of the company’s stock that he leads. On June 1, Johnson sold 24,661 shares of company stock for $1.2 million (see 
The Independent Petroleum Association of American (IPAA) held their San Francisco Oil and Gas Investment Symposium on Monday. Among the speakers was J. Russell Porter, president and CEO of Utica Shale driller Gastar Exploration. Porter gave his thoughts on the Marcellus/Utica, wet and dry gas, and what’s ahead for his company…
California company Capstone Turbine Corporation, on the left coast, continues to land new sales in the Marcellus/Utica region. We first told you about Capstone selling their microturbine energy systems in 2014 (see 
In September MDN told you that the 711-mile ET Rover Pipeline, costing an estimated $3.7 billion to build, had awarded a contract to an Ohio company to build 39 compressor stations (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: 50 Bcf of natgas in 3 years; Marcellus/Utica could unleash up to 10 Bcf/d; millennials prep for o&g jobs; out-of-staters behind Youngstown frack ban measure; PA Supreme Court hears 2 natgas cases; Incredibly [Stupid] Hulk goes to Harrisburg to demand frack ban; hunting for natgas in north Georgia; ETE/Williams selling assets in Florida; oil prices heading higher; whatever happened to peak oil?; and more!