PA DEP Releases New Regs re Methane & Air Pollution at Drill Sites
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) unveiled new regulations to clamp down on methane emissions and other other air pollution that allegedly comes from shale drilling sites. The onerous new regulations, not in effect yet (to be published “soon”) are prompted by bullying from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, an agency which is about to get gutted (see Master Stroke: Trump Selects OK AG Pruitt to Lead EPA). That doesn’t stop the Gov. Wolf’s DEP from plowing forward with new rules (copies below). As an interesting aside, MDN editor Jim Willis attended a conference yesterday in New York City where Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, said more methane leaks from the gas lines under New York City each day than from ALL oil and gas drilling activity across the country! Yet the Wolf DEP, with a plank sticking out of its eye (methane leaking like a sieve from major cities), is going after the sawdust in o&g’s eye (tiny bit of methane escapting at well sites). Go figure. To be fair, DEP’s new regs do more than just try to force every last molecule of methane to be “captured” (nasty fugitive molecules causing Mom Earth to toast)–DEP will also go after a reduction in some other types of air pollution, including VOCs (volatile organic compounds). But capturing fugitive methane in a vain attempt to combat mythical man-made global warming is the main thrust of the effort. Once the DEP publishes the new rules in the Pennsylvania Register, the industry (and radical environmentalists) will have 45 days to comment before the new rules magically become unlegislated laws…
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Last week MDN brought you news about Kinder Morgan’s Broad Run Expansion Project will expand transportation capacity of natural gas on the existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system. Antis tried to stop the project, but FERC rejected their pleas (see 
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently commissioned a survey of residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia–so-called “battleground” states that can swing either Democrat or Republican come election-time. The survey found that an average of 80% of the respondents support energy infrastructure spending, by both government and private companies. Which is remarkable. When was the last time you heard of 80% of the American electorate agreeing on anything? This survey takes the wind out of the sails of the “keep it in the ground” movement of fossil fuel haters, like those opposing pipeline projects like NEXUS, Rover, PennEast, Atlantic Coast, Atlantic Sunrise, Mountain Valley, et cetera et cetera. Here’s the results of the NAM survey…
The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, commonly known as the Commonwealth Foundation or CF, is Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank. CF’s mission is simple: Transform free-market ideas into public policies so all Pennsylvanians can flourish. In a recent post on the CF blog site, the organization makes the strong case that although PA’s levy on shale drillers in the state is called an impact “fee”–it’s actually a tax. Quoting the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), the CF post says, “the current impact fee is equivalent to a 6.9% severance tax–higher than severance taxes in Louisiana, Wyoming, and West Virginia.” Here’s what CF has to say about PA’s severance TAX…
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