Industrywide Issues

Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell to Close on PA Cracker Plant Property in “Next Few Months”
May 11, 2015May 11, 2015

Last week we told you a positive sign that the proposed $2-$3 billion ethane cracker plant to be built by Shell in Monaca (Beaver County), PA was the joint information session recently held by the Dept. of Environmental Protection and Shell to discuss an air quality permit the DEP will issue for the project (see Progress: DEP & Shell Hold Info Session on PA Cracker Plant). Here’s yet another very encouraging sign: Horsehead Corporation, which still owns the site Shell would use to build the plant, said in their first quarter update that they expect to close on a sale of the property to Shell “within the next few months”…
Read More “Shell to Close on PA Cracker Plant Property in “Next Few Months””
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

Virginia AG Says Localities Can “Regulate” & “Prohibit” Fracking
May 11, 2015

Apparently Virginia’s Attorney General, Mark Herring, believes every county and town in the Old Dominion is populated with oil and gas experts. How else could he issue an advisory opinion that, in his opinion, every municipality in the state has the authority to regulate and/or prohibit fracking within its jurisdiction? Every other oil and gas producing state, save a bad decision made by New York’s highest court, says oil and gas regulation is solely under the purview of the state–and for good reason. The state employs oil and gas experts who know what they’re doing–what’s safe and what isn’t. How the process works. What pollutes and what doesn’t pollute. But AG Herring has thrown that out the window in Virginia…
Read More “Virginia AG Says Localities Can “Regulate” & “Prohibit” Fracking”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

The Fight to Build the PennEast Pipeline: Arguments For & Against
May 11, 2015May 11, 2015

About a month ago MDN editor Jim Willis granted an interview with Kevin Mooney, on assignment writing for The Daily Signal, a publication of arguably the top conservative think tank in the country–the Heritage Foundation. Kevin wanted to talk about the PennEast Pipeline and the controversy surrounding what should be a straightforward and non-controversial project. These days anything to do with fossil fuels is being opposed by the likes of the Sierra Club and (in the case of the PennEast), regional anti-drilling groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper–a group now being investigated by pro-drillers for possible violations of ethics laws in their dealings with the Delaware River Basin Commission. Kevin not only talked with MDN, he also spoke to Tom Shepstone of the always excellent Natural Gas Now, and Nicole Jacobs from the excellent Energy in Depth–both good friends of MDN’s Jim Willis. Kevin got the other side of the story too–from none other than Maya van Rossum, who is THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself (see Delaware Riverkeeper Gets a French Kiss from Phila. Inquirer). Kevin turns in a well-balanced and useful overview of the fight to build the PennEast. What are the arguments for it, and against it? We bring you Kevin’s article here…
Read More “The Fight to Build the PennEast Pipeline: Arguments For & Against”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines

Ohio Univ to Get New Natgas Pipeline from Columbia Gas This Year
May 11, 2015May 11, 2015

Here’s a fact: So-called “sustainable” forms of energy like solar, wind and geothermal cannot, by themselves, provide all of the electric needs for a huge university like Ohio University, situated on an 1,850 acre campus in Athens, OH. Right now OU uses coal to meet its electric generating needs. They want to replace it with natural gas. But get this, ninny nanny “environmentalists” don’t like that idea. They’d rather have OU continue to burn dirty coal rather than build a pipeline to the campus and have the campus change over to natural gas. Which perfectly illustrates another fact: “environmentalist” opposition to natural gas springs from a twisted ideology and irrational hatred of fossil fuels, rather than concern for the environment or concern for the air people breathe…
Read More “Ohio Univ to Get New Natgas Pipeline from Columbia Gas This Year”
CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

DOE Grants Cove Point LNG Final Approval, Earthjustice Sues
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

We have two big pieces of news to share with you today about the Cove Point, Maryland LNG export facility being built by Dominion. The first is that yesterday, after a years-long process, the Obama Dept. of Energy finally gave Dominion their final stamp of approval to build the facility. Last month we pointed out this last piece of the puzzle still had not fallen into place (see Cove Point LNG Plant STILL Waiting for Final DOE Approval?!). It now has. There is nothing else in the way to stop the project. Except, possibly, a lawsuit–which is the second big piece of news. On Wednesday we told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had finally, this week, responded to a request for a re-hearing on the facility demanded by anti-drilling groups. FERC declined (see FERC Says “No” to Anti’s Request for Cove Point LNG Re-hearing). As we explained on Wednesday, the groups needed an official response from FERC on a re-hearing before they could launch yet another frivolous lawsuit. As we predicted on Wednesday, they’ve now filed a frivolous lawsuit in another last-gasp attempt to stop the Cove Point export facility from becoming reality…
Read More “DOE Grants Cove Point LNG Final Approval, Earthjustice Sues”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Schuyler County | Statewide NY

NY DEC Signals Support for Seneca Lake Propane Storage Project
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

A little good news coming from New York State for a change. The state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has “quietly” given its support to the Crestwood Midstream plan to use a depleted salt cavern along the shores of Seneca Lake to be used as a propane storage facility. We’ve written about this before–about the very safe plan to use it in this manner, and about protesters like Sandra Steingraber who seem to enjoy trips to the county jail for blocking the facility, repeatedly (see Steingraber, 2 Others Sent to Jail for Refusing to Pay Fine). In February an “issues conference” was held before an administrative law judge where testimony was given by both sides–Crestwood Midstream and anti-drillers. The anti-drilling side is being funded by the odious Earthjustice and National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The DEC has sent a brief (full copy below) saying, in essence, (a) those against the project haven’t proven this facility would bring about environmental Armageddon, as they say it would, (b) some of the loonies opposing it don’t even have standing to oppose it, and (c) no more hearings are required. The only continuing reservation we have, and the reason we’re not celebrating just yet, is that the person who will make the ultimate decision is the head of the DEC, the anti-drilling Joe Martens, a man deeply in the pocket of Big Green…
Read More “NY DEC Signals Support for Seneca Lake Propane Storage Project”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Marshall County | Ohio County | West Virginia

Wheeling Non-Profits Sue Chesapeake for Taking O&G with No Lease
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

A group of non-profit organizations in the Wheeling, WV area is suing Chesapeake Energy claiming the company illegally stole oil and natural gas from underneath their property without a valid lease. The Parks System Trust Fund of Wheeling, Ohio Valley Medical Center, Elmhurst House of Friendship, Vance Memorial Presbyterian Church, the Children’s Home of Wheeling and the YWCA are all joint owners of 224 acres bequeathed to them in 1957. The groups say Chesapeake illegally pooled their acreage with others in a local drilling unit and proceeded to extract oil and gas without paying them…
Read More “Wheeling Non-Profits Sue Chesapeake for Taking O&G with No Lease”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Rig Counts Continue Big Decline in April, NE May Have Bottomed
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

The rotary rig count tabulated by Baker Hughes continued to slide in April. The latest monthly rig count report shows another 134 land-based rigs in the U.S. were laid down between March and April. As of April there were 943 active rigs drilling on land in the U.S., down from 1,067 rigs in March. Ouch. What about the Marcellus and Utica region? MDN has done some analysis and we have reason to hope that we may have hit the bottom in the northeast as far as declining rig counts…
Read More “Rig Counts Continue Big Decline in April, NE May Have Bottomed”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Cheer PA Gov Wolf’s New Appointment to Head PUC
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) “balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.” The PUC also greatly affects the state’s shale drilling industry (see Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility and PA PUC Says Impact Fee Payment Calculations Still “Off”). So it was with keen interest that we noticed newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf has appointed a new head of the PUC, Gladys Brown, a true believer in man-made global warming and someone who advocates for so-called energy efficiency (i.e. lock down your thermostat) and reducing carbon emissions (i.e. tax industry into oblivion). We see a coming disaster with Brown at the helm of the PUC. Still glad you elected Wolf? No, we didn’t think so…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Cheer PA Gov Wolf’s New Appointment to Head PUC”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

DRBC Makes a Play to Slow/Block the Penn East Pipeline
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), currently under investigation by pro-drilling groups for its collusion (possibly illegal) with groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, appears to be making a play to block the Penn East Pipeline. The Penn East Pipeline will be 114 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline that will run from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ–running through the DRBC’s “territory.” The DRBC has contacted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–the only agency empowered to approve or not approve the project–declaring DRBC’s interest in being part of the process to approve it. How convenient that the DRBC is in bed with the virulent anti-drilling Delaware Riverkeeper–and the main focus of Riverkeeper right now is to stop the Penn East…
Read More “DRBC Makes a Play to Slow/Block the Penn East Pipeline”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Penn State Uses Anti-Drilling Trout Unlimited for Marcellus Monitoring
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

More than a year ago MDN pointed out that a group begun with good intentions but later co-opted by anti-drillers, Trout Unlimited, has been outted as a radical so-called green group (see Trout Unlimited, Other Groups Outted as Radical Green Groups). So it was surprising to read that Penn State researchers, apparently desperate for volunteers for a stream monitoring project, are turning to the anti-drilling “volunteers” of Trout Unlimited to help them collect “scientific” samples from streams located near Marcellus Shale drilling. Anyone else here see a big red flag and potential conflict of interest?…
Read More “Penn State Uses Anti-Drilling Trout Unlimited for Marcellus Monitoring”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Summit Midstream

Summit Midstream – Update on Mountaineer, Floats Another 6.5M Units
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

A couple of pieces of news today about Summit Midstream. Compared to midstream giants like MarkWest Energy, Williams and Access Midstream (now part of Williams, formerly Chesapeake Midstream), Summit has a pretty modest presence in the northeast. Their Mountaineer Midstream gathering system is 49 miles long, operating in Doddridge and Harrison counties in WV (see the map below). Last December Summit announced they’ve been hired by XTO Energy to build a new 115-mile pipeline gathering system in the Utica Shale in Belmont and Monroe counties in OH (see XTO Gets Serious in OH Utica, Hires Summit for Gathering System). The news today? Summit issued their first quarter 2015 update which includes a brief update on the Mountaineer Midstream system. They’ve also just floated another 6.5 million “units” (think shares of stock) looking to raise more cash–perhaps to help build the XTO project?…
Read More “Summit Midstream – Update on Mountaineer, Floats Another 6.5M Units”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA Fracktivist Permanently Banned from Cabot Property
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

A little-known (outside of northeast Pennsylvania) anti-driller, Vera Scroggins, has been permanently banned from trespassing on Cabot Oil & Gas well sites according to a recent court order. Vera had previously agreed to the restrictions that don’t allow her to get near Cabot’s many sites in Susquehanna County, PA. Then she got the trespassing itch again and re-offended, according to court records, in January 2015 (see PA Anti-Driller Fined $1K for Trespassing on Cabot O&G Site, Jail?). Until now it had been a temporary injunction. Now it’s a permanent injunction, something Vera says she’s going to continue fighting…
Read More “PA Fracktivist Permanently Banned from Cabot Property”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Study: If You’s Po’ and Lives in Rural PA, You’s Gettin’ Fracked
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

If you’s po’ and lives in Penns’vania, ‘hio or West Gini, you’s gettin’ polluted by that evil, nasty frackin’. And chances are, you’s too stupid to knows it.” That’s the essential conclusion of a highly discriminatory and inaccurate “study” called “Spatial distribution of unconventional gas wells and human populations in the Marcellus Shale in the United States: Vulnerability analysis,” recently published in the so-called journal Applied Geography by so-called researchers from Clark University. The “researchers” don’t bother with fundamental research, like reviewing health records of people who live near active Marcellus Shale drilling areas. That would take waaaay too much work. Instead, they just assume that if you live near drilling, you’re getting polluted. The focus of the “research” is on the cockamamie theory of environmental justice. The “researchers” found that people living out in the country–where this activity typically takes place–by and large are poorer than those living in towns and cities (and on elite college campi). Wow–such a brilliant insight! “Because they po’, they don’t read all that much…they can’t figure out theys gettin’ polluted.” Yes, its disgustingly prejudiced–but that’s what passes for scholarship these days…
Read More “Study: If You’s Po’ and Lives in Rural PA, You’s Gettin’ Fracked”
Accidents | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Media Continues to Demagogue PA “Water Contamination” Research
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Yesterday MDN alerted you to the coming buzz saw of media lies about a new study that reportedly shows three Pennsylvania water wells that may have been contaminated by nearby fracking operations (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). As we pointed out yesterday, this is an isolated case from five years ago where a wastewater impoundment was found to be leaking–hardly a smoking gun that “fracking contaminates surface water supplies” (the lie that psychotics like Daily Kos readers chant to themselves every day). Anti-drilling reporters in mainstream media are committing malpractice in their reporting of this study. The reporting has reached a fevered pitch–almost like the reporters are experiencing an ecstatic LSD acid trip. The story has gone worldwide and the headlines (and lies) continue to pour in. We spotted a great analysis of the research and what the research says–and doesn’t say–by the always-excellent Energy in Depth. We think it’s worth repeating here for the MDN audience…
Read More “Media Continues to Demagogue PA “Water Contamination” Research”
CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Rex Energy

Rex Energy 1Q15: Production Up 61%, Revenue Down 33%, Gulf Coast Deal
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Rex Energy, focused on both the Marcellus/Utica and Illinois basins, released their first quarter 2015 update yesterday. Among the positive highlights: Rex’s first quarter production in 2015 grew 61% over the first quarter of 2014; the company is on track to grow production 25% in full year 2015 vs full year 2014; they recently signed two agreements to ship a total of 130 million cubic feet of gas to the Gulf Coast for the Freeport LNG plant; and they’ve increased production by using a lot more sand. On the negative side, revenue was down 33% (due to the lower price of natural gas), and after expenses the company lost $17.8 million for the quarter, vs 2014 when they gained $8.8 million. Here’s the details from Rex…
Read More “Rex Energy 1Q15: Production Up 61%, Revenue Down 33%, Gulf Coast Deal”