Industrywide Issues

Broome County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Pro-Drillers Out in Force at Constitution Pipeline Hearing in Binghamton
January 13, 2015January 14, 2021

Last night MDN editor Jim Willis “took one for the team” and attended a New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hearing in Binghamton, NY on the application of the Constitution Pipeline. Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the Constitution, the state DEC must grant a 401 Water Quality Certificate that allows the Constitution to lay pipe through and under swamps, creeks and other bodies of water. According to one of the speakers last night, there are 270+ such bodies of water along the Constitution’s route. The session was lively, as they usually are. It was also predictable–well, mostly predictable. We can honestly say if you’ve been to one such hearing you’ve been to all of them (see Vicariously Attend FERC Scoping Hearing on Constitution Pipeline). The one big difference we detected at last night’s hearing is that landowners and labor union workers (in favor of the pipeline) far outnumbered those against the pipeline. Judging by the clapping, booing and other audience feedback, we’d peg the crowd of 250 or so at about 75% in favor of the pipeline, 25% against. What got things kicked off early was an address by a full-throated Communist (who was against the pipeline)…
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Air Quality | Health Impacts | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Launches 5-Year Study of Local Frack Site for Air, Noise, H&S
January 13, 2015January 13, 2015

This is very cool. A West Virginia University professor, now interim chairman of WVU’s School of Public Health (Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences), is going to perform some REAL science. Dr. Michael McCawley is someone we’ve highlighted before. He’s done some excellent research on air quality near drill sites (see WVU Prof Keeps Up Pressure on Improved Air Quality at Drill Sites). Dr. McCawley is launching the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL)–a project that will drill a test well and provide real-time air, noise, occupational safety and health monitoring over a five-year period. It is one of three such projects approved and funded (in part) by the U.S. Dept. of Energy…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Deerfield, MA Hoping Kinder Morgan Sues Them over Pipeline “Ban”
January 13, 2015January 13, 2015

Grasping at straws, a lawyer for Deerfield, Mass. continues to attempt an illegal “ban” on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline and its plans to come through that area (see MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP). The Deerfield Board of Health says most of the gas that will flow through the TGP will be exported. Their proof? They say there’s way more gas that would flow through the pipeline than could be used by New Englanders. And if a single molecule of that gas gets exported, shazam, exporting supports their right to ban it. Yeah, we don’t get quite get the logic either. But let’s back up a step. Deerfield and its zealous lawyer argue from a false premise–that current demand will remain static in New England. Their argument overlooks Obama’s war on coal and his earnest desire to mothball every single coal-generating electric plant on U.S. soil. There are a number of huge coal-generating (and nuclear) electric plants IN NEW ENGLAND that will shut down in the next few years. Would New Englanders welcome rolling blackouts from lack of electricity? Would they enjoy paying 100x the electric rates they pay now? Or might having more natural gas come to the area to convert those coal generating plants to natgas be the wise solution? Deerfield’s attempt to block the TGP overlooks the fact that demand will only increase, dramatically, in the coming years…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Troubling Win in PA Court Victory that Allows State Land Drilling
January 13, 2015January 13, 2015

Last week MDN told you about the crushing defeat of the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) in one of the their many lawsuits to stop drilling in PA (see PA Court Rules to Allow More Leasing/Drilling of State-Owned Land). What’s kind of funny about it is that the very case they sought to win–the Act 13 case that allows local towns to impose their own zoning on drilling–was used against the PEDF in the decision. Citing the “Robinson” case some 16 times, the Commonwealth Court told the PEDF that yes, the state can lease state land for drilling and yes, the General Assembly can decide how and where they want to spend the money such activity raises. Even though the outcome (for pro-drillers) was a positive, the way the court got there–using the Robinson decision–is troubling for the Marcellus industry…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Impeachment, Arrest Looms for PA AG Kane, Caught Leaking Info
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

It seems no one IS above the law, including Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Kathleen Kane. She is, you may recall, anti-drilling and has targeted both large and small companies related to the Marcellus industry. She abused her office by filing criminal charges against XTO Energy for an accidental spill that occurred two years before she took office (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). She also abused her office by filing criminal charges against EQT (see PA Attorney Gen. Kane Abuses Office Again, Arrest Warrant for EQT). But it’s not only the big boys she has a vendetta against. She also shut down a small company that does environmental remediation and wastewater disposal (see Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit). Now Kane has been caught red-handed leaking privileged grand jury information to a newspaper and she’s resorted to crying about men bullying her. So predictable…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Hazleton, PA Drill Cuttings Project Opposed by Competitors, Enviros
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

On Dec. 1, MDN told you about a cool idea: Use non-toxic, non-polluting shale cuttings (leftover rock and dirt that comes out of a borehole when a well is drilled) to reclaim former coal mining land that sits barren now, so the land can host businesses and even a huge outdoor amphitheater (see Shale Cuttings Used to Rehab Site of Future Business, Amphitheater). That’s the idea of Hazleton Creek Properties (HCP) for reclaiming a 270-acre site with abandoned coal mines and an old landfill on the edge of Hazleton, PA. Local “environmentalists” from a nutty-sounding group called SUFFER (Save Us From Future Environmental Risks) used a Philadelphia law firm to oppose the original “demonstration” project, settling in 2012 (see this background the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia). SUFFER is still suffering from FDS (Fracking Derangement Syndrome) and is critical of the new plan, approved last November by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). However, in a strange twist, it’s not SUFFER that’s challenging the plan, but instead it’s competitors that belong to the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association–other landfills that presumably want the cuttings that would go to Hazleton. The Association, on behalf of their members, have filed an appeal of the DEP decision that allows the cuttings to be used in Hazleton. It appears the other landfills are trying to stop the cuttings that presumably now go to their own landfills from slipping away to Hazleton…
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Cuyahoga County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation

ODNR Appeals Decision Overturning Drilling Permit Near Cleveland
January 12, 2015January 13, 2015

A squabble has erupted near Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, OH, between the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (OOGC). The ODNR is responsible for evaluating and issuing permits to drill oil and gas wells in the Buckeye State. The OOGC is the body that hears appeals from people who disagree with a permit issued by the ODNR. Such an appeal was filed for what we believe is a conventional (vertical only) oil well to be drilled in North Royalton, OH to Cutter Oil Company. The OOGC says yep, the ODNR didn’t take into consideration “safety concerns” by the city in issuing the permit. ODNR disagrees and is appealing OOGC’s decision to un-permit the permit granted by ODNR. Yes, it’s about a conventional well, but it has implications for unconventional (shale) drilling as well if the OOGC becomes activist in overturning permits based on the nebulous “safety concerns” of citizens and municipalities…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Monroe County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

League of Women Voters Questions New PA Reps on Fracking
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

Too funny. The League of [Liberal Democrat and Anti-Drilling] Women Voters held their annual beat-up-on-Republicans, er, a, “legislative coffee” with newly minted state representatives on Saturday at the Hughes Library in Stroudsburg (Monroe County), PA. All of the questions were, apparently, asked by the moderator of the event, the liberal Democrat editor of the Pocono Record, Paula Heeschen. On the hot seat were two newly elected Republicans to the PA House: Rep. David Parker, R-115, and Rep. Jack Rader, R-176. Heeschen tried her best to bait the pair with patently loaded and in many cases questions with false premises, like this one about fracking…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Anti-Drillers Propose Taxing Gas in Interstate Pipelines
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

Anti-drillers looking to a) stop shale drilling in Ohio and b) barring that, slow it down by taxing the #$@% of out the industry, met with a couple of members of RINO Gov. John Kasich’s staff last Friday to present what they hoped would be a proposal Kasich’s socialist-high-taxing nature would find appealing: tax natural gas flowing through interstate pipelines in Ohio. No word from the staffers whether or not they found merit in the proposal by the Ohio division of Citizens Against the Nexus/?Spectra Pipeline…
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DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

In September 2012, three companies–DTE Energy, Spectra Energy and Enbridge–formed a joint venture to build a new Utica Shale pipeline from Ohio through Michigan and eventually into Canada, delivering Utica Shale gas to Midwestern markets (see New Utica Shale Pipeline to Midwest Announced). The new pipeline, called NEXUS Gas Transmission, will cost $1.5 billion to build, begin in Columbiana County, OH and cross through 11 Ohio counties and 3 Michigan counties in total (see list below). Some of the details were revealed last year when the Akron Beacon Journal filed an open records request (see OH Route of Proposed NEXUS Gas Pipeline Revealed). On December 30, NEXUS finally filed what’s called a “pre-filing” with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). We have a copy of that pre-filing document below, along with extracts (new details) and a new map showing where the pipeline is due to go…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Regulation | Statewide NY | Wayne County

How Does NY Frack Ban Affect Wayne & Pike Counties in PA?
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s political decision to ban shale drilling in the Empire State continues to reverberate and affect the states around it–particularly Pennsylvania. Now that New York will disallow shale drilling for the foreseeable future, how does that affect Pike and Wayne counties in PA? Those two counties have the misfortune to sit in the jurisdiction of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). The DRBC, under former anti-drilling director Carol Collier, had a temporary ban in place for all of the territory under their purview. Collier “retired” last year and is now busy advising Gov.-elect Tom Wolf (shows you the kind of people he has around him). It was hoped that when a new director was appointed, Steve Tambini from the Pennsylvania America Water company, things would change. The director does not have the power to either authorize or ban fracking–that falls to the voting members from NY, PA, NJ, DE and the federal government. However, the director has a lot of influence. So with NY’s decision to ban fracking, is there any hope that fracking might still be allowed in the DRBC in Pike and Wayne counties? So far the DRBC is mum, and staying that way…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Research

Baker Hughes: Well & Rig Counts Go Up, Not Down, in 4Q14!
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

Very interesting. You would think that the oil and gas price apocalypse, which began in the late third/early fourth quarter of 2014, would mean that drilling rigs would be idled by the dozens and new well starts would plummet. According to numbers just released by Baker Hughes, you would be wrong. The average rig count for 4Q14 was 1,856 onshore rigs, up 14 rigs (1%) from 3Q14. Huh. The number of rigs in 4Q14 was up 159 rigs (9%) from 4Q13! Wow. And then there are well counts–the number of new wells spud or drilled. In 4Q14 there were 9,544 new wells were spud–virtually unchanged from 3Q14. Compared to 4Q13, new wells drilled were up 461 (5%). Double wow! We’re not saying the numbers won’t head south in 1Q15–we are saying that it’s helpful to mind the objective numbers and not the subjective hype you hear in the press when it comes to “slow downs” and such…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Northampton County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

MDN Encourages Counter-Protest at SE PA Compressor Plant on Jan 24
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

In December the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after a nearly two-year process, approved Columbia Gas Transmissions East Side Expansion project which will add 19 miles of new pipeline in southeastern PA and NJ to help fire a natural gas-fired electricity generating plant with cheap Marcellus Shale gas (see FERC Approves Columbia East Side Project in SE PA). All along there’s been opposition to a compressor station expansion Forks Township, Northampton County (see Columbia Hits Resistance to Compressor Upgrade in SE PA). As we’ve pointed out, it’s not much opposition–look at the picture of the so-called “packed auditorium” of people turning up to oppose it (see picture below). However, the anti-pipeline faithful don’t give up easily. There’s always one more Viet Nam, er, a, pipeline protest left in ’em. Even though the East Side Expansion (and compressor station expansion) is close to being a done deal, a group of anti-drilling/anti-pipeline folks will turn up on Sat., Jan. 24 at noon at the plant to protest. We think pro-drilling folks need to turn up as well. It’s time to fight this nonsense…
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Education | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Free 10-Week Class in Lancaster to Educate on Drilling, Pipelines
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

Here’s an educational effort we can get behind and support. The Farm and Home Center in Lancaster, PA (1383 Arcadia Road) is hosting a free series of 10 weekly classes about Marcellus Shale drilling and the pipelines that carry Marcellus natural gas. The series is sponsored by the National Science Foundation is reportedly is neither for nor against drilling and pipelines–it plans to offer “just the facts, ma’am.” Course instructor Terry Noll says there will be time for people to express opinions and ask questions. The series will also include field trips…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

Power Generation Biggest Driver for Expanded Natgas Use in 2015
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

According to a new report released earlier this week from the American Petroleum Institute (API), power generation will be the biggest driver for expanded natural gas in the U.S. in 2015. The report, titled “The State of American Energy Report 2015” (full copy embedded below) looks at not only natural gas, but wind, solar, biomass, nuclear and other forms of energy. America is now the world leader in energy production, something “unthinkable” just a few short years ago. Why? Thanks to the miracle of fracking…
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Alternative Energy | Commodity Price | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Research

ICF Forecast: Coal in Trouble, Gas Price Flat, Alternatives So-So
January 9, 2015January 9, 2015

ICF International, a leading provider of consulting services and technology solutions to government and commercial clients, has released its ICForecast Energy Outlook for the first quarter of 2015. The study highlights the near-, mid- and long-term future impacts of proposed U.S. federal environment regulations, including up-to-date analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rules and regulation activities; gas, coal and power market prices and coal production; and renewable energy development. What does it say? Coal plants will continue to be strangled by EPA regulations, natural gas prices will remain flat/low in 2015, wind energy faces “uncertainty” ahead and solar continues to make microscopic progress…
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