Industrywide Issues

Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio | Triad Hunter

ODNR Still Investigating Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Ohio
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

On December 13, 2014, Triad Hunter’s Stalder 3UH well in Monroe County, OH experienced a blowout (see Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Monroe County, OH – No One Injured). Some 50 residents in 28 homes were displaced–too dangerous to be close to a well venting methane that might explode if an ignition source is close by. Those residents were out of their homes for 10 days but finally returned on Dec. 23 (see Triad Hunter Well Blowout in Ohio Fixed, Residents Go Home). It’s now been five weeks since the blowout. What do we know about the cause? According to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, the “accident” that caused the plugged well to start flowing uncontrollably is still not known…
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Ashtabula County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Velocys

New Life for Ashtabula Gas-to-Liquids Plant, Files for Permit
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

In Sept. 2013 MDN told you about a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant planned for Ashtabula, OH (see Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH). The plant would convert Marcellus and Utica Shale gas into diesel fuel, lubricants, solvents and waxes. The technology used for the plant is provided by a UK company called Velocys. In June 2014 Velocys bought out the Astabula operation and took up the reigns of the project (see UK-based Velocys Buys Ashtabula, OH GTL Plant). Since then we’ve not heard anything. Until now. Ashtabula Energy, a division of Velocys, has filed for a permit with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that would allow the plant to discharge wastewater into Lake Erie. Seems the project is once again up and running…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Listens to Landowner Concerns, Modifies Route
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

PennEast Pipeline, a pipeline that will run from Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania to the Trenton, NJ area, recently announced they’ve changed the route for the pipeline in a few spots, especially near the end where it will connect. The changes mean there will be an extra two miles of pipeline added and the last 20 or so miles of the pipeline’s route will be affected. Why has the route changed? Because of feedback and input from landowners, agencies and public officials. PennEast has been holding a series of open houses to elicit feedback. The purpose of PennEast’s open houses and the scoping hearings run by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is to hear people’s concerns, and to work with them. That’s what PennEast is doing. Rather than the unreasonable and childish “No, not in my backyard” response from groups like Delaware Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, the people at PennEast behave like adults. They listen. They educate. They may argue. But in the end they listen and sometimes, they change course to accommodate concerns…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Indians on the Anti-Pipeline War Path – Part 2
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

Last week MDN told you about Indian Chief Carlos Whitewolf from the Northern Arawak Tribal Nation of Pennsylvania (see Indians on the War Path Against Pipeline in Lancaster County, PA). Chief Whitewolf’s tribe doesn’t have any land in Lancaster County, PA. And there are no surviving members of the Conestoga tribe that once did have land in Lancaster County. But that hasn’t stopped Chief Whitewolf from carrying out his stated threat. The good chief warned that he would “make noise, protest and rally, block bulldozers” to prevent the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline from taversing the “sacred land” of the now-dead Conestogas. What we didn’t realize is that he’d already done so, getting himself arrested on Jan. 5…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lorain County | Medina County | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Summit County

CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

A group opposed to the NEXUS gas pipeline met over the weekend in Oberlin (Lorain County), Ohio in a “private strategy meeting” to plan how they will stop the pipeline from coming through their area in eastern Ohio–Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties. The NEXUS, you may recall, is a 42-inch, $1.5 billion natural gas pipeline that will carry Utica and Marcellus Shale gas spanning 11 counties in Ohio, 3 counties in Michigan, and eventually connect to the Dawn Energy Hub in Canada (see NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light). The small group meeting in Oberlin is trying to get the pipeline re-routed. They call their group CORN–or Coalition to Reroute NEXUS from Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Transco Pipeline Hits New Record High in January
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

As MDN pointed out last week, Williams is spending $100 million per month in the northeast (see Williams Spending $100 million Per Month in the Marcellus/Utica). Some of that money is spent to expand/extend/enhance the might Transco pipeline–a 10,200-mile pipeline that runs from South Texas to New York City. It is one of the most important natural gas pipelines in the country. Williams recently reported the might Transco hit another new record high in early January for the amount of gas it flows…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

NEPA Anti Group Wins Lawsuit, Dropped from Terrorist Watch List
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

In 2010, activities of the anti-drilling group Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Inc. (GDAC) of Luzerne County, PA (Wilkes-Barre area) caught the attention of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) Foundation, a company contracted by Pennsylvania’s Department of Homeland Security to monitor potential threats in the Keystone State. The ITRR Foundation put GDAC’s name on a list of organizations to keep an eye on–a so-called “terrorist watch list”–which lists potential threats against “critical infrastructure” in the state. The list with GDAC’s name was circulated to law enforcement agencies and to the drilling industry as well. When word of their inclusion on the list leaked, GDAC huffed and puffed and sued. Lo these 4+ years later, it appears they’ve won that lawsuit and the right to be permanently kept off the list…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

Strange: DEP Fines Range Resouces $1.75M for Water Withdrawals
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

A strange announcement from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Friday says that Range Resources has agreed to pay $1.75 million to the state for failure to keep track of water withdrawals made by the company (takes a lot of water to frack, much of which comes from creeks and rivers), and for exceeding the amount of water withdrawn according to the plan they have on file with the DEP. What’s strange about the announcement is that a) you can’t find it on the DEP website itself, b) Range was making withdrawals and not recording/tracking the withdrawals from 2009 to 2014–five years–but apparently the DEP didn’t notice or didn’t care, and c) $950,000 of the $1.75 million “fine” (more than half) will go to fix up and operate the Hamilton Abandoned Mine Treatment System in Findlay Township, Allegheny County…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf’s intended appointment of John Quigley to become the next Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to trouble us. We’ve heard from MDN subscribers, people we respect, who say that Quigley is a good bloke, lay off on being critical of his appointment. However, we continue to rely on our eyes and ears and what we see and hear bothers us. Quigley once worked for an avowedly anti-drilling organization–PennFuture. That was enough to concern us. But now we have have his own comments to rely on. Last week he answered, on the record, questions from the Harrisburg Patriot-News. Specifically he indicates that so far PA has not “gotten it right” when it comes to Marcellus Shale drilling, and he looks forward to helping the Keystone State get it right. He doesn’t say what, exactly, has been gotten “wrong” with drilling, which is what troubles us…
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Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Waterless Fracking Company GASFRAC Files for Bankruptcy
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

There’s been some talk in New York that perhaps waterless fracking could play a role in moving the Empire State forward with shale drilling. When such talk happens, it usually centers on Canadian company GASFRAC. Not long ago GASFRAC was engaged in fracking its first Utica Shale well in Ohio (see Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica). However, last Thursday GASFRAC announced they’ve filed for bankruptcy in Canada. According to the press release they will remain in operation and the management team in place now will continue to run the company. But let’s be honest, a company in bankruptcy doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence in a cutting-edge technology that could save New York. The fact remains that water-based fracking is still the cheapest, most efficient way (currently) to frack…
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Air Quality | Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Real Reason for EPA Methane Rules: Prop Up Expensive Renewables
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

One of the keynote speakers at last year’s Shale Insight conference, held in Pittsburgh, was the dynamite Stephen Moore. Steve is the chief economist at the Heritage Foundation–the country’s premier conservative think tank, headquartered in Washington, DC. He’s also a Fox News contributor. Steve not only gave a dynamite speech on the role of shale drilling at Shale Insight, he also came along for the riverboat cruise MDN helped organize. It was great fun to talk with Steve and a number of other industry luminaries who came along for the cruise. Steve is back with a killer editorial in the Washington Times that skewers the latest attempt by the Obama EPA to throttle shale drilling by using the “boogeyman” of fugitive methane. As he points out, Steve says cows farting (our word) contributes more methane to the atmosphere than leakage from oil and gas drilling operations. Be careful farmers–the EPA is coming with corks for the cows next!…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Can Risk-Averse Phila. Gas Works Successfully Expand LNG Plant?
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) was up for sale, a winsome suitor was found (UIL Holdings from Connecticut) and the deal to sell the nation’s largest publicly-owned gas utility was obliterated by a corrupt City Council. We won’t recount the history (see our stories here). With the $1.86 billion deal now dead, PGW is moving on and trying to act and behave like a private sector company–except it’s not a private sector company. Last week they announced a 12-day “open season” to gauge interest in expanding their liquefied natural gas plant, a plant that would be fed by Marcellus Shale gas (see Phila. Gas Works Launches 12-Day Open Season to Expand LNG). However, LNG is not regulated like the delivery of natural gas, PGW’s main “business.” That is, there’s risk involved–and the people who bear the risk for PGW, being a municipal-owned utility–are the ratepayers, not the investors/owners, which would be the case if PGW were a private sector company. Are Philly residents willing to risk higher rates if PGW bungles the LNG expansion?…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Let’s Slap 5% Tax on ALL PA Natural Resources, Not Just Shale Gas
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

One of Pennsylvania’s top conservative (Republican) strategists and consultants, Charlie Gerow, offers up a sobering picture of the hard work ahead for liberal/leftist Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf when, on Wednesday, he assumes office and we drop the “-Elect” part in his title. Gerow points out that Wolf got elected by offering few specifics about his plans to raise taxes, except for a tax on the Marcellus Shale–he was crystal clear on that. When Wolf assumes office on Wednesday, all of his campaign prevaricating comes to an end and he will have to start offering real proposals for big problems. Gerow evaluates the prospects for a Wolf severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas this way:
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Property Value | Supply Chain

Farmers National Opens Minerals Management Branch in Northeast
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Farmers National Company (FNC) calls itself the “largest independent mineral management firm” in the country. Started in 1929, the company works with landowners, farmers in particular, to turn their farms into profitable businesses. They also list and sell agricultural properties–one of the largest real estate firms in the country that do so. But it is their “mineral management” service that caught our eye. In a press release issued today, FNC announced they’ve expanded their mineral management services into Appalachia–Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio (Marcellus/Utica country) to assist landowners with managing oil & gas leases and royalties…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp | Sunoco Logistics

Range Cuts 2015 Drilling Budget 33%; Mariner East Up & Running!
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

In addition to release good news yesterday about record high proved reserves (see today’s companion story), Range Resources issued a second press release yesterday to say they’re scaling back the drilling budget (capital expenditures, or capex) for 2015. Originally they set out to spend $1.3 billion on drilling projects in 2015. They’ve just trimmed it back by 33% to $870 million. They’re scaling back because of the low commodity price of natural gas, plain and simple. That’s the bad news. The good news is that 95% of that money will be spent in the Marcellus Shale. The further good news (why the deuce do we always have to hear these things from Range instead of Sunoco Logistics?!) is that the Mariner East pipeline is now up and running, flowing propane from western PA to storage caverns currently–not all the way to Philadelphia just yet…
Read More “Range Cuts 2015 Drilling Budget 33%; Mariner East Up & Running!”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA DEP Completes Fracking Radiation Study, Concludes “Little Harm”
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

We love it when we get to close a loop–especially this one. Exactly two years ago the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, under then Secretary Mike Krancer, embarked on what would become a two-year, top to bottom, “thorough and rigorous” study of radiation in shale drilling (see PA DEP Announces New Study of Radiation in Shale Drilling). That is, they would use real science to figure out whether we will all, as the anti-drillers claim, begin to glow in the dark from exposure to radiation in wastewater, radiation in drill cuttings and radiation in “fracked gas” as they frequently prattle on about. The 200-page study is complete and we have a copy (below). What did the DEP conclude in their “peer reviewed” study? “There is little potential for harm to workers or the public from radiation exposure due to oil and gas development.” That is, the DEP says all of these wild-eyed claims of radiation poisoning are false…
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