Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Time for Gov-Elect Wolf to Pay the Piper – Severance Tax High on List
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

It’s payback time for newly elected Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf. He took radical California environmentalist Tom Steyer’s money, millions of it, to get elected (see CA Anti-Driller Tom Steyer Purchasing Tom Wolf PA Governorship). Now that Wolf has been elected, the bill has come due. Time to pay the pied piper. The price? Get a Marcellus-killing severance tax passed. Right on cue that’s just what Wolf is doing–his master’s bidding…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Sand/Proppant | Wyoming County (PA)

Revisiting Frac Sand Facility Controversy in Tunkhannock, PA
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

We’re happy to bring you another perspective on the controversy in Tunkhannock, PA over a proposed frac sand transfer station. In October we told you about residents around Tunkhannock who are pushing back against a facility being proposed by Hi-Crush/D&I Silica (see NEPA Town Residents Resist Frack Sand Transfer Station). What caught our eye was the antics of one of the locals who dressed up in a canary outfit to conjure the image of a canary in the mine shaft. Seemed to us that perhaps anti-drillers were opposing the project. We then referenced the D&I project when we wrote about another frac sand facility where the town and company worked out their problems like adults (see WV Sand Company & Community Work Together to Solve Problem). We were recently contacted by an MDN subscriber who lives in Tunkhannock to say, “Hold there Jim, there is another side to this story…”
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

Property Tax Revenue/Economic Impact from ET Rover Pipeline in OH
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Seems like “all of a sudden” large pipeline projects planned for the northeast have begun talking about how much property taxes (and economic impacts) their projects will pay out. Yesterday it was the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline project from Dominion (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline: $25M/Yr in Prop. Tax, $70M/Yr Econ Impact). Today? Energy Transfer Partners’ Rover pipeline, a 620-mile pipeline that will carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas west, through Ohio into Michigan and on to Ontario, Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). How much of an economic impact and how much in property tax will it pay out? We have some numbers…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Research: Fugitive Methane Declines, Without Onerous EPA Regs
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Play along for a minute. Pretend you believe that carbon (the thing you breathe out with every breath) and so-called “fugitive” methane (rascally devil escapes from oil and gas drilling operations) are causing the earth’s temp to spike. We know, we know. The earth’s average temp hasn’t gone up in 18 years–but we said, just play along here for a minute, k? If you’re a man-causes-global warming believer, it stands to reason you’d like to see less carbon and less methane. Both are already happening–without the jackbooted regulations of the federal EPA. The latest evidence is tabulated by Energy in Depth, the public relations arm of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). EID’s report tabulates the latest science which shows fugitive methane emissions in major shale plays–including the Marcellus and Utica–have gone DOWN, significantly–from 2011 to 2013…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Radicals Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Because of Global Warming
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Not that it’s been hiding anywhere, but the truth comes out (yet again). A group of 75+ individuals masquerading as “groups of people” have signed and sent a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (full copy below) requesting that he ban fracking statewide. Why? Because of their belief that mankind is causing global warming by burning fossil fuels. That is, because they hate fossil fuels. They hate the fossil fuels used to manufacture the computers on which they typed the letter to Cuomo. They hate the fossil fuels they use to travel to work. They hate the fossil fuels that are part of the clothes they wear (petrochemical fibers) and the sneakers on their feet. They hate the fossil fuels they use to heat their homes. Yep, the so-called environmentalists who use fossil fuels every day of their lives–hate them. We call it insanity. Fracking Derangement Syndrome (FDS). Left-wing newspapers like the Albany Times Union dutifully report it like its actually news…
Read More “NY Radicals Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Because of Global Warming”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Enviro Groups Sue DOT to Stop Bakken Oil Rail Shipments
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

The radicals at Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and ForestEthics (bet you didn’t know that forests have ethics, didja?) have sued the federal Dept. of Transportation to challenge the DOT’s refusal to ban railroads from shipping crude oil via rail from the Bakken (and other shale plays). This is the same tactic repeatedly used by anti-drillers (and leftists everywhere) to create new laws without getting Congress involved. Sue a regulatory agency, win the lawsuit, then the agency is “forced” to enact a regulation it (supposedly) didn’t want to enact–at the gun point of a lefty judge. (Watch this video of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for an explanation of how they do it.) What Earthjustice and their ilk continue to do to our justice system is sick…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Northeastern Winter Gas Outlook: More Marcellus Gas Needed in NYC
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Morningstar, an independent investment research and management company, is fresh out with a report titled, “Northeastern Winter Gas Outlook.” In the report, analysts take a look at the demand for natural gas by the northeast, in particular demand by New York City. What do they find? Although infrastructure (pipelines) have improved a somewhat in the last year, bringing more gas to the northeast (largely from the Marcellus), more needs to be done. Natural gas is very sensitive to supply and demand. The report states that in the past year alone over 1,000 buildings in New York City–apartment buildings and office buildings–have switched from fuel oil to natural gas for heating. That means there’s a lot more demand this winter than last–at least another 100 million cubic feet per day. If we get another extended cold snap, natural gas prices will go a lot higher in NYC…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

First Shoe Drops: WPX Sells 1/2 Marcellus Assets to Southwestern
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

As we’ve been saying for some time, WPX Energy, the spun off but totally independent exploration & production company that was once part of midstream giant Williams, has been looking to exit the Marcellus stage left (see Flip Flop: All of WPX’s Marcellus Wells on the Auction Block). The first shoe has now dropped: WPX announced yesterday they’ve sold all of their Susquehanna County, PA leases and wells to Southwestern Energy for $300 million. We have all of the facts of the deal–how many acres, how many wells–along with answers to questions that landowners still signed with WPX in other PA geographies want to know–primarily, “Are we next?” We also have Southwestern’s take on the deal and (interestingly) what they seem to most value about the deal. It may surprise you…
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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Susquehanna County

PA DEP Fines Cabot $120K for January Water Tank Explosion in NEPA
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Here’s one that slipped by us when it happened. On Jan. 11, 2014 there was an explosion at a Cabot Oil & Gas well site in Susquehanna Count, PA. The explosion happened in a brine water storage tank at the site in Jessup Township, caused by a water truck driver (who was injured in the blast). The incident is coming to light now because yesterday the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) levied a $120,000 fine on Cabot. Thanks to the investigative work done by the Scranton Times-Tribune, we know exactly what happened…
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Broome County | Chenango County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Delaware County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Schoharie County | Susquehanna County | Williams

FERC Issues Final Approval for Constitution Pipeline in PA/NY
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

We’ve been writing about the Constitution Pipeline for, like, forever! The Constitution is planned to run 124 miles from Susquehanna County, PA up into New York State, all the way to Schoharie County where it will connect to both the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. It will flow some 650,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day (enough natural gas to serve approximately 3 million homes), most of it produced by Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the owners of the pipeline. In October, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final environmental approval (see Constitution Pipeline Gets FERC Final Environmental Approval). Yesterday, FERC issued its final approval for the project–meaning the shovels will now hit the ground and construction will now begin. Horray!…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

Deerfield MA, Kinder Morgan Lawyers Swap Barbs over NED Pipeline
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Kinder Morgan has put the town of Deerfield, MA on notice that its attempt to block the Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion through the town–the Northeast Energy Direct (or NED) project–will not be stopped by a laughable “ban” enacted by the Deerfield Board of (so-called) Health. You may recall MDN covered the Deerfield BOH “order” in October to “cease immediately all of its activities in Deerfield related to the construction of the proposed pipeline within the boundaries of the town” (see Deerfield MA “Bans” Kinder Morgan TGP Pipeline – Or So They Claim). Kinder says, in so many words, nice try, but no cigar…
Read More “Deerfield MA, Kinder Morgan Lawyers Swap Barbs over NED Pipeline”
Dominion Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Atlantic Coast Pipeline: $25M/Yr in Prop. Tax, $70M/Yr Econ Impact
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

The arguments by anti-drillers against pipeline projects, like Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline which is slated to run from West Virginia to North Carolina, usually amount to this: “There’s no long-term benefit to the communities through which the pipeline runs. We have to ‘put up’ with the darned thing, but we see no benefit from it.” Benefit meaning money–other than a one-time fee paid to landowners through whose land it runs. Dominion is attempting to counter those criticisms by pointing out that once the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is fully operational, it will be paying in excess of $25 million per year to counties and local municipalities in property taxes (see the list below). During construction, the pipeline will generate nearly half a billion dollars per year in economic impact in WV, VA and NC. Once the construction phase is over, through permanent jobs created and associated ongoing operating costs for the pipeline, Dominion projects the pipeline will spur nearly $70 million per year of ongoing economic activity (see full report below)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drilling Christmas Carols: Climate Change is Coming to Town [Video]
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Just when you thought it was the season of peace on earth and goodwill toward men (and women), the season of cheer and good tidings, eggnog and presents–along come wacky anti-drillers to screw up Christmas. Members of the radical Clean Air Council in Philadelphia are rewriting Christmas carols to include messages about nutty man-made global warming. Here’s some real creativity: “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why. Climate Change is coming to town.” Wow. How much did these kids’ parents ~~waste~~ pay for a college education? Watch the video below and marvel at youthful stupidity…
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Commodity Price | Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues

Will Low Oil Prices Slow Northeast (Indeed All) Shale Drilling?
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Today seems to be oil day on MDN. Which is kind of funny–a blog/news site about shale drilling in the northeast (largely natural gas drilling) focusing on oil. However, a fair bit of condensate and light sweet crude oil is extracted in the northeast, mostly in the Utica but some of it from the Marcellus too. The reason to talk about oil, and its price, is not because of the volume of oil being produced in the northeast, but rather because many of the companies that operate in the northeast operate elsewhere and the price of oil affects their overall operations everywhere. When the price of oil dips below a certain point, it makes it unprofitable to drill and harder to get money for all operations. Below we have a couple of fascinating charts that show the breakeven price for drilling as tied to the price of oil. Presumably at, or even near, that price, companies will stop drilling for oil (and in many cases stop drilling for natural gas as well). What’s really interesting, for MDN, is that the Marcellus and Utica appear on both of these charts…
Read More “Will Low Oil Prices Slow Northeast (Indeed All) Shale Drilling?”
American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aubrey McClendon Raises Another $500M for More Leases
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Low oil prices don’t seem to be affecting Aubrey McClendon’s ability to raise cash. He’s just landed another half a billion dollars, which he plans to use to lease more land in the Utica, Marcellus and two other shale plays. McClendon and his American Energy Partners is also looking for new employees. Hey Chesapeake workers–tired of answering to Carl Icahn and seeing your friends axed from the payroll (wondering if you’re next)? Send your resume to Aubrey! Here’s the AEP announcement from yesterday…
Read More “Aubrey McClendon Raises Another $500M for More Leases”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Says Compressor Stations Not Major Source of GHG Pollution
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Good news for midstream operators in Pennsylvania: The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection has decided not to slap compressor stations with the onerous regulatory label of being a “major source” of air pollution simply because they belch out carbon dioxide–the stuff you breathe out with every breath. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June said environmental regulators can require facilities to limit GHGs only if the facility also emits other nasty stuff, like soot and smog. Since compressor stations don’t emit high volumes of soot and smog, the plants are off the hook as being a “major source” in PA…
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