NY School Saddles Taxpayers w/Legal Fees to Oppose Virtual Pipe
We just knew getting a “virtual pipeline” facility built in ultra-liberal Broome County, NY was proceeding a little too easy. MDN recently told you about a proposed virtual pipeline (i.e. natgas trucking system) coming to MDN’s neighborhood. NG Advantage wants to build a new compressor station and tap into the Millennium Pipeline where it crosses the Chenango River near Port Dickinson, a suburb of Binghamton, in Broome County (see NG Advantage Virtual Pipeline May be Coming to MDN’s Backyard). NG already has three businesses lined up to buy CNG (compressed natural gas) from the project. So-called virtual pipelines compress natural gas and load it onto tanker trucks, and then distribute that gas to businesses that are not fortunate enough to be located near a natgas pipeline. It’s a cool concept that bypasses anti-drilling objections to pipelines. However, virtual pipelines have one negative side-effect for local residents: LOTS of truck traffic. The Town of Fenton Planning Board recently approved the project and although we thought it wasn’t quite yet a done deal, apparently it is a done deal, as a small group of antis learned earlier this week at a Town of Fenton meeting (see NG Advantage Virtual Pipe “Done Deal” in Broome County, Antis Stymied). However, that may not be the end of it. Antis (in New York as elsewhere) don’t fade away without a LOT of loud-mouthed opposition, and a LOT of legal action. Antis are now pegging their hopes to defeat this fossil fuel intruder on the actions of a local school district. The Chenango Valley School District operates the Port Dickinson Elementary school close to (half mile? quarter mile?) the proposed compressor station for the virtual pipeline project. The CV school board voted last night 8-0 to hire a law firm to fight the project, with no cap on how much in legal fees local taxpayers will have to pay for this folly. The clock is now ticking. It’s quite likely the project will get built before it ever sees its first court hearing–and antis know it…
Read More “NY School Saddles Taxpayers w/Legal Fees to Oppose Virtual Pipe”
During the Obama reign of terror, the world’s #2 largest oilfield services company, Halliburton, tried to buy the world’s #3 largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes. The Obama Dept. of Justice (DOJ) killed that deal (see 
Yesterday, MDN’s favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report–the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. Get ready to break new records–again! In July, we will once again hit the highest output of shale gas we’ve seen, ever. All seven major plays will produce an amazing 51.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas, and 5.5 million barrels of oil per day. In the Marcellus, natural gas output will hit 19.4 Bcf/d. In the Utica, output will reach 4.3 Bcf/d. The biggest natural gas story continues to be the Texas Permian–an oil play! When you drill like crazy for more oil, you also get natural gas out of the hole along with the oil. It’s called “associated gas.” And because the Permian is red hot with drilling, it makes sense natural gas production will spike up too. The Permian will add 161 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of natural gas production in July and hit a total output of 8.5 Bcf/d, now #2 behind the mighty Marcellus…
Competition is good. Last week we told you about the coming competition between the Marcellus/Utica Shale play in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, and the Haynesville Shale play in Louisiana (see 
The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) has just issued production numbers for the first quarter of 2017. The bad news is that oil production continued to slide in 1Q17, down 29% from the same quarter in 2016. However, that’s an improvement from 4Q16 when oil production was down 44% (see 
In delicious irony, Robinson Township (Washington County), PA, one of the original seven selfish towns that sued Pennsylvania and eventually won at the PA Supreme Court, overturning a portion of the state’s 2012 Act 13 shale drilling law (granting towns the right to self-regulate some aspects of oil and gas drilling by using onerous zoning ordinances), is about to get a new Marcellus gas-fired electric plant. That is, a plant that burns the stuff they don’t like drilled. In April, MDN shared a list of five new Marcellus gas-fired plants coming in Southwestern PA (see 
We’re going to take a stab at this, and we are not confident we will get it 100% right. With that as a warning, we recently reported that a case brought by landowners in northeastern PA against Chesapeake Energy over unwarranted royalty deductions suffered a bit of a setback (see 
In April MDN provided an update on the Sabal Train Transmission pipeline project (see 
In May MDN conveyed the news that it appears Mountaineer NGL Storage, which wants to build a new underground NGL storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River (see 
A group of profoundly radical “environmental” organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last Friday against the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection–for doing their job. Sierra Club, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices and Chesapeake Climate Action Network has sued the DEP because the department had the audacity to conduct a very thorough review, and then issue a stream and water-crossing permit (demanded under federal law) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project, which filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2015, is being built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. This is now SOP–standard operating procedure–for Big Green groups with deep pockets. Sue and keep suing in an attempt to slow and eventually kill off any project that remotely involves fossil fuels. Yes, they are RADICAL, they are EXTREME, waaaaaay outside the mainstream of American society. And they MUST BE STOPPED. When will someone launch weekly lawsuits against these Big Green organizations? Here’s the latest maddening development…
In December 2016, 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 (see 
On Friday, Exxon Mobil took the gloves off and went after the out-of-control New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Last year Schneiderman decided he would try to shake down Exxon for billions of dollars, claiming the company wasn’t being honest with shareholders about the threat of man-made global warming, which doesn’t actually exist. He said Exxon should have done more to warn shareholders that they invest in a filthy, rotten, human-killing Big Oil company–a company whose stock will someday implode. We’ve covered Schneiderman’s witch hunt from the beginning (
Just a quick reminder that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection is conducting four public hearings, beginning today and running through Wednesday, for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. If there is any way you can make it to one of the hearings to show your support for the project, do it! Below is the DEP announcement sharing the locations for the hearings. Today are two hearings, both from 6-9p, one in Tunkhannock and the other in Lancaster. Tomorrow the hearing is in Bloomsburg, and Wednesday in Annville. Come out to support this critical pipeline project…
Something truly amazing is happening in rural Susquehanna County, PA, nestled in the northeastern corner of the state (shares a border with Broome County, NY, where MDN is located). At a special event yesterday held in Montrose, the county seat, Cabot Oil & Gas announced a major milestone. Cabot has, over the past ten years, paid out $1 billion in royalties and another $500 million in lease bonuses. Did you catch that? In a single decade, Susquehanna County has received a $1.5 BILLION economic stimulus in private money flooding into the county–from just one of the major drillers working in the county. And that doesn’t include $3.1 billion spent on equipment and crews to do the drilling (a number we verified with Cabot)! There are other companies drilling in Susquehanna County as well. In very real, practical terms, that means school taxes have not gone up–in years. Property taxes have actually gone DOWN. Mortgages have been paid off. Kids have gone to college–without incurring years of debt hanging over them when they graduate. Story after story was shared of how Cabot’s drilling program has resulted in radically changed (for the better) lives in Susquehanna County. Cabot has pulled some 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas out of what Cabot rep George Stark says is “the sweetest spot to be” in the country. Little known factoid: A single company (Cabot) drilling in one county (Susquehanna) produces nearly 3% of the entire natural gas output in the United States. Amazing! You know what’s even more amazing? Binghamton media blocked all reporting about this major news….