Ohio Legislators Push to Allow Fracking in State Parks, Forests
Thumbing their collective noses at Ohio RINO Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich, Republican legislators in the House added a “little-noticed provision” in the state budget deal that will give the legislature, and not the governor, the power to select members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission. That small change would have huge consequences. How? the Oil and Gas Commission is charged with approving potential drillers on state land. Five years ago, Kasich flip-flopped on the issue and since then has not allowed shale drilling in state-owned forests and state-owned parks–by refusing to add any new members to the Commission. It is a de facto moratorium from the governor that prevents fracking on state-owned land. Enough is enough. Republicans intend to change it this year…
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After 10 long years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) auctioned 719 acres in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF) last December (see 
We live in a country of laws, governed by “the rule of law.” That means we elect people to pass laws, and then we collectively live under those laws–whether we like them or not. If we don’t like the laws, we vote in new representatives to change the laws. Or we challenge the laws in court. But what if those laws become tyrannical? Our founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, said a little revolution every now and again isn’t a bad thing and may be necessary. There is a small but well-funded group of radical environmentalists who apparently believe the time has come for revolution. Their motivation is an irrational hatred of fossil fuels, operating under the wrong belief that by burning fossil fuels mankind is doomed. That belief motivates them to use (and abuse) the court system to try and block any and all drilling and pipeline projects. And when the courts don’t decide a case their way? They threaten revolution. They call it “peaceful protest”–but we’ve seen what they mean by that (see 
As construction of the Mariner East 2 NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline project heats up, thousands of Pennsylvanians are going back to work. Sunoco Logistics Partners (now called Energy Transfer Partners) said it would take some 8,000 workers to build the twin pipelines called Mariner East 2–from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. When Sunoco LP signed a deal to hire union workers for the pipeline, the deal stipulates half of the hires are local–from within PA. Sunoco has lived up to its word, as evidenced by the testimony of the Operating Engineer’s Union (Harrisburg) who has already seen 50 of its members hired to work on the project. What about the other half, the “foreigners” who come from other states? They’re brought in because of required specialized skills. But even the out-of-staters are welcomed–they’re adding big bucks to the local economy… 
Looks like Middletown Township, in Delaware County, PA (Philadelphia suburb), has finally faced reality that the Mariner East 2 Pipeline is coming through town. To be fair, town council came to that conclusion last September when they voted to grant easements to Sunoco Logistics Partners to build Mariner East 2 across four parcels of public land (see 
It seems no matter how many times we calmly, rationally, factually respond to and refute the intellectual dishonesty around the issue of a severance tax in Pennsylvania, PA Democrats pop up to make the same already-refuted, debunked lies they spew, again and again. They must be of the opinion that if you repeat the same lies long enough, people will begin to believe them. And so a group of elected (and appointed) Democrat “leaders” gathered in Wilkes-Barre yesterday to rehash and repeat the same tired old lies about a severance tax. The organizer of the event was State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski (Democrat from Wilkes-Barre) who stated at the event he doesn’t think the gas companies pay “their fair share.” That is such a bogus statement in so many ways. When did privately earned money suddenly belong to the state in the first place? Does Rep. Pashinski know that drillers already pay a severance tax–called an impact fee? And that by passing a severance tax on top of an impact fee, PA vaults to the top of the list–it would have the highest taxation of the industry in the United States at an effective rate of 9% (see 
Seems like every time we talk about Big Money foundations, those foundations (which are tax exempt) are far-left in philosophy and when they fund anything to do with the environment or education or business, it’s always with strings attached that said activity will have an anti-drilling bias. Need money for a new “study” to bash shale energy? Take your pick. In Philadelphia, there is the William Penn Foundation. In New York (and North Carolina) there’s the Park Foundation. And in Pittsburgh, the Heinz Foundation–run by Teresa Heinz Kerry (whom we call Mamma Teresa here on MDN). Hard left, all of them. So when we spotted an article about another Pittsburgh-based foundation–the Benedum Foundation–that is donating money to HELP the shale industry, well, we knew that’s a “man bites dog” story worthy of highlighting. The Benedum Foundation does a great deal of its grantmaking for science, technology, medical and engineering (STEM) education. Lately they’ve concentrated on training students who will, after school, land a job at someplace like CONSOL Energy, or the under-construction Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County. Although Benedum doesn’t spend nearly as much as the larger Heinz Foundation, we see Benedum as the antidote–a counterbalance–to some of the damage caused by Mamma Teresa and her married-into, huge piles of money that she spends to oppose shale energy…
Fire departments, schools, parks and townships are some of the 44 Pennsylvania organizations in 11 counties that will receive $326,800 in funding *this spring* from Williams–through its bi-annual community grant program. Grants up to $10,000 per organization are being awarded by Williams in communities where the proposed Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project will be constructed and operated. This is the fifth round of grants for areas that will host or be affected by the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline. All together (including this latest round of $326,800), Williams has now given away $1.79 million to communities on behalf of Atlantic Sunrise. Now that’s something worth celebrating! Is your organization eligible? Grant applications are available at 
In early April MDN reported that West Virginia’s effort to pass a law dealing with co-tenancy and joint development–what we called forced pooling lite–had gone up in pot smoke (see 
Whenever a big, important project like the Shell ethane cracker, reported to be a $6 billion investment, goes forward, a whole lotta people were involved before the decision was made. However, if there is one universal truth in business it is this: There is always a champion at the center of any important project. The one person who’s responsibility it is to propel that project forward. The person who, we like to say, has their “butt in a sling.” It is on their shoulders to ensure the projects success. When you dig down into the story of the multi-billion dollar Shell cracker plant now being built in Beaver County, PA, you will find that one person. His name is Brent Vernon. He worked for more than five years to lure Shell to the Keystone State. Vernon was senior project manager for energy for the state when he began working, full time, on the Shell project in 2011. Since then he was promoted, first to deputy director and eventually director of the Governor’s Action Team, a role he continues. Vernon is key–one of the linchpins without whom the Shell deal would not have happened…
Dominion CEO Diane Leopold held a conference call last Thursday to provide an update on progress for the company’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Leopold said on the call that Dominion has procured 85% of the land, materials, and services it needs to build the pipeline. Nearly all of the land surveying is now done (98%)–and the company now has signed agreements with 60% of the landowners along the proposed route. Leopold expects the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will grant a final approval for the project this fall. In other words, it’s full speed ahead for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, irregardless of opposition from anti-fossil fuel fanatics, a relative few who continue to vociferously oppose the project…
More fake “research” is on the way courtesy of the anti-drilling Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project. The Project is launching a so-called public health registry. Log in to the website and if you live within five miles of a drilling site, you can report your latest headache in an attempt to link it to (and smear) shale development. Yep, just blame everything on drilling. Got allergies? Blame drilling. Headache? Blame drilling. Earache? Blame drilling. Er, a “performance issues?” Blame drilling. (Maybe they’ll give you some free Viagra.) That’s the purpose of this latest sham initiative by the same group that has brought us such glittering examples of “research” as “The List of the Harmed”…