Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

List of Republican Senators Who Voted to Confirm Quigley @ DEP
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

Last week the Pennsylvania State Senate held hearings and voted to accept John Quigley, who used to work for the anti-drilling PennFuture, as the Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Spineless Senate Republicans Confirm Quigley to Head PA DEP). Inexplicably, otherwise solid, pro-drilling Republican Senators, like Sen. Gene Yaw from northeastern PA, voted to confirm Quigley. Below is a copy of the roll call votes and who voted for Quigley, and the brave four Republicans who voted against. If your senator voted to confirm (a “yea” vote below), perhaps you’d like to make your displeasure known to your senator? We’ve also included a list of the senators and their party affiliations and mailing addresses to make it easy to send a hand written note…
Read More “List of Republican Senators Who Voted to Confirm Quigley @ DEP”
Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Taxation

Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

There is no escaping the fact that when a group of hardened socialists get together, bad things happen. Witness the meeting called the G7 that took place in Germany yesterday. The assembled “leaders” of seven of the world’s biggest economies, including Barack H. Obama, agreed to commit their respect countries to committing economic suicide–i.e., ending the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century. By the middle of this century (35 years from now), they aim to reduce burning fossil fuels by “40 to 70 percent in the 2010 global emission levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.” What happens when, by 2050, everyone figures out that mankind burning fossil fuels actually doesn’t cause so-called global warming? The threat of global warming is yet another sham, another way to convince people to willingly give up their freedom so so-called smart people will “save them” from themselves. It’s sick…
Read More “Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

THIS is the Loyal, Anti-Drilling Opposition in WV?? [Video]
June 9, 2015June 9, 2015

It always helps to know who the loyal opposition is. When we witness anti-drillers at public hearings we’ve attended about regulations and pipelines, we often marvel. This is the opposition? How on earth do they achieve the successes they achieve? We also wonder, do people “in the middle” who haven’t made up their minds about who to believe in the great fracking debate–do they know that these are the people behind the push to eliminate fossil fuels? Would it make a difference if they did know?…
Read More “THIS is the Loyal, Anti-Drilling Opposition in WV?? [Video]”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Shoe Now on Other Foot: Landowners Sue Martian Anti-Drillers
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

It’s about time. Twelve (12) leaseholders and a real estate developer in Middlesex and Adams Townships, in Butler County, PA (near the Mars School District) have filed a lawsuit against local anti-drillers as well as against THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, suing them for damages because their ongoing frivolous lawsuits have keep the leaseholders from realizing profits from their leased land. And get this, the Martians and Big Green groups being sued are upset, saying their free speech rights are being infringed. Talk about nuts! It’s OK for anti-drillers to launch lawsuit after lawsuit, but as soon as someone pushes back and files a lawsuit against them, they start squealing like little piglets…
Read More “Shoe Now on Other Foot: Landowners Sue Martian Anti-Drillers”
Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Rig Counts Take Another Hit in May, Rapid Decline Continues
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

We had thought/hoped that the we were near the end of a decline in drilling rig counts. But such is not the case. Baker Hughes released their May rig count report on Friday and it shows a continued slide in the numbers. In April there were 943 active rigs drilling on land in the U.S., down from 1,067 rigs in March (see Rig Counts Continue Big Decline in April, NE May Have Bottomed). In May, the number slide again–to 857 land-based rigs (a loss of another 86 rigs going idle). Double ouch. What about the Marcellus/Utica region? Did those rigs decline in May?…
Read More “Rig Counts Take Another Hit in May, Rapid Decline Continues”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

NJ Antis Change Gear, Hire Quiet Guy to Head Anti-Pipeline Effort
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

Anti-drillers in New Jersey must be growing tired of the angry demeanor of their current “movement leaders”–people like Maya van Rossum from THE Delaware Riverkeeper. So they’re putting their chips on a quieter, gentler anti-driller they hope will be more effective in stopping projects like the PennEast Pipeline. NJ antis have hired Thomas Gilbert, 45, a “longtime activist known for his land preservation work” to become the campaign director at New Jersey Conservation Foundation, starting June 15. They’re hoping the NJ Conservation Foundation can be “the one ring to rule them all” by organizing together disparate anti groups to defeat projects like PennEast. Anti-drillers have tried the go-it-alone, not-nice route–so this time they want to try the let’s-all-cooperate-nicey-nice route. It’s the same old hardened anti-drilling philosophy dressed up in a nicer package. But make no mistake–they want to end the use of fossil fuels in New Jersey–and that’s why Gilbert has been hired…
Read More “NJ Antis Change Gear, Hire Quiet Guy to Head Anti-Pipeline Effort”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

The Worm Begins to Turn re Gov. Tom Wolf’s Severance Tax
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

A mixed editorial by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s ill-dated severance tax plan. The Post-Gazette believes, like most liberal Democrats, that the gas in the ground belongs “to the state” and not to individual, private property landowners. In their minds, a piece of the action (i.e. tax) should be levied on the gas coming out of the ground to transfer that wealth away from the people who own it–landowners–and give it to teachers’ unions instead. It’s always “for the children,” of course. (Utter bunkum.) Anywho, the Post-Gazette, while loving things like severance taxes, has begrudgingly faced the music on Wolf’s plan. They now see the fatal flaws and (consequentially) admit them. Their aim with the editorial is to have Wolf “fix” his broken plan, which isn’t likely to happen. Wolf doesn’t think his plan is broken and his attitude, along with the smug attitude of his lieutenants like Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley, is that the Wolf severance tax plan is superior and needs no fixing. Reality is gradually starting to dawn on the Dems–that they’re not going to get a severance tax this high–and so the blame game has begun. The worm has started to turn…
Read More “The Worm Begins to Turn re Gov. Tom Wolf’s Severance Tax”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

Kasich Predicts Severance Tax Deal Will Happen, Others Say No
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

Once upon a time Ohio Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich (Republican) wanted to tax Utica Shale drillers 2.5%. But then he talked to some of his Democrat buddies and decided to hike it. After thinking it over, Kasich finally settled on 6.5%. When Kasich got resistance to his brilliant tax increase idea, he threatened the drilling industry by saying take my 6.5% or “someone else” may push for a ballot measure of 10% (see OH Gov Kasich the Bully: Accept My 6.5% Tax or Risk a 10%+ Tax). Kasich has been on the 6.5% bandwagon from some months now, and not giving in. One news account says he’s about to go down in defeat yet again, but another news account has him buoyant, like he’s about to get what he wants…
Read More “Kasich Predicts Severance Tax Deal Will Happen, Others Say No”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

EPA Releases Water Studies for NEPA & SWPA: Fracking is Safe in PA
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

Last Friday MDN reported the good news that the EPA is finally winding down a years-long study of the potential impacts of fracking on groundwater supplies. The upshot? Fracking doesn’t pollute water supplies (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). This is the result of a process that began in 2009 when Congress asked the EPA to study fracking and water, with an eye toward regulating fracking using the federal Clean Water Act. The EPA eventually designed a study and began their research in 2011. The final report was due in 2014 but was later moved to 2016. This draft report is the prelude to the final report. Weighing in at 998 pages long, the report says there’s lots you can be scared about–but in fact none of the nightmare scenarios about fracking and water have come true. This was a hard report to file for the Obama EPA–we’re sure of that. Tucked in the bowels of the report are details that the EPA themselves conducted 17 research projects and published 20 scientific papers as a result. Two of those projects looked at shale drilling in the Pennsylvania Marcellus region–one study in the northeast (full study embedded below), and one in the southwest (full study embedded below). What did they find?…
Read More “EPA Releases Water Studies for NEPA & SWPA: Fracking is Safe in PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

MA Bill Prevents Pipeline Costs from Passing to Electric Customers
June 8, 2015June 8, 2015

Part of the opposition to pipelines in states like Massachusetts centers on the issue of whether or not the gas flowing through the pipeline will get exported. For sure the majority of the gas will be used in places like Massachusetts–and some of that will go to consumers–but a great deal of it will go to electric generating plants, to lower the incredibly high cost of electricity in New England. Because the customers for the gas are electric utilities, and because the utilities don’t have piles of cash laying around, the utilities (in some cases, not all cases) want to pass along some of the cost of the proposed pipelines to electric rate payers. That is, electric customers. You and me. The response from anti-drillers is, “Hey–since a lot of this gas will get exported anyway, not benefiting the state, why should electric rate payers bear the cost of building the pipeline?” And so some anti-drilling state legislators have introduced a bill that would prevent any pipeline cost from being passed on to Massachusetts rate payers if ANY of the gas in that pipeline eventually gets exported. Do anti-drillers, in this case, have a point?…
Read More “MA Bill Prevents Pipeline Costs from Passing to Electric Customers”
Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies
June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

Yesterday the federal Environmental Protection Agency, at the request of Congress, released a draft assessment (executive summary below) on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing activities on drinking water resources in the United States. The EPA studied other studies, leaving no stone unturned (950 “sources” in all). What did they find? “Hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources.” That is, fracking doesn’t pollute water supplies. They did point out certain “vulnerabilities” that can arise from fracking: drawing down water supplies in areas where water is in short supply; fracking in a formation that has a water supply in it (which we’ve never heard of happening before); poorly cased and cemented wells (yes, we know about it and have improved it over the years); discharging “inadequately treated” wastewater into public drinking water supplies; and spills on top of the ground. In other words, the study doesn’t tell us a darned thing we don’t already know–and concludes fracking doesn’t pollute water supplies. How much more plain and clear can it get?…
Read More “EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Mariner East 2 Giving Birth to Twin Pipelines
June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

In November 2014 Sunoco Logistics committed to building the $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 pipeline to increase capacity in moving natural gas liquids like ethane, propane and butane from western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery in Philadelphia (see Sunoco Logistics Will Build $2.5B Mariner East 2 Pipeline). Yesterday Sunoco said instead of building one Mariner East 2 pipeline, they’re going to build two of them–at the same time, side by side. Sunoco says the plan to add two more Mariner 2s is still tentative–they need to conduct an open season to be sure they can sell contracts for the pipeline before they will fully commit. But as of right now, they’re planning to give birth to “twin” pipelines…
Read More “Mariner East 2 Giving Birth to Twin Pipelines”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Biz Group, Congressman Ask Cuomo to Lift NY Frack Ban
June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

In light of the federal EPA study released yesterday stating fracking doesn’t pollute groundwater supplies (see our lead story today), the Business Council of New York State and NY Congressman Chris Collins have publicly asked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lift the fracking ban he has put in place in the Empire State. Since Cuomo’s decision had nothing whatsoever to do with actual science, don’t look for him to suddenly change his mind…
Read More “NY Biz Group, Congressman Ask Cuomo to Lift NY Frack Ban”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

MSC Devastating Critique of “Low Birth Weight Near Fracking” Study
June 5, 2015November 4, 2015

Yesterday MDN told you about a new anti-drilling-backed so-called “study” by students at the University of Pittsburgh making wild claims about babies born near Marcellus Shale fracking sites having lower birth weights than those not born near frack sites (see Study Tries to Link Marcellus Fracking to Low Birth Weight Babies). We outlined the link between bought-and-paid for “science” that gets amplified by mainstream media. The Marcellus Shale Coalition also published their own criticism, saying, “A new non-peer reviewed paper – funded by the Heinz Endowments and posted on a pay-for-play website – fails by virtually every measure to demonstrate basic and sound research principles. Below are several of the many factors that skew the advocacy paper’s so-called findings.” The MSC goes on to critique the “research” and completely shredding and exposing it for the fraud it is…
Read More “MSC Devastating Critique of “Low Birth Weight Near Fracking” Study”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Penn East Pipeline to File Formal Application with FERC in Next 2 Mos
June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

Where do things stand with the much-needed Penn East Pipeline from the Scanton, PA area to the Trenton, NJ area? According to a Penn East spokesman who met with a Wilkes-Barre newspaper’s editorial board yesterday, the company will likely file a formal application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the next two months, and if all goes well, construction will begin in late 2017. Along the way look for the Delaware River(keeper) Basin Commission to try and screw it up. The DRBC is increasingly controlled (and emasculated) by the whims and fancies of THE Delaware Riverkeeper, a virulently anti-drilling group. Penn East faced down one objection head-on in yesterday’s meeting: this gas will not be exported–it will all be used domestically (most of it in PA and NJ)…
Read More “Penn East Pipeline to File Formal Application with FERC in Next 2 Mos”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Research

Babst Calland Releases Report on Legal Challenges in Marcellus/Utica
June 5, 2015June 5, 2015

Ace energy law firm Babst Calland announced yesterday they have released their fifth annual energy industry report. Called “The 2015 Babst Calland Report – Appalachian Basin Oil and Gas Industry: Rising to the Challenge; Legal and Regulatory Perspective for Producers and Midstream Operators,” the annual review of energy and natural resources development activity acknowledges the continuing evolution of the drilling industry in the face of economic, regulatory, legal and local government challenges. Here’s an overview of the report…
Read More “Babst Calland Releases Report on Legal Challenges in Marcellus/Utica”