PA Rep. Cris Dush, a Republican from Jefferson County, is about to introduce two bills that would either dissolve both the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) or withdraw PA from both compacts.
Read More “PA House Introducing Bills to Terminate DRBC, SRBC Compacts”
The annual 60-day legislative session in WV is now under way, beginning Jan. 8. The first bill of consequence introduced that would impact/help the oil and gas industry was House Bill (HB) 4001, designed to kick start a regional NGL hub and reassure China it’s OK to invest some of those promised $84 billion in the Mountain State (see WV Bill Would Establish Fund to Kick-start NGL Hub, Reassure China). Two more bills have now been introduced and appear to be on a fast track to adoption: HB 4090 (orphan wells) and HB 4091 (faster permits).
Read More “WV House Advances 2 O&G Bills: Orphan Wells & Faster Permits”
Two days ago MDN told you that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection has once again climbed up on its high horse and is now ordering Range Resources to “fix” a well they claim is leaking methane into the ground, causing nearby water wells and the ground itself to be contaminated (see PA DEP Orders Range to Fix Leaking Gas Well in Lycoming County). Range says the well is not at fault. The landowner whose land where the well is located also says the Range well is not at fault.
Read More “PA Landowner Says Range Well Didn’t Cause Methane Problem in Water”
Yesterday MDN told you that 16 highly partisan, far-left Democrat attorneys general had filed comments opposing President Trump’s plan to allow LNG (liquefied natural gas) to be transported by special rail cars (see 16 Democrat State AGs Oppose Trump Plan to Ship LNG via Rail). Just coming to light are comments filed by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also opposing the new LNG-by-rail regs, as written. However, there’s a big difference between the 16 Dem AGs and NTSB objections…
Read More “NTSB Urges Changes to PHMSA LNG-by-Rail Regs”
A slight tweak and correction to a story we ran last week in which we speculated that the first four mini-trains at Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG export facility are now up and running (see KM’s Elba Island LNG Makes Rapid Progress, Units 1-4 Now Online). We told you we could not find evidence in the FERC dockets that Unit #2 was in fact up and running, but we assumed it was. It was not. On Monday KM asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to start up Unit #2, saying it would be ready to rock-n-roll beginning tomorrow, Jan. 16. Our timing was just a tad off.
Read More “KM’s Elba Island LNG Asks FERC for OK to Start Up Unit 2”
A long-simmering dispute between the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Range Resources has once again erupted into the public over allegations that a Range well drilled in Lycoming County, PA back in 2011 is leaking methane into the surrounding ground and water supplies. The DEP has, for years, maintained faulty cement casing allows methane to leak, and Range maintains methane was already in the ground/water supply before it drilled the well. Who’s right?
Read More “PA DEP Orders Range to Fix Leaking Gas Well in Lycoming County”
MDN previously told you about unconfirmed rumors that the FBI is investigating the PA Gov. Tom Wolf administration over how permits came to be issued for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project (see FBI Investigates Wolf Admin for Corruption re ME Pipe Permits). The allegation/rumor is that Wolf and/or members of his staff pressured the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to approve permits for the pipeline project in return for something (money or something else). Two different law firms seized on the rumor as reason enough to launch speculative class action lawsuits for shareholders, accusing Energy Transfer (the builder) of corruption (see 2nd Class Action Lawsuit Against ET/Sunoco re Mariner East Pipe). A third such lawsuit was filed last week–this one by a public employee retirement fund.
Read More “3rd Lawsuit Filed Against Energy Transfer re Mariner Corruption”
For years Pennsylvania’s small, independent conventional oil and gas drillers have objected to the one-size-fits-all regulations concocted by the Gov. Tom Wolf Administration that applies the same regulations to them as to big shale drillers. The two types of drilling are apples and oranges. To make small drillers jump through the same hoops as big shale drillers will bankrupt many of the smaller drillers. So in 2016, PA’s conventional drillers filed a lawsuit to block Wolf’s new regs from going into effect (see PA Conventional Drillers File Lawsuit to Stop New DEP Regulations).
Read More “Bill Separating PA Conventional from Shale Regs Advances in Senate”
This no longer qualifies as a minor miracle, it’s a MAJOR miracle. The Cuomo-corrupted New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has just approved the only remaining way NY benefits from the Marcellus–by allowing a landfill in Steuben County to expand so it can accept more drill cuttings from PA Marcellus drillers.
Read More “NY DEC Approves Landfill Expansion to Accept More PA Drill Cuttings”
Yesterday President Trump announced a list of proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in an effort to strip away some of the governmental red tape that’s built up over the years like plaque in an artery, preventing important infrastructure projects like pipelines, dams, bridges and roads from getting built. Over the past 20 years or so the left has become adept in their use of NEPA to block new projects, claiming environmental harms. Trump wants to reverse that trend. And that drives extremist greens berserk.
Read More “Trump Seeks to Speed Up Pipeline Projects by Tweaking NEPA Law”
The West Virginia legislature kicked off its 2020 60-day session yesterday with a bang–at least for the shale energy industry. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw introduced House Bill 4001, aimed at reassuring China it’s OK to begin investing some of that $84 billion they promised to invest in WV’s shale and downstream sector. The bill also would help fund the Appalachian NGL Storage and Trading Hub project and other big petrochemical projects (maybe even a cracker plant!).
Read More “WV Bill Would Establish Fund to Kick-start NGL Hub, Reassure China”
The Lorax Judge strikes again. One year ago the Virginia State Air Quality Board, at the prompting of Gov. Ralph Northam, voted to approve a low-emissions compressor station for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), to be built about an hour outside of Richmond, Virginia (see Va. State Agency Approves Atlantic Coast Pipe Compressor Stn). Big Green groups with deep pockets litigated that decision, making the disgusting claim that the compressor station is “racist” because it will be built in a community founded by emancipated slaves following the Civil War.
Read More “4th Circus Clown Judges Nix Va. Compressor Permit for AC Pipe”
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, “blindsided” the shale industry in February 2018 with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well by 2 1/2 times, or 250% (see PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%). The industry reacted, negatively. It’s taken nearly two years, but on Jan. 21 the DEP’s Environmental Quality Board will meet to finalize and activate the new insanely high fee schedule.
Read More “PA DEP to Finalize 250% Hike in Shale Permit Fee on Jan 21”
The companies behind PennEast Pipeline, a $1.2 billion new greenfield pipeline project from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ, have not given up on the long-delayed project. As we told you in November, PennEast plans to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (on Feb. 3) to overcome a lower court ruling that prevents PennEast from using eminent domain in New Jersey for some of the route (see PennEast Pipe to Appeal Bungled Fed Court Decision to US Supremes). Since the original Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) certificate authorizing construction of the project expires on Jan. 19, 2020, PennEast asked FERC to extend it another two years (see PennEast Pipe Still Hopeful, Asks FERC for 2-Year Extension). Three Big Green groups have filed an objection, asking FERC to kill the project now.
Read More “Big Green Groups Ask FERC to Deny PennEast Pipe More Time”
On Jan. 15 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environment Protection’s (DEP) Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board will meet to hear a presentation on a draft Horizontal Drilling Pipeline Construction Guidance and stakeholder report. The so-called guidance is the first step in adopting new regulations (i.e. laws) to govern underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for pipeline projects.
Read More “PA DEP Proposes New Horizontal Pipeline Drilling Regulations”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just issued the largest single fine to any single company in its history–$30.6 million assessed on Energy Transfer for the explosion of the Revolution Pipeline–a gathering pipeline located in southwestern PA. The fine, along with new plans and assurances by ET, means the company can finally, some 17 months after the explosion, fix the damaged pipeline and return it to service.
Read More “ET Allowed to Fix/Restart Revolution Pipe…After Record $30M Fine”