Trump Action Improves Pipeline Reviews by Federal Agencies
Eight months ago President Trump called for the government to speed up reviews and permitting of major infrastructure projects. It’s hard to drain the swamp–the entrenched bureaucracy that is Washington, D.C. resists it at every turn. But change it he has! On Monday, 12 federal agencies, including 7 cabinet-level departments of the Executive Branch, signed an agreement to better coordinate reviews and to guarantee that critical infrastructure projects can get reviewed and approved (or not approved) within a two-year period. Among those signing the agreement were the Department of Interior (DOI), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Infrastructure projects includes, prominently, pipeline projects. No more dilly dallying at one agency, and then a year later on to the next agency only to be repeated. Reviews will now be done concurrently (instead of sequentially), among other changes…
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Here’s one we didn’t see coming–a potential way to fix the ongoing disaster that is the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and their illegal attempt to regulate hydraulic fracturing within the Delaware River Basin under the claim they have the right to regulate anything that impacts groundwater. A Pennsylvania House of Representatives member, Dan Moul (Republican from Gettysburg), is about to introduce a bill that would replace the DRBC’s authority to regulate groundwater by vesting that authority solely in the hands of the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The problem is, the bill appears to be targeted more at the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) than DRBC. The bill will affect both organizations. Last time we checked, the SRBC does a fine job of regulating water withdrawals for fracking AND makes no attempt to regulate fracking, which the DRBC is attempting to do. But then, we don’t think this bill has the DRBC’s frack ban, nor fracking at all, in mind. It likely has more to do with farming and other water uses and some perceived shortcomings at the SRBC…
In September, MDN told you that the obsequious members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) had slavishly obeyed their radical environmental masters by voting to move forward with a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see 
The Commonwealth Foundation is Pennsylvania’s premier free-market think tank. The aim of the Foundation is to “transform free-market ideas into public policies so all Pennsylvanians can flourish.” We’ve highlighted their excellent work over the years. They’ve just done it again. The Commonwealth Foundation has just published a report called “The State of Natural Gas in Pennsylvania” (full copy below). The opening begins this way: “Pennsylvania’s regulatory and tax environment is stunting job growth and deterring investment. A decade after the Marcellus Shale boom, lawmakers are still debating how to tax the industry instead of fixing the policies contributing to Pennsylvania’s increasingly uncompetitive energy market.” At the end of the report the Foundation shows a severance tax comparison of existing severance taxes in other states that PA competes against, like Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma. The chart shows that the existing impact fee (in essence a severance tax) runs around 1.1%. The severance tax in Ohio is running around 0.7%, and in West Virginia 3.5%. In places like Texas, which increasingly competes against PA with prodigious quantities of natural gas production, the severance tax is 4.2%. However, Gov. Wolf’s proposed severance tax would be 5%–the highest in the nation except for New Mexico’s 7.9% (which doesn’t compete with PA). The report shows how PA is restricting Marcellus activity with over-regulation and a high corporate income tax…
Back in January MDN told you about West Virginia House Bill (HB) 4270, a bill that provides more transparency for landowners on their royalty statements (see 
EQT had to take their case all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but in the end, the company was victorious over a wildly overinflated $4.53 million fine levied by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County dating back to 2014 (see 
Last December the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued “draft final language” for the proposed General Permit 5A (GP-5A) and the revised General Permit 5 (GP-5)–regulations that supposedly will cut down on fugitive methane from escaping from drill pads and pipelines (see 
Two weeks ago Dominion Energy asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to extend tree cutting/felling season by an extra 45 days, from March 31 to May 15, in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina (see 
We are a country governed by the rule of law. Part of our system of laws (for better or worse) invests government bureaucracies with delegated power to make rules and regulations–which carry the weight of law. Children who are not disciplined (at home and at school) grow up to be adults who think silly things like rules don’t apply to them–because they don’t want them to. THE Delaware Riverkeeper falls into that camp. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rules and regulations in place to keep the agency from descending into chaos in reviewing and approving pipeline projects. One of FERC’s rules, which has been on the books for years, is that if a person or group wants to “intervene” (become an intervenor) in a project, they must file with FERC “in a timely manner.” FERC sets the amount of time, which varies with each project. It’s been our observation FERC gives at least 30 days, sometimes more, for folks to file to intervene. One of the sleazy strategies used by Riverkeeper is to get thousands of individuals (including children) to sign up as intervenors for a project in a quest to flood and overload the FERC system, slowing or stopping progress on a given project (see 
In January, MDN reported that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–had received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin tree clearing and construction of access roads and construction yards in five West Virginia counties (see 
Sunoco Logistics Partners has had its share of problems in building the Mariner East 2 (ME2) twin NGL pipelines that run from eastern Ohio all the way to Marcus Hook, near Philadelphia. The main issue with construction of the pipeline has been underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD)–drilling under things like roads and bridges and streams and rivers–places where you can’t just dig a trench to lay pipeline. Some early problems with HDD caused the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to shut down all ME2 HDD work (indeed all work period) for an extended period in January (see 
A debate is playing out in West Pike Run Township in Washington County, PA (near Pittsburgh) that we find interesting. A quick PA history lesson: Back in 2012 PA passed the Act 13 law to update oil and gas regulations to account for shale drilling. One of the updates was a uniform set of zoning requirements to protect residents and the environment. Unfortunately, seven selfish townships sued and eventually won (at the PA Supreme Court) challenging those regulations. So PA towns won the right to impose restrictions on drilling activities. In West Pike Run, the debate is over “setbacks”–how far does a well have to be from nearby structures, like homes and barns and businesses. State law imposes a minimum of 500 feet from the wellhead to an “occupied” structure–and 300 feet from the well to a body of water. In West Pike Run, antis want to up that number to 1,000 feet, which would effectively prevent any more drilling by EQT, the primary driller in the township. The town recently held a hearing on the proposed 1,000 foot setback, a hearing which has been continued to a future meeting on April 16…