Regulation

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    PA DEP Allows ME2 Underground Drilling to Resume in Chester County

    In what can only be considered a government shakedown, Sunoco Logistics Partners agreed last week to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). So we’re not surprised to learn that a few days later the DEP has magnanimously allowed Sunoco Logistics Partners to resume drilling work in Chester County for ME2–work that had been on hold since last summer (see ME2 Pipe Work in Chester County Creates Water Well Issue for Some). As we reported last year, the water wells for a dozen households in Chester County became cloudy–or lost pressure–after underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) by Sunoco attempting to install pipes underground in places where digging trenches will not work. Sunoco paid for five families to temporarily stay in local hotels for several nights. Sunoco also provided bottled water for all of the affected families. The working theory is that bentonite clay (i.e. drilling mud) is the source of the cloudiness. Fortunately, bentonite is non-toxic and used to manufacture many products, including toothpaste and kitty litter. Because of the episode in Chester and several locations, the DEP stopped HDD work for the project. Sunoco later cut a deal to continue the work (see Sunoco Strikes Deal with Devil, “Settles” with Anti Groups re ME2). Then, all work everywhere for the ME2 project was stopped by the DEP in early January. That is, it was stopped until Sunoco paid the DEP $12.6 million for permission to restart construction. So yes, $12.6 million ought to buy the right to restart HDD drilling in Chester County, as it just has, although the DEP is still holding the threat of “further penalties” over Sunoco’s head as a way of encouraging them to avoid any further drilling mud spills…
    Read More “PA DEP Allows ME2 Underground Drilling to Resume in Chester County”

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    Rover Pipeline’s SWPA Burgettstown Lateral Ready for Startup

    Click map for larger version

    On Tuesday, Rover Pipeline (Energy Transfer Partners) sent an official request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for permission to begin service on one of the remaining legs of the pipeline not yet up and running as part of Phase 1 development. Rover wants to begin service on the Burgettstown Lateral by Feb. 26. The Burgettstown Lateral (see the map below) extends from Burgettstown (Washington County), PA through Hancock County, WV and into eastern Ohio, connecting to the main Rover Pipeline in Carroll County. The Burgettstown Lateral is 51.3 miles long and includes a compressor station in/near Burgettstown to push the gas along the entire length of the lateral. Rover still maintains they will have the entire Rover Pipeline network up and running by the end of March. There are still some areas in Ohio where they are working (drilling for a second pipeline under the Tuscarawas River), however, most of the work remaining to be done is in Michigan–Phase 2 of the project. When it’s all done, up and running, Rover will flow 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus/Utica gas to the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada. Below is Rover’s request to “start me up” for the Burgettstown Lateral, along with a map of the lateral…
    Read More “Rover Pipeline’s SWPA Burgettstown Lateral Ready for Startup”

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    WV Co-Tenancy Bill Survives Challenge, Amended, Final Vote Today

    Two days ago we reported that the West Virginia House of Delegates was due to vote on House Bill (HB) 4268, the “Co-tenancy Modernization and Majority Protection Act” (see WV Votes on Co-Tenancy Bill Today; Anti Gets Mouthy, “Dragged” Away). In WV there are often multiple rights owners listed for a property–sometimes 200 or more rights owners for a single piece of property! It is often difficult, if not impossible, to track them all down and get them all to sign on the dotted line. Co-tenancy corrects that situation. A vote by the full House didn’t end up happening on Tuesday, as originally predicted. Amendments to the bill were offered. One of the amendments would have changed the ratio of rights owners who must sign on the dotted line to allow leasing from 75% all the way up to 90%–which isn’t feasible. Fortunately that amendment was voted down 57-40. However, another amendment–to reallocate half of the unclaimed royalties to fund health insurance for public employees including teachers–did pass (50-47). In the original bill 100% of unclaimed royalty revenue was to be used to cap orphan wells. Now the orphans only get half the funding. Perhaps most importantly, an amendment to limit co-tenancy to properties with seven or more rights owners passed 90-6. That amendment is intended to keep WV out of family squabbles, where just a few people own the mineral rights. The now fully-amended, fully-discussed bill is ready for a final final House vote, which is scheduled for today. After the House votes, it’s on to the Senate. Below are reports about the amendment process in the House…
    Read More “WV Co-Tenancy Bill Survives Challenge, Amended, Final Vote Today”

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    PA DEP Wants to Boost Shale Fees 250% to Help Fund Non-Shale Work

    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 last week with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well (see PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%). The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times (250%) higher. The DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) met yesterday to discuss the permit fee increase. It was DEP Deputy Sec. Scott Perry’s job to be the point guy, the spear catcher to stick up for this insane hike in fees. We understand…The DEP has fewer people working there than it once did and needs to hire more. (Although the DEP somehow found half a million bucks lying around to hire 92 interns to help out. See PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns). PA Gov. Tom Wolf wants to slap a new severance tax on shale drillers to give their money away to Philadelphia teacher’s unions. The DEP (an executive agency, part of the Wolf administration) is taking a page from Wolf’s playbook. The DEP wants to slap this insanely high fee on shale drillers to (in part) cover the expenses associated with non-shale activities. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Mr. Perry said they [shale permit fees] fund the broad scope of the [DEP] office’s operations, including its oversight of traditional [i.e. conventional] oil and gas wells, gas storage wells, abandoned wells and earthmoving activities.” How is it, in any sense, fair to hike the fees of shale drillers so DEP agents can better keep an eye on non-shale wells? Kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul…
    Read More “PA DEP Wants to Boost Shale Fees 250% to Help Fund Non-Shale Work”

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    Antis Pressure Maryland Gov. Hogan to Reject Pipeline Under Potomac

    Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan

    In April 2017, MDN brought you the news that Columbia Pipeline (now owned by TransCanada) had filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build a 3.5 mile, 8-inch pipeline that will carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to connect the Mountaineer Gas system in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia with the Columbia Gas Pipeline in Pennsylvania (see New 3.5 Mile Pipeline Project to Drill Under the Potomac River). That tiny section of pipeline is part of the larger Eastern Panhandle Expansion project–a project to deliver natural gas via local distribution channels (local utility Mountaineer Gas) to a new industrial facility in Berkeley County, WV, and to provide gas to other local businesses and residents in the Tri-State area. Anti fossil fuel nutters have been on a rampage to stop the pipeline from going under the Potomac since last summer (see Mountaineer Pipeline Under Potomac Latest Focus of Anti Movement). To hear them talk, you’d think this is the first time a pipeline has been drilled under the Potomac River. However, TransCanada, via its Columbia Pipeline subsidiary, has already built and operates 12 other pipelines that go under the Potomac River–just in the State of Maryland! Have you ever heard a peep about those pipelines and an environmental holocaust they’ve created? No. Why? Because putting a pipeline under a river is no big deal. It doesn’t harm the environment. Yet that’s what antis are claiming and will claim in a protest march today, aimed at pressuring the weak-willed Republican Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, into blocking this tiny, 3.5 mile project…
    Read More “Antis Pressure Maryland Gov. Hogan to Reject Pipeline Under Potomac”

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    Kentucky Antis File Lawsuit to Stop TGP NGL Pipe Reversal

    Kentucky antis have gone to court to try and block a plan by Kinder Morgan to convert a portion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that flows natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the northeast, to reverse the pipeline and flow natural gas liquids from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf. Part of the 964-mile project runs through Kentucky (see KM Plans to Convert Tennessee Gas Pipeline to Flow M-U NGLs South). The first step in the reversal process was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last October (see FERC Advances Plan to Reverse Part of TGP to Haul M-U NGLs to Gulf). Antis in Kentucky got their bluegrass knickers in a twist over FERC’s action. They filed a request for “rehearing” of FERC’s decision, which is the first step in a process that typically ends up in court. First the “aggrieved party” (antis are in a perpetual state of being aggrieved) must request a rehearing. If FERC denies the rehearing request, antis (Big Green groups with deep pockets representing them) then file a lawsuit in federal Appeals Court to try and stop FERC from continuing to approve the project. Normally FERC has 30 days to decide on a rehearing, however, they have a little tactic they call a “tolling order” which allows them to extend the amount of time to make a rehearing decision–indefinitely. FERC pulled out the tolling order card and played it with the TGP project last November (see FERC Frustrates Kentucky Radicals Seeking to Stop TGP Pipe Reversal). The antis aren’t waiting. They’ve just filed a lawsuit challenging the FERC tolling order. Here’s the latest from the enviro nuts in the Bluegrass State…
    Read More “Kentucky Antis File Lawsuit to Stop TGP NGL Pipe Reversal”

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    More on Unintended Consequences for Pipelines from Trump Tax Cut

    As we reported last week, President Trump’s marvelous tax cut has had some unintended (negative) consequences for pipeline companies (see Trump Tax Cut has Unintended Consequences for Pipeline Projects). Trade groups and some states are pressuring the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to force pipeline companies to cut the rates they charge customers in light of the Trump tax cut. The corporate tax rate is going from 35% down to 21%. When pipelines file rate cases for how much they will charge customers to flow gas (or oil or whatever else) through the pipeline, part of the calculation for what FERC allows them to charge is based on profitability. Since pipeline companies will now be a whole lot more profitable (tax payments going down), the customers using those pipelines want the rates recalculated to reflect the savings. In other words, they want part of the tax savings too. But the pipeline companies say they have duly signed contracts in place. You can’t just rework a single portion of those contracts with the sweep of a pen. What about other components in the contract that are used in calculating prices? In some (many?) cases pipeline companies have borne *increased* costs that are not passed along to customers. If the customers (mainly utility companies) want FERC to adjust rates now, based on the Trump tax cut, they may not like how those rates get adjusted considering all the other factors that could/should be changed. Maybe they’ll go up instead of down! As we said last week, a trouble is brewing between utilities and the pipelines that feed them. Here’s more background and insight into the brewing trouble…
    Read More “More on Unintended Consequences for Pipelines from Trump Tax Cut”

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    FERC Grants MVP OK to Begin Pipeline Construction in Virginia & W.V.

    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: Wetzel, Harrison, Doddridge, Lewis and Braxton counties (see Mountain Valley Pipe Gets FERC Approval to Begin WV Construction). That was MVP’s very first permission to begin construction-related activities. It was the trickle. The flood gates burst open late last week when FERC began issuing what is (so far) four new orders. The new orders grant MVP permission to continue not only tree clearing and building roads, but also to begin construction of the actual pipeline itself. That is, digging trenches and laying steel in the ground–not only in WV, but also in Virginia. Construction is now under way in multiple counties in both states. We lay out where MVP is getting built, and what activities are now green lighted by FERC, below…
    Read More “FERC Grants MVP OK to Begin Pipeline Construction in Virginia & W.V.”

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    ME2 Pipeline’s $12.6M Shakedown Money Won’t Pay for Cleanup

    Last week MDN brought you the news that Sunoco Logistics Partners had agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). Supposedly Sunoco’s ME2 construction activities have caused a few erosion issues here and some drilling mud leaks there–so-called “harms” to the environment. Surely some of the massive, historically high $12.6 million fine Sunoco is paying will be used to “fix” those problems, right? Wrong. Every single penny is going to other pockets (black holes) within the DEP, proving our contention that this was nothing more than a shakedown by a government agency. Essentially Sunoco had to pay DEP mobsters a “bribe” in order to restart work on the ME2 project. The DEP had Sunoco by the short hairs, blocking any new work until the money was paid. So what about “cleaning up” the problems created by ME2 construction? “[I]t’s highly likely that Sunoco will be required to clean up the damage caused by its botched construction, in addition to paying the penalty,” according to a former DEP Secretary. If that doesn’t beat all. Fine them AND make them pay even more for the cleanup. Welcome to doing business in Pennsylvania…
    Read More “ME2 Pipeline’s $12.6M Shakedown Money Won’t Pay for Cleanup”

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    Big Green Targets PA Marcellus via DEP Water Quality Review

    The efforts by radical environmental groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and PennFuture to try and shut down the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania never stop. Like ocean waves that continue to crash into the shoreline, Riverkeeper and PennFuture constantly, regularly, launch new initiatives aimed at hassling, slowing, stopping and reversing the Marcellus industry. Sometimes (often) their efforts are focused on filing frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes it’s a publicity stunt/protest. And sometimes they take aim at regulatory bodies, like the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). It is that last one that is the focus of a new campaign to stifle the Marcellus industry. Every three years the DEP conducts a review of water quality standards. Riverkeeper and PennFuture have put the call out to their radical faithful to inundate the DEP with public comments (due by Feb. 16) to create new regulations that will “protect” PA streams “from impacts like brine gas drilling wastewater” and “road salt applications in the winter”–perfectly safe salt that comes from processed wastewater. In other words, this is yet another attempt to shut down the drilling industry by neutering its ability to properly dispose of brine wastewater…
    Read More “Big Green Targets PA Marcellus via DEP Water Quality Review”

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    PA Auditor General Goes After SRBC, DRBC with “First-Ever” Audits

    2/14/18 Update: Shortly after this post went live, MDN received a tip from a reliable source that sheds more light on the audit and why DePasquale is moving forward with it. (Hint: He’s being forced to.) See our note below.

    This should be interesting to watch. Democrat partisan hack PA Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is about to conduct an in-depth (very invasive and painful) “audit” of the finances for both the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) AND the out-of-control Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). That is, we have a Democrat turning on some of his own. DePasquale previously audited the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection during the administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. DePasquale’s “audit” highlighted problems that had already been fixed, for years (see DEP to DePasquale: Problems Fixed Years Ago, Where Have You Been?). It was a political stunt, meant to embarrass Tom Corbett and shame the Marcellus industry. When that didn’t work, DePasquale ran a sham audit two years later looking at the impact tax–the money raised by shale drilling–that looks and acts and walks and quacks like a severance tax in PA (see PA Anti-Drilling Auditor General Bashes Impact Fee Spending). His audit found the system needs better paperwork. Yeah, that’ll fix things. More paperwork. DePasquale’s targets have been Republicans and the things they like, as in drilling. So it surprised us to learn that DePasquale will now go after (at least in the case of the DRBC) some of his own. Perhaps DePasquale will “discover” all sorts of nasty problems with the SRBC, but the DRBC will be clean and pure as the wind-driven snow. That’s what we expect from a partisan hack like DePasquale…
    Read More “PA Auditor General Goes After SRBC, DRBC with “First-Ever” Audits”

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    Trump Infra. Plan Will Spur New Pipe Projects; Overrule States?

    On Monday, President Trump released a $200 billion infrastructure plan that he hopes will generate $1.5 trillion in funding with states, local governments and the private sector. The ambitious plan aims to improve roads, bridges, airports, drinking water and wastewater systems, waterways, water resources, brownfields and Superfund sites, energy, rural infrastructure, public lands, and veterans’ hospitals. Compare Trump’s brass tacks get-it-done plan to Obama’s long-forgotten “shovel ready” B.S. plan. Trump knows how to get things done. Part of the infrastructure plan would speed up the permitting process for pipelines by removing Congress from the approval process for pipelines to cross national parks. Which, of course, has enviro lefties in a panic. Predictably, Democrats panned the plan. After all, they couldn’t get the job done, so they couldn’t possibly support someone from the other party who CAN get the job done. Below are the details of Trump’s “get it done” infrastructure plan, along with a Reuters story about how the plan (if adopted) may spur new pipeline projects. Reuters theorizes this plan may, among other things, remove recalcitrant states like New York from having a role in approving pipeline projects. Perhaps Trump’s plan can revive the Constitution Pipeline project!…
    Read More “Trump Infra. Plan Will Spur New Pipe Projects; Overrule States?”

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    WV Votes on Co-Tenancy Bill Today; Anti Gets Mouthy, “Dragged” Away

    Today a co-tenancy bill is due for a vote by the full House of Delegates and from there will get sent on to the WV Senate. Co-tenancy is NOT forced pooling. It is legislation that will give a majority of rights owners in a property the authority to sign a lease on behalf of all the rights owners. In WV there are often multiple rights owners listed for a property–sometimes 200 or more rights owners for a single piece of property! It is often difficult, if not impossible, to track them all down and get them all to sign on the dotted line. Co-tenancy corrects that situation. In the current bill, House Bill (HB) 4268, if 75% of the rights owners agree to lease the property for oil and gas drilling, that’s “good enough.” The bill will open up more Marcellus and Utica acreage to be drilled. As we previously reported, almost everyone is in favor it, including landowner groups (see WV Co-Tenancy Bill Picks Up Support from Landowner Group). Last Friday, the House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee held a public hearing to gather more input from the public, and then voted to approve the bill, sending it to the full House for a vote. The public hearing was not without some drama. An anti-fossil fueler who is running for a House seat this fall, Democrat Lissa Lucas, got up to the mic during the public hearing and instead of addressing the merits (or lack thereof) for HB 4268, she proceeded to read the names of House members and contributions to their campaigns from the oil and gas industry. When asked to refrain from her stunt, she didn’t, so two men gently took her by the arms and escorted her out of the hearing. She now (hilariously) claims she was “dragged” out of the hearing. Here’s the latest on co-tenancy in WV–and the nutjobs who oppose it…
    Read More “WV Votes on Co-Tenancy Bill Today; Anti Gets Mouthy, “Dragged” Away”

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    Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines

    Limiting fracking to an impossibly small 150 acres (out of 12,620 acres) that make up Monroeville–a mere 1% of the acreage–is not enough of a ban for radical antis in the municipality of Monroeville (suburb of Pittsburgh). They want it all banned–every single centimeter. The only problem with that is the Act 13 law, passed in 2012, requires each municipality to allow drilling in at least one zoned area. But hey, disobeying the law isn’t a problem for antis–they do it all the time. They are anarchists by nature. Last October, Monroeville Council passed a temporary ban on oil and gas well drilling everywhere except for those areas marked M-2 industrial zoning–a big change (see Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places). Previously, drilling permits were “conditional use” in Monroeville, meaning each permit was evaluated on its own merits, regardless of which zoning district it was located in. By limiting drilling to M-2, Council effectively banned drilling in the municipality. They passed the temporary ban until they could pass a new zoning ordinance that would set the frack ban policy in concrete. In January, Monroeville Council advertised their new zoning ordinance to FURTHER RESTRICT any kind of oil and gas activity–not just drilling, but pipelines, compressor plants, etc.–to a 150-acre parcel located next to the city dump (see Monroeville Pushes Ban on NatGas Activity, Incl. Drilling & Plants). Fantastically, unbelievably, antis in Monroeville aren’t happy with that 150-acre parcel exception–an old dump! They want drilling at the dump banned too…
    Read More “Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines”

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    Harrison County, WV Commissioners Vote to Help Delayed Elec Plant

    Last June, the West Virginia Public Service Commission held a public hearing in Clarksburg, WV on the proposed ESC Harrison County Power Plant project (see Public Hearing Held for Harrison County, WV NatGas Electric Plant). ESC (Energy Solutions Consortium) was founded by father and son team Andrew and Matthew Dorn, based in Buffalo, NY. The Dorns are behind a series of WV natgas-fired electric plants, the first of which will get built in Marshall County (see Progress for 3 WV NatGas Electric Plants; 1 Breaks Ground in 2016). At the public hearing last June, the only person to speak against the project was from the Sierra Club–opposed because the Clubbers claim the plant will contribute to man-made global warming. Whatever. The PSC reported receiving 540 positive comments, and one negative comment. What does that tell you? Last July we reported the project still needs a few more permits (air and water) and was jumping through multiple government hoops to get them (see Harrison County, WV NatGas Electric Plant Close to Final Approval). Here we are, seven months later, and the project is STILL not fully permitted! What in the world is going on in WV? Why is it taking so long? Harrison County commissioners, hoping they can further goose the process and get it dragged across the finish line, will vote tomorrow to issue a resolution giving their full-throated support for the project. Let’s hope their vote of confidence finally does the trick…
    Read More “Harrison County, WV Commissioners Vote to Help Delayed Elec Plant”

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    Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum

    In October 2017, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling). Plum’s leaders got blowback from some residents (antis) over the decision to conditionally approve H&H’s request. In Plum, fracking is (or rather was) allowed in any zone if a conditional use is granted. That’s what happened in October–the Plum Council issued a conditional use exception for H&H to drill on 92 acres near Coxcomb Hill Road in Plum. To avoid dealing with more such conditional cases, Plum Council drafted proposed changes to their zoning ordinances (ordinances which haven’t been updated since 1993) that will only allow fracking in rural residential and industrial zones (see Plum, PA Officials Hold Hearing on New Restrictions for Fracking). H&H originally said the changes would be too restrictive. However, they later adopted a “half a loaf is better than no loaf” philosophy, opting to support the new rules. A compromise. In December, Plum Council moved ahead and adopted the new rules, and antis predictably blew a gasket (see Plum, PA Passes Ordinance to Allow Fracking – Antis Livid). How and why did Plum adopt such an ordinance? Especially given so many surrounding towns in Allegheny Township are outright hostile to drilling? Let’s pull the curtain back and probe the thought process Plum used to arrive at a compromise that appears to work for both sides…
    Read More “Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum”