Was PA DEP Justified in Shutting Down All ME2 Pipe Construction?
The news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has suspended all construction work on the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project until further notice continues to reverberate (see PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). MDN has taken some heat for our implication that the main reason for the shutdown is pressure from radical Big Green groups. While we maintain our view is not incorrect, we also don’t want to leave the impression that there aren’t problems that need to be addressed with ME2 construction. There are. And the DEP is right to address them. What we DO take issue with is a complete shutdown of ALL construction. If the underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work is the primary issue, shut that down–but not all construction, including trench work. At any rate, we spotted a story about a landowner in Cumberland County who says his private water well was fouled when ME2 construction began–and it’s still not right. Below is his story as an example of what the DEP *should* be paying attention to…
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The difference between the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) with respect to the issue of shale drilling is striking. The SRBC wisely knows it is not charged with regulating oil and gas drilling within their borders. They are charged with (and do a great job of) managing the water resources within the basin. On the other hand, the DRBC is populated with ultra-liberals who disregard Constitutional law and have taken it on themselves to simply ban shale drilling within their basin. A court case is now playing out that will slap the DRBC back into its proper role. The DRBC claims the water that flows through the basin provides drinking water for 15 million people, including New York City. The SRBC provides drinking water for 4.1 million people. If fracking really does “harm” the environment–specifically water resources–you would think with thousands of Marcellus wells drilled in the SRBC area something would have shown up long ago. But it has not–which exposes the lies being used to try and stop fracking in the DRBC area. In December Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research entered the lion’s den–by giving a presentation and answering questions at a meeting of the Upper Delaware Council, held in Narrowsburg, NY. David Yoxtheimer from MCOR compared the SRBC to the DRBC and used science to debunk many of the wild claims heard in DRBC’s efforts to ban fracking. While Yoxtheimer’s presentation was by-the-book and based on science (he’s not a combative guy), there’s no missing the fact that he obliterated the anti-fracking arguments put forth by the DRBC…
The current cold snap and resulting high prices for natural gas in New York City and Boston are happening for one simple reason: lack of pipelines. In particular, as we pointed out yesterday, much of the blame can be laid at the feet of New York’s corrupt governor, Andrew Cuomo (see 
We suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has caved to intense pressure from a cabal of Big Green groups and has told Sunoco Logistics Partners to suspend all work on the $2.5 billion Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipline–from one side of the state to the other. Just yesterday MDN told you about the mounting pressure on the DEP to halt ME2 work, particularly work on underground horizontal directional drilling (see 
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection suspended all work on the Mariner East 2 NGL Pipeline project (see today’s lead story, PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). The project has been vigorously opposed by antis in the greater Philadelphia area from the beginning. Their opposition stems from a deeper philosophical preference to end the use of fossil fuels. Last September, MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Garland Thompson at the Shale Insight event in Pittsburgh. Garland, who lives in Philly, has written for the Career Communications Group of publications, including US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & IT, and their siblings Woman of Color and Science Spectrum, for many years. He’s covered the shale revolution for those publications since 2008–before MDN began writing about it! Jim had an interesting conversation with Garland, about the need to educate folks, particularly the folks in the greater Philly area, about the benefits of pipelines. Springboarding on yesterday’s news, Garland has written a great opinion piece pointing out that opposition to the Mariner East pipelines (plural) is misguided and shortsighted. Garland builds a case for why everyone in the Philly region should want to see these important projects get built…
In November Williams filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to upgrade certain facilities in New Jersey along Williams’ mighty Transco Pipeline (see 
In mid-December MDN told you that the Leach XPress project–some ~160 miles of new natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle which will flow 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas all the way to Leach, Kentucky (hence the name)–would go online January 1st (see 
Just yesterday MDN warned you about a group of antis who had seized political control in the Pennsylvania borough of Jessup, where Invenergy is nearing completion of the state’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant (see 
Sunoco Logistics Partners continues to feel the heat over their construction of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project. Most of the heat comes from underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD)–drilling holes to install pipelines under structures like roads and streams, in places where you can’t just dig a trench. The problem is that sometimes the mud used to cool the drill bit for HDD work “leaks” or disappears into cracks and crevices, and sometimes the drilling mud ends up coming back to the surface. It’s called an “inadvertent return.” Bear in mind that drilling mud is otherwise known as bentonite–a nontoxic clay mixture. Bentonite is the same chemical compound used to make kitty litter, toothpaste and all sorts of cosmetics. It’s totally safe for the environment–unless you spill a lot of it and smother little critters like salamanders and fishies. Several Big Green groups sued to stop ME2’s HDD work last year. In August, Sunoco “settled” that lawsuit. The terms of the “settlement” called for Sunoco to reevaluate and resubmit plans for HDD drilling at 47 locations for review by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Since that time more spills have occurred, and keep occurring (see 
Dominion recently received an important approval from Murrysville, PA (Westmoreland County) Council to expand the existing JB Tonkin compressor station. The expansion is part of Dominion’s Supply Header Project, a $500 million project of approximately 38 miles of natural gas pipeline and modified existing compression facilities in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The project will provide natural gas supplies to various customers, including (most importantly) the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) Dominion plans to begin building this year. Some residents resisted the approval voicing concerns about noise. As part of the approval, Dominion agreed to conduct a post-construction noise survey, even though technically they don’t have to. Here’s an update on the Murrysville approval of this important piece of what ultimately will feed ACP…
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined CNX Resources (formerly CONSOL Energy/CNX Gas) $433,500 for violations at four shale well sites in Greene County, PA. The violations, which happened in 2015/2016, include failure to control and dispose of wastewater properly and failure to prevent erosion. Some of the flowback/wastewater ended up in a small stream called Jacobs Run. We always find the language of these announcements by the DEP somewhat strange: “CNX Gas Company, LLC (CNX) has agreed to two civil penalties totaling $433,500 for violations at well sites in Greene County.” Really? The company getting fined has to “agree” to accept the fine? Apparently we don’t fully understand how regulatory agencies work in PA. What if CNX didn’t agree to the fine? Would the DEP come back with a lower amount, “Will you accept this fine instead?” But we digress. CNX themselves noticed the problems and self-reported the violations. After doing so, they fired two of the service companies they were using. The unnamed service companies were obviously guilty of cutting corners that resulted in improper disposal of wastewater. Interesting factoid: Half of all the wells CNX has drilled in PA are located in Greene County…
It’s been a long road, but we’re finally close to startup for the first phase of what will be Pennsylvania’s largest gas-fired electric generating plant near Scranton, PA. The Invenergy plant, dubbed the Lackawanna Energy Center (located in the community of Jessup), will produce 1,480 megawatts of electricity when it’s fully built and running. Construction crews are hard at work in frigid temperatures, working to complete the first of three combined-cycle generator units. The work is 80% done on the first unit and on track to be completed by February. The plant is certainly having an impact on locals–both good and bad. On the bad side, we previously reported that antis in the Jessup community exacted their revenge on local political leaders for approving the plant by removing them from office (see 
Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project recently asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin clearing trees along the path of the pipeline in all three states where the pipeline will run: West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. FERC approved the project in October (see 
In July, West Goshen Township, in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester County, won a temporary victory in their efforts to stop Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline in their community (see 
A group of six radical Democrats who oppose the Mariner East 2 pipeline through southeast Pennsylvania met yesterday with Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf to gripe and moan–and to ask Wolf to illegally shut down construction of the pipeline (a pipeline which is now 91% done). Wolf politely listened–and then did nothing. Which is good. The radicals hold out hope that Wolf will change his mind and use his executive authority under Title 35 (dealing with health and safety) as an excuse to shut down all ME2 construction. Good luck with that. A statement issued later in the day by a Wolf spokesman seems to indicate the governor is punting any decisions about shutting down construction over to the Public Utility Commission. Yesterday the PUC vote to allow already-shut-down ME2 construction in one SE PA town to resume (see today’s story, PA PUC Votes to Let ME2 Pipeline Restart Construction in West Goshen). All of which says to us that Wolf won’t do a thing to stop completion of ME2, which angers the radicals all the more…
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) held its first public meeting with Kevin McIntyre as its new chairman. Delivering on a promise McIntyre made during his Senate confirmation hearing, the new chairman announced that FERC will conduct a top-to-bottom review of its 1999 policy statement that governs how the commission conducts reviews of pipeline projects. The news lit up the swamp (inside the Beltway of Washington, D.C.), with Big Green groups becoming positively giddy at the thought that FERC may “get serious” about considering the hoax of man-made global warming in its decisions on whether or not to authorize new pipelines. At this point, the review and what it may result in, is all speculation. The statement released by FERC following yesterday’s meeting (see it below) says, in essence, “stay tuned” and offers no details about this top-to-bottom review. The greenies are speculating, so why can’t we? We speculate that following this review, FERC will figure out a way to cut down on the frivolous lawsuits filed by Big Green groups that delay pipeline projects for years. And we speculate that FERC will figure out how to handle rogue states, like New York, who refuse to obey federal law. What if that’s the end result of this review? Don’t forget, four of the five members sitting on the Commission are Trump appointees–and three of those four are Republicans. You really think this commission is going to introduce man-made global warming flummery as part of the criteria they use in evaluating a new pipeline project? If you think that, we want some of what you’re smoking…