OH Law May Keep 7th Anti-Frack Measure Off Youngstown Nov. Ballot
In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see Youngstown Antis Seek to Legalize Anarchy with 7th CELDF Petition). The same people have tried six times before–and the ballot measure failed every single time. However, this time is different. In addition to the usual no fracking, no pipelines pablum, this 7th petition has language that makes it legal to break the law. If the ballot measure were to pass, and if an anti got it into her head to sit in front of a bulldozer that was about to clear ground for a wellpad, or dig a trench for a pipeline, the police would not be able to arrest and remove the anti. It would be within her rights to sit there and block legal, legitimate activity–all in the name of saving Mom Earth. It would create mob rule. The sad news is that the petition garnered enough signatures to appear on the ballot this November (see Youngstown Frack Ban Vote on November Ballot – for 7th Time). The happy news is that under a new Ohio state law giving county boards of elections more discretion, the Mahoning County Board of Elections will almost certainly block the measure from appearing on the November ballot–because the anti-frack ballot measure conflicts with established state law that only the state can regulate the oil and gas industry…
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In April 2016 the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) caved to corrupt political pressure from Andrew Cuomo and denied the Williams Constitution Pipeline a necessary federal 401 stream crossing permit, blocking the project (see 
Last week National Fuel Gas Company, headquartered in Western New York State with drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources and pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline, issued its third quarter (everyone else’s second quarter) 2017 update. NFG produced 567 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas last quarter, a 6% increase over the same quarter a year ago. NFG realized an average price of $2.94 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), up $0.08 per Mcf from the prior year. Compare that with Antero’s hedged average of $3.41/Mcf (see today’s story about Antero 2Q17). NFG CEO Ronald Tanski had some interesting remarks with respect to the company’s stalled Northern Access Pipeline project. As you may recall, the Andrew Cuomo New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is blocking Northern Access, like they blocked the Constitution Pipeline and a tiny spur project for the Millennium. Because NFG’s Northern Access project is stalled, they are shifting their budget and drilling further west, to do Utica drilling in locations where there is already pipeline infrastructure. So this is yet another case of the NY screwing up Marcellus drilling PA that would otherwise be happening. Landowners in PA can thank NY Gov. Cuomo for screwing them over. Tanski also mentioned the court case for Northern Access, and that FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) may step in and overrule the NY DEC, as is now being considered in the Constitution Pipeline case (see today’s lead story). Here’s the update from NFG…
For those of us who have long supported the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project, it seems like it has taken FOREVER for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue final water and air permits for the pipeline. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project, most of which will get built in northeast Pennsylvania. In an attempt to get the DEP moving, Williams co-hosted an event a few weeks ago in Wyoming County to pressure the DEP into granting final permits (see 
In late January, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Norman Bay announced he was quitting, in a huff, because President Trump has elevating another commission member to be chairperson (see 
On July 25th, a Pennsylvania state environmental judge issued an order blocking all underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) work being done across the state to install the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline (see 
We’ve noticed a meme, largely started by an Associated Press article endlessly repeated and published in dozens of news outlets across Pennsylvania, that the recent budget deal (with a severance tax) passed by the traitorous Republican-controlled PA Senate “jams a shale tax and industry permits into unhappy package” that now sits before a House that essentially has no choice but to adopt it. Here’s the establishment “received wisdom” in a nutshell: Drillers don’t get what they want (a severance tax), but they do get what environmentalist wackos don’t want (streamlined approvals for permits). And guess what? “That’s politics.” And if you don’t like it, on either side of the equation, you’re an unrealistic dope who doesn’t know anything about politics. We manifestly reject that assertion. Here’s why this deal is one sided–a severance tax only deal. Big Green groups with endless pockets to fund litigation factories are already talking about how if this budget is passed with what they want (a high severance tax) but also with what they don’t want (streamlined approvals for permits), no problem. They’ll just sue to remove the streamlined permits part, leaving drillers with the high severance tax. That’s how “fairness” works for Democrats and antis. Get part of what you want, then litigate the rest–force it on people who don’t want it. That’s the strategy laid out in the AP article claiming both sides are unhappy, implying it’s a good deal because both sides are getting something they want and something they don’t want. The clear signal being sent by environmentalists is that they’ll litigate their way to happiness. Meanwhile the Marcellus industry will get the shaft, which is why the House MUST reject this budget as written…
Yesterday the U.S. Senate finally approved Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as the newest commissioners for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Which means FERC now has a quorum of three voting members and can, once again, begin issuing final approvals for important pipeline projects that are currently stalled waiting for an approval. Among those important projects (in the Marcellus/Utica region) are Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline, PennEast Pipeline, NEXUS Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline. FERC has not had a quorum of three (or more) voting members since February, when Norman “cry baby” Bay left the commission in a huff in early February over being demoted as chairman of FERC to just regular member (see 
Just when you thought we’d heard the last of “Dimock” and “fracking poisons water” nonsense, the storyline as pushed by mainstream fake news has come roaring back to life–thanks to the Trump Administration. Dimock, Pennsylvania was made famous in Josh Fox’s faux documentary Gasland, which aired on HBO a bizillion times. It was Fox’s 15 minutes of fame. He lied about fracking, painting it as an evil practice that polluted water wells around Dimock. His lies were later exposed by a real documentary called 
What’s this? The Pennsylvania State Senate, which is controlled by the Republican Party, has added insult to injury. We’ve already told you about Republican traitors in the Senate who sold out their House counterparts by voting for a disastrous severance tax to raise money to give away to teachers’ unions (see 
New York’s corrupted Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is running scared. For 19 months the DEC has intentionally delayed granting a tiny, 9-mile spur Millennium Pipeline wants to build in Orange County, NY the necessary federal 401 stream crossing permit it needs. Millennium took the DEC to federal court, but the court refused to get involved, telling Millennium if the DEC is delaying, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) can jump in and override the DEC (see DC Court Tells Millennium FERC Can Override NY DEC Pipeline Delay). So that’s what Millennium did. They asked FERC to grant the stream crossing permits themselves (see 
As MDN has previously reported, Mountaineer XPress Pipeline includes 165 miles of new pipeline with approximately 2.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of transportation capacity from existing and future points of receipt along or near the Columbia pipeline system–most of it located in West Virginia (see 
Rover is Energy Transfer’s $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. On April 13, Rover workers experienced an “inadvertent return” of “horizontal directional drilling fluid”. That is, they sprung a leak and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of drilling fluid (see 
Last Friday MDN told you about two Democrat backbenchers trying to make trouble for Energy Transfer (via Rover Pipeline), as well as make trouble for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 