Regulation

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    Unmasking PA DEP’s War on Shale via Methane Regulations

    Since the beginning of this year, MDN has warned our readers about a push by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to revise methane emissions rules, something called Air Quality General Permit 5 (GP-5), and Air Quality General Permit 5A (GP-5A). According to the DEP, proposed GP-5 and GP-5A, “establish updated Best Available Technology (BAT) requirements for the industry regarding air emission limits, source testing, leak detection and repair, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for the applicable air pollution sources.” The Marcellus industry perceives the changes to be a threat to the future of the industry in the state (see DEP GP-5 & 5A Regs – Imminent Threat to PA Marcellus Drilling). In March, MDN editor Jim Willis heard former PA DEP Secretary Mike Krancer say if GP-5A is enacted as written, it will result in a 12-18 month moratorium on new production in Pennsylvania (see Big News from the O&G Awards Northeast Industry Summit). This week Mike Krancer and another expert provided testimony to the PA House of Representatives State Government Committee Hearing about GP-5 and 5A, sounding the alarm and making the case that the PA DEP is unfairly targeting the shale industry with these revised regulations. We go a step further and call it a war on the shale industry…
    Read More “Unmasking PA DEP’s War on Shale via Methane Regulations”

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    Attack of the Clones: 10 PA Legislators Use Fractivist Form Letters

    It seems the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has some air cover in its war against the Marcellus Shale industry (see Unmasking PA DEP’s War on Shale via Methane Regulations). The DEP has support from 10 PA legislators who have become fractivist tools by all using the same form letter/template in writing to the DEP. It’s really kind of funny. Below we have a copy of all ten letters so you can see for yourself. The letter signers (since they didn’t actually write them) are from eight PA House Democrats (Dom Costa, Dan Frankel, Robert Freeman, Patty Kim, Stephen Kinsey, Daniel Miller, Greg Vitali, Jake Wheatley), and from two PA Senate Democrats (Art Haywood, Sharif Street). Each form letter starts the same way: “It is critical that as a Commonwealth we continue our efforts to protect our residents and the environment from emissions associated with natural gas drilling.” And the drivel goes on from there. Oh, each one varies a word here or there, but make no mistake, this is form letter fractivism, plain and simple. Look for yourself at the Attack of the Clones…
    Read More “Attack of the Clones: 10 PA Legislators Use Fractivist Form Letters”

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    PA Court Rules Compressor, Gas Well Not “Single” Emission Source

    A somewhat obscure court case in Pennsylvania has potentially big implications for drillers who also own pipeline subsidiaries. In Lycoming County, PA, Seneca Resources (subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Company) drilled a series of wells on a pad called Well Pad E. Another NFG subsidiary, NFG Midstream, connected gathering lines to Well Pad E. NFG Midstream operates a compressor station to push the gas through the pipeline system. Both the well pad and the pipeline/compressor station are subject to air emissions regulations by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Each subsidiary on its own–the well pad, and the compressor station–don’t produce enough emissions to trip a costly upgrade in technology. However, if you combine both together into a single “source,” the two together do cross the threshold and would cost NFG big bucks in emissions technology to comply. The DEP lumped both together and told NFG to upgrade their emissions technology. Thing is, if another company owned the pipeline system, say Williams, the DEP would not have tried combining the two into a single source. So NGF appealed the DEP decision to the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a quasi-court set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions. The EHB found in favor of the DEP, so NFG appealed it again, this time to PA Commonwealth Court. Last week the court overturned the DEP decision and said just because two subsidiaries have the same parent, you can’t just lump them together as a single source for air emissions regulations… Read More “PA Court Rules Compressor, Gas Well Not “Single” Emission Source”

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    Group Forms to Shill for High Electric Prices from PA Nuke Plant

    Exelon Corporation, the company that operates the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg (yes, THAT infamous TMI), is accomplishing what it set out to do. Nuclear power simply can’t compete against low-cost, abundant, clean-burning natural gas. And it’s losing. Just like coal did. But nuke plants produce a lot of electricity. And until the past few years, they’ve been quite profitable for the companies that own them. Not any more. So what do those companies, like Exelon, do? Ask the government to stack the deck, of course! Exelon recently announced they will close TMI in the next year or two–unless Pennsylvania behaves like socialist New York and Illinois to prop up the money-losing plant with subsidies. We wrote about this issue recently (see Nuke the Nukes: Harrisburg Battle to Prop Up Failing Nuke Energy). TMI is now the poster child. “Give us money, or we’ll shut ‘er down.” And with the threat of a shutdown, Exelon has enlisted local and state politicians to “sound the alarm” (i.e. shill) in order to “save jobs” and “save our communities” by injecting taxpayer and ratepayer money into these failing power plants… Read More “Group Forms to Shill for High Electric Prices from PA Nuke Plant”

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    Liberal DC Court Asks EPA to Respond to Lawsuit by Radical Enviros

    Yesterday we reported on the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s wise move to begin the process of rolling back Obama-era regulations on methane, designed to regulate the oil and gas industry (see Beginning of the End: EPA Issues 90-Day Stay for Methane Rule). Big Green groups with deep pockets sued a few days later, claiming the agency that instituted the rules in the first place (the EPA) shouldn’t be able to roll back the rules they themselves made up. Now, a federal court has somewhat agreed, telling the EPA they have to justify themselves by next week. Funny, the same court never tried to stop these rules in the first place, when 15 states sued to block their implementation. It seems the door only swings one way for the far-left Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C…. Read More “Liberal DC Court Asks EPA to Respond to Lawsuit by Radical Enviros”

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    Senate Committee Votes to Approve Trump’s FERC Nominees

    In May, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a confirmation hearing for two nominees for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 5 Climate Jihadists Disrupt Senate FERC Nominee Hearing). Neil Chatterjee, energy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Robert Powelson, a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission member and president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, were put through their paces, questioned by Senators for two hours. Yesterday the Senate committee members voted 20-3 to send these well-qualified men up for a vote from the entire Senate. Three far-left (frankly kooky) Democrats voted against: Crazy Bernie Sanders (Vermont), Ron Wyden (Oregon, need we say more?), and Mazie Harano (Hawaii, the senator nobody ever heard of). There is no word on when the glacial Senate will schedule a full vote–but it can’t come soon enough. FERC has been without a voting quorum since February. One person who eagerly anticipates the final confirmation is current Acting FERC Chair Cheryl LaFleur who has “expressed relief…the restoration of the commission’s quorum is within sight.” LaFleur said while FERC is “piling up quite a few cases for potential voting,” when the new boys arrive, there are bigger policy issues that the full commission needs to urgently address, including “taxation [and] master limited partnerships in the pipeline area.” FERC does a lot more than approve gas pipelines. Here’s the news of yesterday’s Senate vote, along with a look at what FERC’s current head sees as near-term priorities…
    Read More “Senate Committee Votes to Approve Trump’s FERC Nominees”

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    Youngstown Antis Float New Ballot Measure to Rig Elections

    Anti-fossil fuel agitators in Youngstown, aided and abetted and whipped into a frenzy by the radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have grown tired of losing. Six times now they have gotten enough signatures to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights (i.e. anti fracking) measure on the ballot for voters. And six times they have lost. As we reported in May, the nutters are making another run at it, placing an anti-fracking measure on the ballot for the seventh time. But this time there’s a twist–they want to legalize illegal actions of “civil” disobedience (see Youngstown Antis Seek to Legalize Anarchy with 7th CELDF Petition). That is, they want to break the law but not be held accountable for their actions. Now comes word the nutters aren’t stopping there. They plan to put a second measure on the Youngstown ballot in November. Both measures are loaded with anti-democratic regulations that would, if enacted, eliminate free speech by capping the amount of money that can be spent to campaign against their ballot measures. Nothing better than a loaded deck of cards when you sit down to play, right? The nutters also want to ban the use of money raised from wastewater treatment to be used on economic development projects. Let’s sum it up this way: Youngstown antis lose every time they float ballot measures related to fracking and fossil fuels, so know they want to change the rules (i.e. laws) to stack the deck in their own favor. What they can’t get at the ballot box, they now want to get by force, in legalizing civil disobedience. What they want to bring to Youngstown is, in a word, anarchy… Read More “Youngstown Antis Float New Ballot Measure to Rig Elections”

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    Beginning of the End: EPA Issues 90-Day Stay for Methane Rule

    The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Obama/McCarthy reign of terror, far overstepped its charter by seizing power that didn’t belong to it. In May 2016, the EPA issued new methane rules in a back-door way to try and regulate the oil and gas industry (see EPA Does it Again: Tries to Destroy O&G with New Methane Rule). In pretty short order several states sued to stop the order, which eventually turned into 15 states (see 15 States File Lawsuits to Block EPA O&G Methane Rule). The EPA claimed, at that time, that methane is leaking out of bore holes, pipelines, valves–just about everywhere on a well pad. And methane (as the fairy tale goes) is a gajillion times more “potent” than carbon dioxide when it comes to causing man-made global warming. The problem is, the EPA used estimates, calculations, algorithms, and spreadsheets as their “evidence.” They never went into the field and actually measured anything. Such a field study was done–by the EPA–in the Uinta Shale Basin in Colorado. In research published just last month, the EPA found it had overestimated methane leakage by 97% (see Study Finds Fugitive Methane from O&G 97% Less than EPA Estimates). The only rational thing to do is to stop the EPA’s rule and reevaluate it in light of this new evidence, which the EPA did last week. The EPA put a 90-day “stay” on implementing the Obama methane rule–which marks the beginning of the end for this terrible rule. Earlier this week, a group of radical environmental organizations (some of the worst of the worst) sued the EPA for stopping implementation of this illegal rule based on faulty science…
    Read More “Beginning of the End: EPA Issues 90-Day Stay for Methane Rule”

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    Sec. Perry: Obama Talked Clean Energy, Trump Will Actually Do It

    So often, what passes for “action” in the land of liberal Democrats is talk. As long as you mouth the right words, and as long as your intentions are “good,” that’s good enough. They never seem to be held to the standard of evaluating whether or not all of their hot air actually *produces* the intended result. The Obama administration was full of that kind of well-intentioned talk–but no results to show for all of their talk. Take the jobs and economy-killing Paris climate treaty as an example. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said, in a recent editorial, that Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Paris agreement is the right decision, one he fully supports. In responding to the hysterical Chicken Little “the sky is falling” enviro weenies now running around apoplectic about Trump’s action in ending a very poor agreement, Perry said: “Our work and deeds are more important than unenforceable words in a nonbinding agreement. Rather than preaching about clean energy, this administration will act on it.” Lib Dems just hate it when the truth is exposed for all to see… Read More “Sec. Perry: Obama Talked Clean Energy, Trump Will Actually Do It”

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    Sleazy: Former EPA Head Gina McCarthy Joins Pegasus Capital

    One of the things we admired about Donald Trump and his candidacy was his pledge that members of his administration would agree to a lifetime ban against lobbying for foreign powers, and a five-year ban on lobbying for American companies after leaving their jobs. It’s about time we cleaned up the sleaze in Washington–the revolving door of achieving power and then using (we’d call it abusing) their former position of power by becoming a lobbyist, or as it is sometimes called, an “advisor” in a firm. Advisor is just another name for lobbyist. Companies, oh say like Pegasus Capital (investment firm with boatloads of money) hires a former high-level official who has long tentacles still reaching into the agency they once worked in, oh say like Gina McCarthy at the Environmental Protection Agency. What do you know? It’s just happened. Pegasus has hired McCarthy as an “operating advisor.” Disgusting and sleazy… Read More “Sleazy: Former EPA Head Gina McCarthy Joins Pegasus Capital”

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    OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill

    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 Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). The leak did not spill into the Tuscarawas River (thankfully), but into a swamp (i.e. “wetland”) next to the river. As we pointed out at the time, “Fortunately the primary component of said drilling fluid is nontoxic bentonite–the same ingredient used to make shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste and kitty litter.” On Friday, the Columbus Dispatch reported the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) investigating the spill has found the presence of diesel fuel in the spilled mud. Diesel fuel IS toxic–and its presence is not a good thing. Furthermore, OEPA Director Craig Butler, who has been combative against Energy Transfer and the Rover project, claims an anonymous source tipped them that diesel fuel was being added to the drilling mud. So OEPA tested the spilled mud, and mud not yet used, and found “very very low levels” of diesel fuel, whatever that means. The original “proposed” (i.e. not yet officially assessed) fine by the OEPA was $431,000. Then OEPA said it would up the fine to $714,000 after storm water runoff became an issue (see OEPA & Rover at Odds Over Storm Water Runoff, “Fine” Now $714K). With the diesel fuel “revelation,” OEPA is upping their proposed fine to $914,000. Pretty soon we expect it will sail on by a cool $1 million. OEPA has presented their findings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the two remaining FERC commissioners have launched an investigation…
    Read More “OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill”

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    Pittsburgh Mayor Embarrasses Himself Following Trump Paris Speech

    Mayor Bill Peduto

    Last Thursday when President Trump committed to pulling the U.S. out of the horrible Paris climate treaty, he said this: “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” What do you think he meant by that statement? We watched the speech, and we immediately burst with pride that Trump was putting our citizens first. But the radical/left/Democrat mayor of Pittsburgh thought he would make some political hay from Trump’s speech, saying he was “personally offended” by Trump’s remark. Why? Mayor Bill Peduto said Trump’s remark evokes “a dated image of Pittsburgh as an old city stuck in the 19th century, relying on steel and coal.” Do you think that’s what Trump meant? Of course not. And Peduto knows it. He later admitted he knew what Trump meant when he said, “Maybe he should have a speech writer that understands the difference between cities and regions and not just try to use cute iteration in order to make a point.” Uh, Mr. Mayor, we think the word you wanted to use is “alliteration.” Obviously Trump was using a play on words, an alliteration that used the “p” sound for an American city to compare it with Paris. An iteration means to repeat something. Perhaps the reporter misquoted the mayor? Regardless, Pittsburgh and some 100 other cities (and a number of lefty states) have piled on since the Trump Paris announcement to say “we’ll still do Paris anyway.” Fine. Does that mean you’re willing to transfer billions of dollars from your citizens, to give it away to other countries, to achieve a 0.17 Celsius reduction in “global warming temperatures” by the year 2100? Because that’s exactly what the Paris “treaty” was all about–soaking Americans and giving their money (and jobs) to other countries. If you think the Paris treaty was actually about reducing temperatures across the globe, you are sorely mistaken… Read More “Pittsburgh Mayor Embarrasses Himself Following Trump Paris Speech”

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    WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue

    Earlier this week MDN reported on the recent West Virginia Supreme Court decision to reverse it’s earlier decision and allow EQT (and by extension, other drillers) to deduct some post-production expenses from royalties paid to landowners (see WV Supreme Court Reverses Itself, Post-Production Deductions OK). The Leggett v. EQT case turned on the meaning of three short words: “at the wellhead” (see WV Supreme Court Post-Production Royalty Case Hinges on 3 Words). This latest final final decision must be the…well…final decision, right? Not so fast. There is another Supreme Court case from 2006, Tawney v. Columbia Natural Resources, which also dealt with post-production expenses and found drillers do not have the right to deduct them from royalties. But there are differences. “Leggett deals with the statute on royalties, while Tawney is about lease contracts.” It’s a pretty safe bet that a new case will be filed challenging Tawney in light of the Leggett decision. All of this back and forth in the courts is unsettling for both drillers and landowners. Both sides are in agreement about one thing: They both want the WV legislature to pass a new law clarifying the issue of post-production deductions…
    Read More “WV Drillers & Landowners Want New Law re Post-Production Issue”

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    Three Cheers! Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Horrible Paris Climate Treaty

    We wonder how many people actually watched President Trump’s address yesterday, announcing his decision to pull out of the horrible (and so-called) Paris climate treaty? Did *you* watch it? Or did you rely on the non-stop “hate Trump” mainstream media tirade that reported, endlessly, that we’re now all fried and the future of Mom Earth is over. What…utter…garbage. If you listened to President Trump, as we did, you would have learned that if we had stayed in this VERY bad deal, the United States would have been punished economically–transferring billions of our taxpayer dollars to other countries for generations to come. All in the name of supposedly stopping global warming. China and India would get to add as many coal-fired electric plants as they want–while we would have to close ours down, essentially shifting our jobs to other countries. The deal was bad from the beginning. Even if we had stayed in and even if all countries lived up to their obligations under the treaty, the projected difference in lowering global temps by 2100 would have been 0.17 Celsius–little more than one-tenth of a degree. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars. THIS PLAN WAS INSANE from the start. But you won’t learn that from mainstream media. We’ve found a few responses to Trump pulling out of Paris, from people who DO believe in global warming, but have the guts to tell the truth about the disastrous Paris deal and why it’s a GOOD THING Trump pulled out of it…
    Read More “Three Cheers! Trump Pulls U.S. Out of Horrible Paris Climate Treaty”

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    The Truth About EPA’s “Mass Advisory Board Firings”

    What role should appointed (i.e. not-elected) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boards have with respect to environmental regulations in our country? It’s a valid question and timely, given the recent negative news coverage over EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s action in not automatically reappointing some board members. The way the press howls about it you would think board members have a Divine Right to be on those boards. Did you know there are 20 such “advisory boards” at the EPA? And did you know that many of the board members receive EPA grants–in the millions of dollars? This is the swamp Trump repeatedly referred to when campaigning. It’s downright corrupt. And yet when Pruitt tells board members that will have to stoop to the level of reapplying if they want to stay on a board, establishment Washington has a cow. The EPA, as we’ve written about for years, has profound impact on the oil and gas industry–hence our interest. MDN friend Steven Heins, an energy and regulatory consultant and former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems, has written a guest post for MDN musing over the EPA’s advisory boards and the role of the public and private sectors with regard to environmental issues… Read More “The Truth About EPA’s “Mass Advisory Board Firings””

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    Application Filed to Drill/Frack 1st Shale Well in Illinois

    Technically, this is not a Marcellus/Utica story, but it is (and should be) of interest to those of us who concentrate on the Appalachian region. The very first application has been filed in Illinois for a permit to drill and frack a shale well. Woolsey Operating Co., headquartered in Kansas, has filed a high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHHF) application with the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR has assigned the application Review Number HVHHF-000001 — the very first. Which is momentous. We’ve only seen two mainstream news sources (from Illinois) pick up on what is really big news. No national news sources have covered it–yet. The press release from the DNR provides some details, like the location of the proposed well (southern Illinois, in White County). What the announcement and news stories don’t say is which rock layer will the shale well target? MDN found the answer by reviewing the application…
    Read More “Application Filed to Drill/Frack 1st Shale Well in Illinois”