Regulation

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Fracking Legend Harold Hamm – Next Secretary of Energy?
July 22, 2016July 22, 2016

Harold Hamm

Harold Hamm is the legendary CEO of Continental Resources. Hamm is, along with George Mitchell, Aubrey McClendon, and a few others, one of the original pioneers who figured out how to combine fracking with horizontal drilling to access previously-trapped oil in shale deposits. Hamm’s claim to fame is drilling in the mighty Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. Harold Hamm is, by all accounts, one of the biggest frackers in the world. Hamm addressed the Republican National Convention this week, at the request and invitation of Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump. We are super excited to fan the flames of the rumor mill. Hamm is a leading contender to be the Secretary of the Dept. of Energy under a President Trump. What a coup! Can you imagine having someone who “gets it” with respect to the energy industry guiding the agency tasked with developing our national energy policy? Someone like Hamm who would have the President’s ear? This is VERY exciting…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy | Westmoreland County

Feds Find More Corrosion, Issue Order re Exploded TETCO Pipe in PA
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

An update on Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission’s (TETCO) “Delmont Line 27” which exploded in Westmoreland County, PA on April 29 (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). We previously told you that not only was Line 27 out of commission, so too were three other pipelines running through the same corridor, meaning 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day is not reaching certain mid-Atlantic markets (see Update on Spectra Pipeline Explosion Near Pittsburgh). The early evidence points to corrosion along welded seams, although the jury is still out and the exact cause may not be known for months. One of the four lines that was offline (Line 19) was examined and certified by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in early May to go back online (see TETCO Pipeline Up & Running Post-Explosion; Antis Exploit Accident). However, the other three lines have remained idle pending further investigation and won’t be online again until at least November (see Ruptured TETCO Pipeline in PA Offline Until November). In an order issued on Tuesday, federal regulators with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) are requiring Spectra Energy to perform more testing and take corrective actions on the remaining three lines. Although the cause of the explosion is still not 100% verified, it’s still thought to be corrosion around welded pipe joints, i.e. bad pipe tape…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Lebanon County | Monroe County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco | Williams

PA Game Commission Cuts ROW Deal with Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline map – click for larger version

More progress for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. It is a much-needed pipeline to move more Marcellus gas south, to new markets. The progress is this: the Pennsylvania Game Commission has cut a right-of-way deal to allow the pipeline to traverse game lands in northern Lebanon County–including a crossing of the Appalachian Trail. But have no fear, Williams plans to drill under the Trail and not disturb the surface. In return for the right to cross a few acres of certain state-owned game lands in Lebanon County, the state is picking up a whopping 285 acres owned by Williams in Monroe and Lackawanna counties…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Constitution Pipeline Gets a Little (Court) Help from Its Friends
July 21, 2016July 21, 2016

Constitution Pipeline map – click for larger version

In perhaps the sleaziest of sleazy political moves, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the non-science-based political decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline stream crossing permits in April (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). The man is a menace to all New Yorkers. He caves to his radical, fringe left on a regular basis, as he did with his decision to deny the Constitution Pipeline. Williams, Cabot and the other partners in the project aren’t taking it laying down. They sued New York State in federal court with the very real possibility that the court will neuter NY’s decision-making role in the project (see Williams Sues NY Over Constitution Pipe – DEC May Lose Authority). The Constitution doesn’t stand alone. A number of national industry organizations are coming to the Constitution’s defense. On Tuesday the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) and other groups together filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. “Amicus curiae” means “friend of the court” in Latin. The brief (full copy below) makes the point that states should not be the tail that wags the federal-oversight-of-such-projects dog. That is, the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is preventing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from doing its job. One government entity (especially a state) cannot block the power and authority of another government entity (in particular the federal government)…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy

Spectra’s Access Northeast Pipe Wins Important Approval in Maine
July 20, 2016July 20, 2016

Click for larger version

In July 2014 Spectra Energy unveiled plans to deliver an extra 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to New England and beyond by expanding the existing Algonquin and Maritimes pipeline systems (see Spectra Energy to the Rescue! New England Pipeline Expansion). That project was eventually named the Access Northeast Project, a direct competitor to Kinder Morgan’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project. In February of 2015 we observed and asked the question, is Spectra’s project pulling ahead of Kinder Morgan’s project (see Access Northeast Pipeline — Pulling Ahead of Kinder’s NED Project?). It was our observation at the time that Kinder Morgan’s project is mostly “greenfield”–meaning they have to dig new trenches and lay new pipe in places where no pipeline currently exists–was vehemently opposed by antis, while Spectra’s project which lays new loops of pipe next to existing pipes in existing trenches was opposed, but with less vehemence. It seems our observation was prescient, as Kinder later canceled its project (see NED is Dead – Kinder Morgan Suspends $3.3B New England Pipeline). Make no mistake, Spectra Energy still faces a steep uphill battle–but they are making progress. Evidence of that came yesterday when regulators in the state of Maine approved Spectra’s plan in their state. Or more accurately, they approved passing along some of the cost of Spectra’s proposed expansion to Maine electric rate payers, who would see far lower electric rates if the pipeline gets built (it will feed natgas-fired electric generating plants in the state)…
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Accidents | Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Rex Energy

PA DEP Fines Stonehenge $1.5M for Damaging 2 Butler County Swamps
July 19, 2016November 29, 2018

A year ago MDN told you about a new gathering pipeline project in Butler County, PA. Rex Energy contracted with Stonehenge Energy Resources to build a gathering system in Butler County (see Rex Energy Hires Stonehenge to Build Gathering Pipeline in PA). The new system got built last year and now provides Rex with an additional 400 million cubic feet per day of natural gas pipeline capacity. The Stonehenge gathering system delivers Rex’s gas to MarkWest Energy’s Bluestone processing plant. When Stonehenge built the pipeline, they had a few minor accidents. Some dirt slid down a hill into a creek. The creek empties into a couple of swamps. Ergo, some of the dirt got into the swamps. For that little mishap, Stonehenge has agreed to pay the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection a $1.5 million fine. DEP Acting Secretary Pat McDonnell called the minor mishaps “egregious and avoidable.” Whatever…
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Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Regulation

Guernsey County, OH Opposes Facility to Treat/Store Drill Cuttings
July 19, 2016July 19, 2016

Guernsey County, OH

EnerGreen 360 wants to build a facility in Guernsey County, OH to treat and re-use drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt from shale drilling). The plan is to clean up the cuttings and use the leftover leftovers (rock and dirt) to backfill part of a business center were the facility would be located–near Cambridge, OH. But County Commissioners are unanimously against the plan, saying that although Guernsey sees a lot of Utica drilling, producing lots of drill cuttings, the county already absorbs “more than our share of frack-related waste.” The commissioners cite multiple injection wells in the county as being evidence of shouldering more than their fair share of the burden. So apparently the commissioners want some other county to take Guernsey’s drill cuttings instead, since Guernsey takes other counties’ shale wastewater. Fair? Not fair? You decide…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Which Energy-Related Items Survived, Which Didn’t in PA Budget
July 19, 2016July 19, 2016

Some interesting Marcellus-related items were included in the recently adopted Pennsylvania state budget that have largely flown under the radar. There are also a few things that weren’t in the budget bill–previously intended to be part of it–that didn’t survive the process. At the top of the list is lack of a severance tax. But right behind that (for us) is that a gross receipts tax on natural gas use, which we thought would be part of the final deal, was not. As MDN previously reported, a gross receipts tax taxes end users of natural gas, in essence targeting low-income households (see Proposed NatGas Gross Receipts Tax Targets PA Low-Income Earners). So three cheers that those two onerous taxes–a severance tax and gross receipts tax–were eliminated by vigilant Republicans (Democrat Gov. Wolf wanted both). What about things that made it through? One item is an amendment that eliminates extra fees and permitting requirements if a driller happens ti “nip the top of the Onondaga” rock layer when drilling a Marcellus well, as sometimes happens. Another provision diverts some money from a fund intended to encourage “high performance buildings” to a program that gives businesses incentives to switch to using natural gas. Love it! Here’s what made the cut, and what didn’t, in the 2016/2017 PA budget…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY

FERC Rejects NY AG’s Anti-Constitution Pipeline Petition
July 18, 2016July 18, 2016

NY AG Eric Schneiderman – petition rejected by FERC

In May MDN told you about a sleazy political move by New York’s corrupt Attorney General, Eric Scheiderman, who petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to investigate Williams over the Constitution Pipeline, with a recommendation that FERC withdraw its approval of the project (see NY Attorney General Asks FERC to Investigate Constitution Pipe). Schneiderman claimed that Williams was cutting trees along the path of the pipeline before the state had issued stream crossing permits (which it decided not to do). We told you, in a follow-up story, that Schneiderman’s claims of premature tree cutting by Williams was a fraud (see NY AG’s Allegation of Tree Cutting by Constitution Pipe a Fraud). A Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin investigation found that some trees along the pipeline’s path in New York State had been cut–but not by Williams. The landowners themselves were cutting the trees in anticipation of the project–to profit from the sale of the timber. On Friday FERC officially responded to the corrupt Schneiderman’s petition by saying, in so many words, to stuff it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Processing Plants | Regulation | Statewide MD

Radical Enviro Groups Suffer Big Court Defeat re Cove Point LNG
July 18, 2016July 18, 2016

Anti-drilling zealots attempting to stop the Cove Point, Maryland LNG (liquefied natural gas) from going online have failed in court, again. And they failed big time. MDN reported in April that a group of Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Patuxent Riverkeeper, EarthReports Inc. and Earthjustice colluded together to sue in federal appeals court to try and stop the project (see Green Groups Ask DC Judge to Stop Construction at Cove Point LNG). On Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against the groups. The argument they raised (and keep raising) is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) did not take into account so-called cumulative effects in permissioning such a facility. That is, because there is an export facility, that means there will be more drilling and fracking, and that means more air pollution, etc. The court rejected that claim and said in their decision (full copy below) that FERC is not required to consider such cumulative affects. Indeed, FERC’s charter prohibits them from considering such effects. This is a crushing defeat for Big Green–people and corporations who seek to profit from uneconomical solar and wind projects by unfairly crushing the competition (natgas)…
Read More “Radical Enviro Groups Suffer Big Court Defeat re Cove Point LNG”
Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Carbon County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Iberdrola, Sierra Clubbers Booed at PA Windmill Hearing
July 15, 2016July 15, 2016

We have nothing against wind energy–except that it’s produced by huge, ugly turbines that permanently scar the landscape with their presence, and they kill gazillions of bats and birds (including Bald Eagles) each year, and they are LOUD, with a constant wump, wump, wump 24/7/365. Compare that to natural gas. A few months after a natgas well is drilled and connected to a pipeline, you can’t even see the well from 200 feet away. A few years after the pipeline is in the ground, you can’t tell where it is! Everything grows back over top of it. The pipeline, and well, are literally out of sight and out of mind. Not so with windmills. They are a constant, unwelcome presence for many. Which explains why a room full of Pennsylvania residents (more than 300) packed a recent zoning hearing near Allentown, PA to express their opposition to Big Wind company Iberdrola’s plan to install 37 of these monsters on Penn Forest Township land. Iberdrola is a Spanish-based energy and utility company that makes billions of dollars each year from our federal government in return for installing these intrusive monsters. The Sierra Club is Iberdrola’s publicity whore (receiving money from Iberdrola). Both Iberdrola and the Sierra Clubber rep at the recent zoning meeting were, literally, booed out of the room. You won’t read that in the New York Times…
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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation

Congress Approves Unmanned Drone Use in O&G Industry
July 15, 2016July 15, 2016

Look! Up in the air! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a,a,a,a…energy drone? Yep. Drones used to inspect pipelines, keep an eye on refineries, processing plants and compressor stations–drones used for just about anything related to the oil and gas industry–have just been approved by Congress. The oil and gas industry is delighted…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Shuttered D&L Injection Well Near Youngstown, OH May Reopen Soon
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

Good news for Marcellus/Utica drillers. There are signs that a Youngstown, OH-area injection well that has been shuttered since 2013 will re-open. You may recall the sad story of D&L Energy, a Youngstown, OH operator of several wastewater injection wells. D&L’s owner was Ben Lupo, who also owned sister company Hardrock Excavating, operating both companies under the D&L Energy Group umbrella. In September 2012, Lupo instructed a Hardrock employee to dump untreated frack wastewater down a sewer drain that emptied into the Mahoning River. Lupo and the driver were found out in early 2013 (see Youngstown Business Dumped >200K Gal of Untreated Wastewater). The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) promptly shut down both D&L Energy and Hardrock in February 2013 (see OH Wastewater Dumper D&L Energy Gets Business Death Sentence). Since that time the injection well operated by D&L in Coitsville Township has been offline. Both Lupo and the driver received prison sentences and fines for their role in this ignominious affair. D&L filed for bankruptcy and sold its assets in late 2013. The buyer of those assets, Denver-based Resource Land Holdings LLC, has “expressed interest in operating the well in the future” and has begun work at the site to reopen the well. That was enough to set off anti-drilling loonies in the region, who promptly protested at the well site…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco | Williams

Interior Dept Chides FERC re Atlantic Sunrise Pipe, Bogus Concerns
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

The Obamadroids are once again ganging up on the semi-independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Last week the Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed comments with FERC critical of the Williams/Transco Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project (see Federal EPA Continues to Fuss over Atlantic Sunrise Route in PA). This week it’s the Obama Dept. of Interior (DOI). The DOI has filed comments with FERC saying Atlantic Sunrise maybe/may/might cause a 2.5 second eyesore for people paddling down the Susquehanna River–they might see a nice grassy knoll where the pipeline runs instead of overgrown, spindly, dying trees instead. Because it’s an official “historic” stretch of river that Captain John Smith may have once traveled, that apparently means not a single tree branch can ever be pruned along the river bank. What a load…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

South Fayette, PA Obstinately Passes Defacto Drilling Ban, Again
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

South Fayette (Washington County), PA is one of seven selfish PA towns that sued the state after the Act 13 law was enacted in 2012 (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law). Ultimately South Fayette and the other towns won their case at the PA Supreme Court level, winning the right for all PA towns and municipalities to enact their own ordinances with respect to oil and gas drilling. So last year South Fayette enacted a new defacto ban, calling it a zoning ordinance. A judge tossed it out in May because South Fayette didn’t follow proper protocol and procedure (see South Fayette, PA Restrictive Drilling Ordinance Tossed by Judge). But the obstinate anti-drillers who sit on the Board of Commissioners brought it back, held a public hearing, and last night voted to adopt the same, exact defacto frack ban…
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Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Regulation

Irony: DOJ Scuttled Halliburton/BH Merger, then Collects $11M Fine
July 14, 2016July 14, 2016

The news is now months old that Halliburton and Baker Hughes ended their attempt to merge. The reason they called it off was because of opposition from the Obama Department of Justice (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). The companies didn’t have the stomach to go up against the bullies at DOJ. So it was the DOJ that actually killed the deal. During the process of DOJ’s review, an “activist investor” (i.e. corporate raider) by the name of ValueAct Capital snapped up $2.6 billion worth of Halliburton and Baker Hughes stock with, according to the DOJ, the intent to influence the companies’ business decisions as the merger unfolded.” The DOJ charged ValueAct “with violating the reporting and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act” (see DOJ Sues ValueAct Capital for Meddling in Halliburton/BH Merger). ValueAct has settled by paying $11 million in shakedown money to the DOJ to make it all go away. Which we find ironic. The DOJ killed the deal, and yet the DOJ is extracting money for the deal they killed…
Read More “Irony: DOJ Scuttled Halliburton/BH Merger, then Collects $11M Fine”