Regulation

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Time for Williams/FERC to Sue NY & End Constitution Pipe Delays
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

In October of last year MDN added our name to the effort to pressure Gov. Andrew Cuomo to let his Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) move forward with granting water-crossing permits for the much-needed Constitution Pipeline (see Time to Force NY DEC to Issue Permit for Constitution Pipeline). The corrupt Andrew Cuomo is up to his old tricks–delay and eventually deny. The time has now come to force the issue. A DEC official has admitted his agency is on the precipice. If they don’t issue the permit for the Constitution, New York is in danger of a federal takeover in granting such permits (see DEC Official Says NY in Danger of FERC Taking Over Pipeline Permits). We say that time has now come. It’s time for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to use its power to override New York and issue the permit and forever sideline Cuomo’s corrupt administration from playing a role in such issues. It’s also time for Williams to man-up and ue New York and go negative against “the Empire State.” That is the theme and MDN friend Tom Shepstone’s latest excellent article (from Natural Gas Now), which we’re re-posting here on MDN. We’ve seen this movie before with fracking. Cuomo intends to deny this pipeline and now is the time to fight it for all it’s worth, using every legal means possible to move forward with building the Constitution…
Read More “Time for Williams/FERC to Sue NY & End Constitution Pipe Delays”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Taxation

OOGA’s 2015 Year in Review: No Hike in OH Severance Tax in 2016
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

David Hill, president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), provides an enlightening “year in review” for 2015. As part of his summary of the issues facing the oil and gas industry in the Buckeye State, he offers this with respect to an impending increase in the severance tax: “I am pleased to report that it looks like we won’t have to discuss the severance tax for the next year or so.” Good news indeed for drillers in Ohio in 2016. As Hill says, the price of oil and natural gas have collapsed–oil because of a worldwide oversupply, and natural gas (in the northeast) because of lack of pipelines. Among the issues Hill tackles is the so-called Community Bill of Rights movement, unitization laws, and more. It’s a good read…
Read More “OOGA’s 2015 Year in Review: No Hike in OH Severance Tax in 2016”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Tioga County (PA)

PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case
December 30, 2015December 30, 2015

Over a year ago the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined PA driller EQT $4.53 million for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, PA (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). While EQT is not saying there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, they are saying the way the DEP is calculating the fine is unreasonable and arbitrary. In fact, EQT says the DEP levied the fine and took EQT to court because a few weeks prior EQT has sued the DEP. Seems to be a tit for tat thing going on. There is, more than a year later, a development in the case. EQT appealed the fine and the case to PA Supreme Court and the high court has just handed EQT a “procedural victory” by saying EQT has a point about the manner in which the DEP is calculating the fine. The Supreme Court has sent the case back to a lower court for follow up work…
Read More “PA Supreme Court Gives EQT “Procedural Victory” in $4.5M Fine Case”
American Water Management | Earthquakes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Wastewater

Judge Tosses Appeal to Re-Open Trumbull, OH Injection Well
December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

It appears that in Ohio it’s A.O.K. for regulatory bodies to write laws–something the legislature is supposed to do–and not only can they write laws, they can take their sweet time doing it, denying a legally permitted business the right to conduct operations in the meantime. And if the legally permitted business seeks justice in the court system? Yeah, even the judge sides with the all-powerful state to prevent that business from operating. That about sums up the situation in Ohio for American Water Management Services (AWMS). AWMS owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Two wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS, were “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). One of the two injection wells was allowed to re-open, but not the other (see ODNR Clears Trumbull Co. Injection Well in August Quake). Why was one well allowed to re-open but not the other? Because the ODNR is supposedly crafting new regulations that will govern the offending well that may or may not have caused the low-level quake. When will we see those new regs? Who knows! AWMS appealed ODNR’s decision to keep the second well shut down to the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, a body that works for (yes) the ODNR. Unsurprisingly the Commission found ODNR is within its right to keep the second well shut down while it takes its time writing new regulations. AWMS appealed the Commission’s decision to a court, and the judge threw out the case because of a filing deadline legal hoop AWMS didn’t jump through properly…
Read More “Judge Tosses Appeal to Re-Open Trumbull, OH Injection Well”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA PUC Commissioner’s Full-Throated Support of Marcellus Shale
December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

Pamela A. Witmer is one of five Commissioners of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Service (PUC). She is, in our opinion, one of the stars of the PUC–having been appointed by then-Gov. Tom Corbett in 2011. Pam is also a strong supporter of the Marcellus Shale industry and the miracle of fracking, as she indicates in a column she wrote for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Pam writes about the “numerous benefits” of the Marcellus…
Read More “PA PUC Commissioner’s Full-Throated Support of Marcellus Shale”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

9 Fatal Flaws with Obama EPA Clean Power Plan
December 29, 2015December 29, 2015

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article addressing the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s lawless tendencies, including what is perhaps the Agency’s “crowning” achievement under the oversight of Barack Hussein Obama: the so-called Clean Power Plan (see WSJ: Brushing Back a Lawless EPA). We’ve written a number of stories about the CPP–primarily that it not only outright assassinates the coal industry, it mortally wounds (with intent to kill) all fossil fuels, including natural gas. MDN guest blogger Stephen Heins saw the WSJ article and created a succinct list of nine flaws with the Obama EPA CPP. Steve’s arguments are rock-solid and unmask the CPP for what it really is: fatally flawed…
Read More “9 Fatal Flaws with Obama EPA Clean Power Plan”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant
December 28, 2015December 28, 2015

MDN has written plenty about a Marcellus gas-powered electric generating plant proposed from Jessup (Lackawanna County), PA (see our stories here). The project is owned and operated by Invenergy, a company that owns and operates electric plants across the country. At various times we’ve said the plant would be 1300 megawatts and 1500 megawatts, based on changing news stories and documents. It seems the final output of the plant will be 1480 megawatts. The project also has, for the first time that we’ve noticed, its own name: the Lackawanna Energy Center. Last week the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a very important approval for the Lackawanna Energy Center’s air quality plan. That is, the DEP has just approved the Jessup plant which can now break ground and begin construction. However, there is still one permit left to issue by the DEP–a permit to discharge treated wastewater from the facility. A DEP-led public hearing will be held on Jan. 4 at the Valley View High School in Archbald about that permit…
Read More “PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Battle Lines Drawn as WV Forced Pooling Bill Nears Introduction
December 28, 2015December 28, 2015

As MDN told you in mid-November, West Virginia legislators will revisit the topic, and likely vote on the issue of, forced pooling in the 60-day legislative session that will begin in early January (see WV Forced Pooling Bill Coming Around Again in 2016). The battle lines–in the Republican party–are already being drawn in a contentious issue that has been brought before the WV legislature in five of the last six years…
Read More “Battle Lines Drawn as WV Forced Pooling Bill Nears Introduction”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Auditor General to Investigate “Lost” $30M Marcellus Impact Fee
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

On Monday MDN told you about the case of bureaucratic incompetence in keeping track of reports that detail where and how much money is getting spent from the Pennsylvania Act 13 impact fee (see $30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?). Local municipalities say they’ve filed reports with the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), but the PUC can’t seem to locate those reports. Typical. But what’s this? We have a knight in shining armor riding to the rescue to figure out this financial potential malfeasance. Our hero is (ta da ta da, trumpet fanfare): State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale (Democrat). DePasquale, you may recall, is an anti-driller who targeted the Marcellus industry from the very first day he took office (see Newly Elected PA Auditor General Targets DEP First Day on Job). Most of DePasquale’s ire seems to be directed at the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). He conducted a very thorough anal exam of the agency, over a period of years, and issued a “report” critical of the agency for shortcomings that were already fixed by the time the report was issued (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). DePasquale would like nothing better than to find a new Marcellus scab (i.e. issue) and pick it until it bleeds in an effort to smear the industry. DePasquale is a bully if ever there was one. In particular he likes to target charter schools, trying to shut them down with audit after audit. Nice guy. It’s that “hero” who has ridden in on his black horse to conduct an “investigation” (more like an inquisition) of local towns and how they are spending his, er, um, the state’s money…
Read More “PA Auditor General to Investigate “Lost” $30M Marcellus Impact Fee”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

$30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Nearly $30 million of Act 13 shale tax money that comes from an impact fee (i.e. tax) on Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania is “unaccounted for.” The media is playing this up as “the money has gone missing” with the implication something nefarious is going on. The truth is a little more mundane. Some local municipalities receiving the money are confused as to which forms they have to file, and which agencies they need to file the forms with. It appears to be a bureaucratic cock-up–not theft, as implied by some in the media…
Read More “$30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy

Canada Approves Marc/Utica NEXUS Pipeline to Dawn Hub in Ontario
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Everybody always talks about the Henry Hub, which is the natural gas delivery point where more physical natural gas is bought and sold than any other single location in North America. However, do you know what the second largest physically traded gas hub in North America is? We just learned this interesting factoid ourselves. The #2 location for trading natural gas, after the Henry Hub, is the Dawn Hub in southwestern Ontario (Canada)–not far from the border of Michigan. The Dawn Hub is in the news because of the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline project. Last week the Ontario Energy Board approved applications from Union Gas Limited and Enbridge Gas Distribution to move gas along the NEXUS, once its built, to the Dawn Hub. In other words, Canada has just approved the Canadian portion of the NEXUS project. We’re glad Canada isn’t holding grudges against the U.S after the Obama Administration obtusely rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project, a Canadian pipeline coming through the U.S. Here’s the good news from Spectra Energy on Canada’s approval of NEXUS…
Read More “Canada Approves Marc/Utica NEXUS Pipeline to Dawn Hub in Ontario”
Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research

PA DEP Admits No Radiation in Ten Mile Creek, Closes Investigation
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

Here’s a story most of the Democrat anti-drilling media won’t tell you–but we will. In 2014 Pennsylvania anti-drillers from a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a so-called conservation organization, attempted a smear job on the Marcellus Shale industry. They alleged that shale drillers were illegally dumping frack wastewater in an abandoned coal mine, the Clyde Mine, which sits near the Ten Mile Creek where the creek joins the Monongahela River. According to the smearmeisters, the illegally dumped wastewater was leaking out of the mine and into Ten Mile Creek (see Is Shale Wastewater Causing Radiation Spike in Ten Mile Creek?). They claimed testing they had done showed high levels of radioactivity that could not come from just acid mine drainage, that it is radioactivity typically seen in shale wastewater. Of course the allegations got a lot of media attention. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigated and echoed their concerns with initial tests also showing high radioactivity. Except the testing done by the DEP, and the testing done by the Izaak Walton League, WAS THE WRONG TYPE OF TEST. They blew it. Researchers from West Virginia University came in and tested using the appropriate type of test and found no elevated radioactivity (see PA DEP Screws Up Water Test at Ten Mile Creek – Egg on Face). The DEP has just concluded six months of their own tests–the right type of tests–and guess what? They’ve also found there IS NO elevated radioactivity in Ten Mile Creek nor anywhere else in the area…
Read More “PA DEP Admits No Radiation in Ten Mile Creek, Closes Investigation”
CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

PA DEP Fines CNX Gas $450K for Drawing Too Much Water Too Often
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

Turns out drawing “free” water from a reservoir in Pennsylvania can cost you quite a bit. CNX Gas, the drilling division/subsidiary of CONSOL Energy, didn’t follow an agreed-upon plan for how much, and how often they withdrew water from a reservoir in North Franklin Township (Washington County), PA. The water withdrawal violations went on between 2011 and 2014 and because of it, CNX will now pay a whopping $450,750 fine. Three-fourths of the fine goes to the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the other one-fourth goes to the PA Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC). Here’s the details from the DEP…
Read More “PA DEP Fines CNX Gas $450K for Drawing Too Much Water Too Often”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater | West Virginia

2 Democrat Commissioners Ban Injection Wells in Fayette County, WV
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

In the end it was just two people who decided to outlaw a legally operating wastewater injection well in Fayette County, WV. Two county commissioners, Denise Scalph and Matt Wender (both Democrats), voted to end the right of Danny Webb Construction to operate an injection well in the county, as it has done for over a decade (perhaps longer, we’re not sure). Aided by a rabidly leftist group called the Mountain Party (left of Vlad Putin), the so-called county commission attorney, Larry Harrah, crafted the state’s first “screw ’em royally” ordinance that he believes is lawsuit-proof. We’ll see just how lawsuit-proof it is when it gets tested, as it surely will…
Read More “2 Democrat Commissioners Ban Injection Wells in Fayette County, WV”
Crude Oil | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

The ONLY Good Thing About Budget Deal: Lifts Oil Export Ban
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

It was truly disheartening to learn of the complete sell-out by House Speaker Paul Ryan (Republican) and the Republican-led House in the latest budget deal. They essentially bent over and grabbed their ankles and assumed the position while Barack Hussein Obama had his way with them. This budget deal is repulsive–as grossly corrupt as it gets. The Democrats are even more corrupt–but we expect that of them. The only good thing that came from the budget deal, as near as we can tell, is that it lifts the 40-year ban on crude oil exports. As a Bloomberg article headline puts it, “Shale Drillers Are Now Free to Export U.S. Oil Into Global Glut.” Yeah, that about sums it up. Hey, having the crude oil ban lifted is good, we’re happy about that. But in the larger pantheon of the budget deal, we could have lived without it if we had gotten a better deal on far more critical items. Here’s what the inimitable Heartland Institute, one of our favorites, said about this disastrous budget deal…
Read More “The ONLY Good Thing About Budget Deal: Lifts Oil Export Ban”
Chenango County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

NY Econ Dev Grant Signals Constitution Pipeline Approval Imminent
December 17, 2015December 17, 2015

Some very good news for supporters of the long-overdue Constitution Pipeline slated to run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY. So far, New York has delayed granting stream-crossing permits for the project. We’ve advocated that it’s time for Williams and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take NY to court (see Time to Force NY DEC to Issue Permit for Constitution Pipeline). In fact, a Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) official has said the DEC is in danger of permanently losing control over issuing such permits if they don’t approve the Constitution’s request (see DEC Official Says NY in Danger of FERC Taking Over Pipeline Permits). The good news is that NY has approved funding for a project that will build a $1.5 million, 18-mile feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to a forklift manufacturing plant in Chenango County. After banning fracking and the multi-billion dollar economic bonanza it would have brought to upstate NY, Andrew Cuomo has stolen $2 billion from taxpayers statewide to fund “economic development” via something called Upstate Revitalization Initiative grants. There are four grants of $500 million. One of those grants was just made to the Southern Tier area, where fracking would have been the strongest had it been allowed. In other words, this is a bribe being paid to upstate voters. But we digress. Tucked into the $500 million “grant” (i.e. bribe) for the Southern Tier is $1.5 million to build a feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to Raymond Corporation in Greene, NY. Why approve $1.5 million for a feeder pipeline if you’re not going to approve the Constitution Pipeline itself? You wouldn’t–ergo the Constitution is about to get approved…
Read More “NY Econ Dev Grant Signals Constitution Pipeline Approval Imminent”