Regulation

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    Sunoco LP Fined $59K for Fixing Pipe Running Thru 7 Swamps

    Talk about damned if you do, damned if you don’t… Sunoco Logistics Partners needed to do maintenance (i.e. fix things) along the Mariner East 1 pipeline–an 80 year-old petroleum pipeline repurposed to flow natural gas liquids (NGLs). Some of the places where they need to fix it, the pipeline runs underground beneath a number of swamps–smelly, stagnant water where mosquitoes with West Nile virus breed. Today swamps are called “wetlands.” Go figure. Because Sunoco didn’t get a “Mother May I?” permit from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) before fixing the pipeline in seven swamps, the DEP has fined the company $59,000. No doubt if Sunoco had waited for permits issued in triplicate and didn’t fix the pipeline, something would have spilled and there would have been an even bigger fine (and lawsuit) for that! A real no-win situation…
    Read More “Sunoco LP Fined $59K for Fixing Pipe Running Thru 7 Swamps”

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    Boone Pickens Schools Obama on Keystone Decision, Energy “Plan”

    A little common sense from a man who has deep wells of common sense, T. Boone Pickens is a Texas oil man (pronounced “aall man” in a Texas accent) needs no introduction. In the pages of Forbes magazine, Boone Pickens takes President Obama to task for rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline–essentially calling him a non-leader and a coward. We have his column below, titled “President Obama, ‘No’ Is Not An Energy Plan.” The way we’ll introduce it is with a personal story that has nothing to do with nothing, except there’s a tie-in with Boone Pickens. When MDN editor Jim Willis was a (very) young man, he had the privilege and honor to first intern, and later be on staff in the Ronald Reagan White House. Jim was (perhaps still is) a hick from upstate New York. He always felt like Alice in Wonderland when arriving at work at the Old Executive Office Building (part of the White House complex) and seeing people walk by on the sidewalk that you see each night on the news. He could look out a window on the front lawn of the White House and watch the nightly news segments being taped! Very cool stuff for a young guy. Also very cool to see the President in person on rare occasions. The office in which Jim worked was Presidential Personnel–the employment agency for all of the thousands of positions appointed by the President throughout the federal government. In the office where Jim worked were three other people–all ladies. Two of them were the daughters of billionaires–Ross Perot’s daughter Nancy, and Boone Pickens’ daughter Liz…
    Read More “Boone Pickens Schools Obama on Keystone Decision, Energy “Plan””

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    OH Supreme Court Sends Mixed Signal on “Home Rule” Issue

    Earlier this year the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a very important court case that the “city” (of 5,000 people) of Monroe Falls could not layer on its own oil and gas regulations over top of state regulations, effectively preventing Beck Energy from drilling on a site in the city already properly permitted (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). It was assumed that case would provide precedence and settle the issue once and for all that towns can’t simply pass their own zoning regulations in an attempt to prevent oil and gas drilling. But it appears the mind of the Supremes is far from being settled. Beck Energy, following that case, pressed their advantage and asked the court for an order that directs Monroe Falls to not use zoning ordinances “to prohibit drilling for oil and gas in 99.06 percent of the city’s territory.” On Tuesday the Supreme Court dismissed the request without comment, leaving everyone to wonder what they really intend. It appears to not be a good sign for the drilling industry in Ohio…
    Read More “OH Supreme Court Sends Mixed Signal on “Home Rule” Issue”

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    3 Western PA Antis Weigh Appeal of Court Ruling in Zoning Case

    Three anti-drillers in Westmoreland County, PA are continuing their quest to deny their neighbors the right to allow natural gas drilling. You may recall one week ago we told you that a clear-thinking western PA county judge ruled that there are two sides to the Act 13 court case–local municipalities don’t always have to rule you *can’t* allow drilling in certain areas, sometimes the decision goes the other way *to* allow it (see PA County Court Rules Drilling OK in Ag/Residential District). In this particular case, three ladies–Dolores Frederick, Patricia Hagaman and Beverly Taylor–have their knickers in a twist that one of their neighbors, a farm owned by John and Anne Slike, wants to allow CNX Gas (i.e. CONSOL Energy) to drill on their property, some 1,200 feet away. The three ladies lost. But as with antis everywhere, the rule of law makes no difference. They (and their lawyer) are still agitating to try and prevent the Slikes from moving forward. They’re deciding whether or not to appeal the decision…
    Read More “3 Western PA Antis Weigh Appeal of Court Ruling in Zoning Case”

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    PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force

    In May, Gov. Wolf announced the creation of a “Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development” that will add an additional layer of interference by anti-drilling “environmental organizations” on where pipelines can and (preferably, from their viewpoint) can’t be laid (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). The Task Force was billed as an “unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders” from government, drillers, midstreamers, and anti-drillers (euphemistically referred to as environmentalists). Wolf and his Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary, John Quigley, appointed 48 members to the task force (see PA Gov Wolf Packs Pipeline Task Force with His Own Minions). The pipeline gang has now held four of six meetings (complete with opposition from Wolf’s kook left-wing fringe, see PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed”), and some 12 working groups have (yes) done some work. Yesterday the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force issued a draft report that they plan to officially submit to the governor and the legislature in February 2016. The (gulp) 335-page document contains 184 “recommendations.” Our concern is that recommendations have a way of becoming regulations in the hands of LibDems. Below is a copy of the full draft report along with the DEP press release announcing its release…
    Read More “PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force”

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    Grant Twp, PA Reorganizes to Avoid a Court-Ordered Injection Well

    In October MDN told you about Grant Township in Indiana County, PA. The town had attempted to illegally block a permitted injection well from being drilled and used inside the town’s boundaries. The town folk have been whipped into an irrational frenzy by the radical leftist PA-based group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). As usual, the CELDF-promoted so-called Community Bill of Rights failed in court, costing Grant Township taxpayers big bucks to defend (see Fed Judge Overturns Grant Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells). People without jobs (like those infesting CELDF) have lots of time to be creative–so here’s the latest. They talked enough town folk into passing another/new plan on the November. The town voted to convert itself from being a PA Second Class Township form of organization to being PA Home Rule Charter form of organization–in an attempt to do an end-run around the judge’s ruling last month. Will it work? Probably not, but here we go again–another delay for Pennsylvania General Energy and their plan to drill an injection well. You know the old saying? Justice delayed is justice denied. When will the courts step in and stop this madness?…
    Read More “Grant Twp, PA Reorganizes to Avoid a Court-Ordered Injection Well”

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    Environmental “Justice” for Some, Not for All, Courtesy PA DEP

    If you live in Pennsylvania and you live in a community where at least 20% of the people are below the poverty line, or if the community is composed of at least 30% minorities, you now have an important new weapon to oppose shale drilling, courtesy the PennFuture Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley. Apparently the laws and regulations on the books that apply to everyone else are not good enough for po’ folk or black folk and you need extra special laws and regulations not available to others–so Quigley has “reactivated” the Office of Environmental Justice at the DEP to give you a voice that apparently you had lost. You may recall Quigley recently began talking about “establishing” such a department–only to embarrassingly learn his agency already has such a department (see Quigley Faux Pas: DEP Already has Office of Environmental Justice). With the help of mainstream media, Quigley pivoted to cover his faux pas (see Quigley Changes Story, “Reactivating” Enviro Justice Office at DEP). “Environmental Justice” is now officially reactivated at the DEP, complete with a new hire, an African-American lawyer from (yes) Philadelphia, violating the current state ban on new hiring until a budget is in place. Oh, and if you’re not poor or a minority (i.e. you’re working class or white collar)? No special favoritism for you. You get ordinary/regular environmental “justice”…
    Read More “Environmental “Justice” for Some, Not for All, Courtesy PA DEP”

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    Youngstown Frack Ban Measure Voted Down 5th Time in a Row

    Five times the anti-drilling zealots of Youngstown have garnered enough signatures from dead folks and others to get a so-called Community Bill of Rights (i.e. ban fracking) measure on the ballot for a citywide vote. FIVE TIMES. And you know what? As of last Tuesday, the ballot measure has been voted down–FIVE TIMES. In a row. And yet the crazies keep getting bringing it back. If they get a single vote more than the previous vote, they herald it as “movement” in their direction. The crazies enlisted a few quite a few more crazies this time around. The vote was a lot closer than one would like: 5,683 (48.53%) voted for it, and 6,028 (51.47%) voted against it. Following the results, the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce issued the following statement…
    Read More “Youngstown Frack Ban Measure Voted Down 5th Time in a Row”

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    NY AG Schneiderman Launches the Climate Witch Trials

    Once a witch-hunter catches the scent of a suspected witch–better watch out! It struck us as we read about the drummed up false charges New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is alleging against ExxonMobil–charges that the company has knowingly made false statements about their own complicity and contribution to mythical climate change–just how doomed we really are to repeat history. Schneiderman’s actions reminded us of something, and then we found it: “Rebecca Nurse, a sick and elderly woman of seventy-years old, stood for examination before the court on charges of practicing witchcraft on March 24, 1692. Judge John Hathorne, assisted by Judge Jonathan Corwin, conducted the examination in the meeting house of Salem Village before a crowd of people from Salem Village. The examination of “Goody Nurse” developed into a spectacle worthy of the attendance of so many onlookers, as a number of afflicted women launched into “grevious fitts” and openly denounced Rebecca Nurse as the cause of their torment. In the end, after one of the great confrontations between an accused and the infamous Judge Hathorne, the Judges found cause to bind Rebecca Nurse over for trial after which she was executed on Gallows Hill on July 19, 1692.” (University of Virginia). We’re facing the Salem Witch Trials all over again–some 323 years later. Apparently we didn’t learn anything the first time around. MDN calls Schneiderman’s current campaign the Climate Witch Trials–the prosecution and persecution of innocent companies based on a false belief that mankind causes global warming by burning fossil fuels. Now we learn Schneiderman may be gunning for more than just ExxonMobil…
    Read More “NY AG Schneiderman Launches the Climate Witch Trials”

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    Dictator-in-Chief B.H. Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline

    Dictators do as dictators want to do. Last week the U.S. Dictator (used to be called President), Barack Hussein Obama, decided to cave to his kook left enviro-Nazi fringe and rejected granting permits to build the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline–a pipeline that would flow oil from the tar sands of Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast for refining. It’s a huge blow to our relationship with our neighbors to the north and sets back U.S./Canadian relations by decades. It also prevents 20,000 jobs from being created. But dictators don’t care about any of those trifling details. They want what they want and you have to live with it–because you’re a serf. A dullard. You don’t know what kind of energy you should buy and use–so our Dear Leader will do it for you. No this isn’t a story about the Marcellus/Utica strictly speaking, but it is illustrative of what we are all up against–fossil fuel hysteria–the flames of which are fanned by people like Obama. Below is reaction from a number of senators, labor unions, the oil and gas industry and others to this travesty…
    Read More “Dictator-in-Chief B.H. Obama Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline”

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    NY AG Targets/Accuses ExxonMobil of Lying about ‘Climate Change’

    Eric-Schneiderman.jpg
    Eric Schneiderman, NY AG

    We’ve written before about the lawless Attorney General from New York–Eric T. Schneiderman. He attacks his own constituents like landowners in the state (see NY AG Schneiderman Files to Dismiss JLCNY Lawsuit Against Cuomo), threatened the Delaware River Basin Commission that he would sue them if they allowed fracking (see NY AG Schneiderman Threatens New DRBC Lawsuit over Fracking), and he regularly bullies oil and gas companies (see NY Attorney General Schneiderman Subpoenas Shale Drillers and More on NY AG Schneiderman’s Bullying of Anadarko & EOG Resources). Schneiderman has just performed a breathtaking act of chutzpah: He’s launched an investigation and subpoenaed ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the United States (4th largest in the world), accusing them of making false statements about so-called man-made global warming. He’s saying they contribute to global warming and they’re lying about their role in it–that they’ve made false statements to the public that contradict what their own internal research has found. That is, he is using the same strategy used against tobacco companies 20 years ago…
    Read More “NY AG Targets/Accuses ExxonMobil of Lying about ‘Climate Change’”

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    4 Antis Opposing NY LPG Storage Facility Lose Big in Local Election

    Today’s lead story on MDN is about the defeat of two anti-drilling Martians in Tuesday’s election–but this story is a close second in importance. Since 2010 a debate has ragged in Schuyler County, NY over whether or not to allow then-Inergy, now-Crestwood Midstream, to convert a depleted salt cavern along the shore of Seneca Lake into underground storage for LPG–liquefied petroleum gas (i.e. propane). We’ve covered the story extensively on MDN over the years. The current status is that an administrative law judge is reviewing the plan, but ultimately the head of the state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will grant a final decision on whether or not to allow the plan to move forward. Unfortunately the DEC is mired in politics–controlled by Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is in turned influenced by his lunatic left wingnuts. Over the years some of those wingnuts like Sandra Steingraber, so-called “scholar in residence” at Ithaca College (paid to do nothing but trot around lying about fracking), and Josh Fox of Gasland fame have protested and gotten themselves arrested at the facility during publicity stunts. Antis need a forum to vent and they can’t get themselves arrested every day (that gets old), so they turned to the local town board (Town of Reading) where the LPG plant would be located. Board meeting after board meeting they bleated and blatted about the facility–to the point the board has forbidden any more discussion of the issue. So the antis mounted a challenge to the local town supervisor, two town board seats and the town clerk. In Tuesday’s election, all four antis running for those seats went down to a HUGE defeat. Wasn’t even close. Which is noteworthy, and heartening, that in our beloved overtaxed, over-regulated, over-liberal New York State there are still clear-headed people who see through the lies and smears of the antis. Here’s the story of their defeat, and why Reading is so important in this debate…
    Read More “4 Antis Opposing NY LPG Storage Facility Lose Big in Local Election”

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    NEPA State Senator Introduces Bill to Regulate Rural Pipelines

    A northeastern Pennsylvania State Senator, Lisa Baker, has introduced Senate Bill (SB) 1044 that would regulate thousands of miles of gathering pipelines (and compressor stations) that are currently not regulated in PA. The bill, introduced on Oct. 26 and co-sponsored by three other Republicans and two Democrats, is colloquially called the Rural Pennsylvania Pipeline Safety Act. The bill gives the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) the power to regulate rural pipeline operators. The Gas Processors Association is watching it closely and says they will be a part of its development going forward. Below we have a brief overview of the bill, along with a full copy as filed on Oct. 26…
    Read More “NEPA State Senator Introduces Bill to Regulate Rural Pipelines”

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    PA County Court Rules Drilling OK in Ag/Residential District

    Since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s horrible decision in the infamous “Robinson” case that ruled local municipalities have the right to regulate oil and gas drilling via local zoning ordinances, there have been several cases where anti-drillers have tried to turn the decision (a decision they earnestly desired) on its head. The “Supreme” justices decided that local towns and cities can control where drilling takes place–although they must reserve at least one zoned district (industrial) where they allow oil and gas drilling (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). What the antis didn’t factor is that there are some local communities with clear-thinking and straight heads on their shoulders–communities that may evaluate a request for drilling and grant an exception to allow it, in oh, say a agricultural/residential area instead of just an industrial area. Perhaps the most famous example of such a case currently being litigated is in Butler County where parents from the Mars School School district along with two Big Green groups from Philadelphia are using the courts to block, since last November, legally permitted and town-approved drilling 3/4 of a mile from the Mars School District (see Rex Drilling Operation Near Mars School Put on Hold). The convoluted argument from antis is, in essence, zoning regulations are not strict enough. That’s not what the Act 13 decision was about. You can’t have your cake AND eat it too. Some towns will decide to allow drilling under their zoning laws that you may not agree with! A similar case has just been decided in Westmoreland County in local county court–and it’s very good news for the Marcellus industry…
    Read More “PA County Court Rules Drilling OK in Ag/Residential District”

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    9 Years Later Fracking Set to Begin in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest

    Wayne National Forest (WNF) is the only national forest in Ohio and portions of it are found in Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Monroe, Morgan, Noble, Lawrence, Perry, Scioto, Vinton, and Washington counties. WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. Back in 2012 MDN told you that the U.S Forest Service, after holding up drilling in WNF since 2006, had cleared the way to allow fracking to begin (see Fracking Coming to Wayne National Forest in SE OH). Then any potential fracking came to a screeching halt because it was delayed by yet another federal agency–the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Since 2012 the BLM has moved like a snail, but finally (finally!) the BLM has scheduled public scoping hearings for Nov. 17, 18 and 19. Things are moving once again. Once the hearings are done, there will no reason not to move forward with plans to drill (and frack!) in the WNF…
    Read More “9 Years Later Fracking Set to Begin in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest”

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    PA Allows Wastewater Pipelines to be Buried – With No Regulations

    A last minute change made to proposed new drilling regulations in Pennsylvania will mean (if adopted) that drillers can bury wastewater pipelines instead of being required to run them on top of the ground. Companies typically use pipelines in areas where it would be disruptive to have multiple truck trips in and out of an area. They’re also used to lower the cost of transporting wastewater (cheaper through a pipeline than by tanker truck). The change came after a letter-writing campaign launched by CONSOL Energy and their joint venture partner Noble Energy. But there’s a bit of controversy over the new standard that permits lines to be buried: the buried wastewater lines aren’t regulated. Not yet anyway…
    Read More “PA Allows Wastewater Pipelines to be Buried – With No Regulations”