Regulation

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation | Research

API Study Shows Energy Regulations are Killing Jobs & Economy
June 24, 2015June 24, 2015

The American Petroleum Institute (API) released a new study yesterday authored by Wood Mackenzie, a global research firm, which compares government policies that promote the growth of the energy industry with government policies that stifle energy growth. The study, titled “A Comparison of US Oil and Natural Gas Policies: Pro-development Policies vs. Proposed Regulatory Constraints” (full copy embedded below) finds that the study found that unnecessarily restrictive energy and environmental regulations proposed by the Obama administration will lead to 830,000 lost jobs and a decrease of $133 billion per year in the U.S. economy. In other words, Obama is ruining this country with his energy/environmental policies…
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Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell Receives Air Quality Permit from PA DEP for Cracker Plant
June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Finally, after months and months of waiting, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has granted an air quality permit that allows Shell to operate a proposed ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. MDN told you the DEP signaled they would approve the air quality permit back in March (see PA DEP Signals Approval for Shell Ethane Cracker Air Quality Plan). Three months later the DEP finally issued the permit–no small miracle given the agency is now run by PennFuture DEP Sec. John Quigley. Shell had stated getting the permit would be a “critical” step in the process to moving forward. Now that they have the permit, what kinds of encouraging words do we have from Shell? The permit “does not mean we have made a final decision to build the project.” Which is the same standard line they’ve delivered since 2011 when this whole process began (see Shell Commits to Building a Billion Dollar Chemical Plant in the Marcellus Region of U.S.). Four years of being teased with this project has led us to think we’ve contracted post traumatic cracker disorder (PTCD)…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

More on PIOGA Request to Keep DEP in its Regulatory Box
June 23, 2015June 23, 2015

Yesterday MDN brought you the story of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association’s (PIOGA) third request to intervene in the Act 13 lawsuit decided by the PA Supreme Court (see PIOGA Asks Supreme Court to Stop DEP Denying Permits Using Act 13). The point of PIOGA’s request is to make the DEP follow PA law when it comes to granting shale drilling permits. Our headline and some of the language we used in that article was not completely accurate–we’d like to admit that right up front (although our inaccuracy was not intentional). The headline states that the DEP has denied permits based on portions of the Act 13 lawsuit tossed out by the PA Supreme Court. In researching the issue and speaking with those knowledgeable about PIOGA’s request to the Supreme Court, we’ve not found a specific instance where the DEP has denied a permit based on the tossed out Section 3215(b)-(e). But while denying permits based on rejected portions of Act 13 is not taking place, something far more subtle and insidious IS going on–with the same result as if the DEP were denying permits based on tossed-out portions of Act 13. Let us explain…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PIOGA Asks Supreme Court to Stop DEP Denying Permits Using Act 13
June 22, 2015June 23, 2015

Please see this MDN follow-up story for an important clarification/update: More on PIOGA Request to Keep DEP in its Regulatory Box

This story is why you pay MDN the “big bucks”–to break down complex issues into an easy-to-understand report. Last Friday the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) filed paperwork with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court asking for permission to, once again, intervene in the Act 13 lawsuit brought by seven selfish PA townships that resulted in portions of the Act 13 oil and gas drilling law to be struck down. Twice before PIOGA, which represents the companies directly affected by the Act 13 law, has filed to intervene and both times it was (incredibly) prevented from doing so. Apparently the people most affected by a lawsuit don’t have “standing” to defend themselves in PA courts–such is their system of “justice.” At any rate, PIOGA’s third attempt may succeed where the first two attempts failed, and that has the anti-drilling selfish towns, along with the Wolf administration, nervous. Why might PIOGA succeed this time? That’s where it gets complicated. In a nutshell, the zoning portions of the Act 13 law (Section 3304) were not the only sections to be struck down by the PA Supremes…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Talk of Upstate NY Seceding & Joining PA Comes Roaring Back to Life
June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

This story comes right from MDN’s own backyard–in the Town of Windsor, NY. Following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to temporarily ban shale drilling while he’s in the governor’s chair, there was talk that some New York towns along the border of Pennsylvania are considering seceding from NY State and joining PA (see 15 NY Towns Consider Seceding from NY, Join PA Due to Frack Ban). It was certainly good for a few headlines–the story actually got international play for a while. But then it all seemed to simmer down. The “secession” story has now come roaring back to life with a proposal by a Windsor man (and MDN acquaintance) who is pushing a plan to split NY in two–and have all of upstate NY join Pennsylvania–not just a few towns. He’s even got a proposed platform and he’s working to organize a secession convention! Is this for real? Or is it a stunt–a clever way to focus attention on the abuse of upstate residents at the hands of a corrupt governor? You decide…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

How the Wolf Administration is Cooking the Marcellus Jobs Numbers
June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

Wow, did MDN peg it right or what? Yesterday we told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration/gang had politically, arbitrarily, rejiggered the Marcellus Shale industry employment numbers, dumping 151,000 jobs credited to the industry, in an attempt to smear the “brand” of the Marcellus as a jobs creator in the minds of Pennsylvanians (see Gov Wolf & Co Wipes Away 151K PA Jobs by Changing Formula). Our view was confirmed by a former Corbett administration official who exposes this numbers change-up for what it is: 100% political and 100% the work of the Wolf administration. Writing in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Dennis Roddy calls out the Dept. of Labor and Industry for bowing to political pressure from the Wolf gang and arbitrarily changing the formula used to track direct, indirect and induced jobs from the Marcellus–a jobs formula accepted by economists across the country and a formula the Dept. of Labor and Industry themselves devised–not one devised by the Corbett administration…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec Quigley Creating His Own FracFocus; SRBC in Crosshairs
June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

More antagonism for the oil and gas industry, and more radical environmentalist philosophy, from the new PennFuture Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania, John Quigley. (Once again, you have these Republicans to “thank” for his appointment: List of Republican Senators Who Voted to Confirm Quigley @ DEP). Last night Quigley announced at a radical enviro dinner in Philadelphia, hosted by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, that although under the Act 13 law all Marcellus drillers must file a list of the chemicals used at each well site with the national registry FracFocus.org, that’s not good enough for Quigley. The Act 13 law also requires drillers to file the info with the PA DEP, so Quigley has decided the DEP will create it’s own online database/website to show the information (wasting taxpayer’s money). It’s all about being more “transparent” according to Quigley. We’d say it’s all about being a control freak, but we digress. Quigley also reiterated his absolute faith in the man-made global warming fairy tale, and he has ominously set his sites on the SRBC in northeastern PA…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

FWAP Asks SEC to Investigate GreenHunter for False Statements
June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

The anti-fossil fuelers are getting desperate. They’re concerned that GreenHunter Resources, a fresh water and frack wastewater company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, may actually pull it off and begin to barge frack wastewater (brine, actually) down the Ohio River. MDN was the first to disclose that GreenHunter is going to push back against the ongoing delays coming from the Obama White House in pressuring the U.S. Coast Guard to delay granting permission to GreenHunter to barge brine. We analyzed and told you what’s happening–that GreenHunter is using the Coast Guard’s own regulations from 1987 against them, using the definition of oilfield wastes to apply to brine from shale wells (see GreenHunter/Coast Guard War of Words — MDN Explains It). Essentially GreenHunter is daring the Coast Guard to take them to court to try and stop them (a brilliant move). GreenHunter says they will begin barging in three months’ time (see GreenHunter Says OH River Wastewater Barging to Begin September). Along comes the virulent anti-drilling organization FreshWater Accountability Project (FWAP, which we pronounce “fuh-wop”) with their own twist to try and stop GreenHunter. FWAP has asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate GreenHunter for making false statements to investors about their permission (or lack thereof) to begin barge shipments of brine…
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Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County | Wastewater

OH Injection Well Operator has Until Today to File Remediation Plan
June 19, 2015June 19, 2015

We’ve been following the story of water contamination in close proximity to five injection wells owned by Kleese Development Associates (KDA) of Warren, OH. The wells were shut down when water contamination was found in a local wetland (swamp) and a nearby pond. But after investigating, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) found that the injection wells were not the source of chemical contamination, but rather a salvage yard was at fault (see Trumbull Injection Wells NOT the Source of Wetland Contamination). The salvage yard is also owned by KDA, so the company is certainly not off the hook. The last word we had was that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) along with the Ohio Attorney General’s office executed search warrants for KDA looking for evidence of “environmental crimes” (see Youngstown Injection Wells Previously Shut Down Resume Operation). Meanwhile, the injection wells were reportedly restarted after correcting an issue found by the ODNR when they were there investigating. The new news is that Ohio EPA (not the feds, but Ohio) says KDA has until today to file a remediation plan to clean up a local creek affected by the so-far still undetermined source of a chemical spill coming from the salvage yard…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

Range Fires Back: Proof We Didn’t Cause PA Methane Migration
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

Yesterday MDN told you about the new, negative tone being set at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection by its new leader, Sec. John Quigley, by fining Range Resources for a case of methane migration (see PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration). Perhaps Quigley has adopted EPA Region 6 administrator Al Armendariz’s philosophy of making an example of one or two companies (see EPA Region 6 Administrator: Crucify Energy Companies). Quigley says Range did a sloppy cement job on a gas well they drilled in 2011 and has refused to correct the situation. Range immediately fired back, very loud and very clear, that water wells in that area had high levels of methane in them BEFORE any drilling took place–and Range has the documented pre-drilling tests to prove it…
Read More “Range Fires Back: Proof We Didn’t Cause PA Methane Migration”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Gov Wolf & Co Wipes Away 151K PA Jobs by Changing Formula
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

Poof! Some 151,000 jobs that had been created by the Marcellus Shale industry, according to Pennsylvania officials, disappeared overnight. PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s administration (Republican), voted out of office last November, used to say (based on numbers from the PA Dept. of Labor and Industry) that the Marcellus Shale industry is responsible for creating 240,000 jobs in the state (see Hundreds of Thousands of Marcellus Drilling Jobs in PA). That number includes people in other industries that serve the Marcellus industry. PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration (Democrat) now comes along to say that number is bunkum. Wolf and his minions want to lower the public’s perception that the Mighty Marcellus is a jobs-creating engine like nothing ever seen in the state–so they’ve just arbitrarily wiped off 151,000 of those jobs by saying the way the number was originally calculated was wrong. They say the “real” number is more like 89,000. Welcome to Wonderland where you have your truth and I have my truth and the only casualty is THE truth…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Bill Pushes 12.5% Guaranteed Minimum Royalty for PA Landowners
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

One of the big disappointments last year, for landowners, was the failure to pass House Bill (HB) 1684 which would clear up language from the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act of 1979. The GMRA of 1979 says landowners are supposed to get 12.5% minimum in royalties. Chesapeake (perhaps other drillers too) found loopholes and drove a truck through them, claiming marketing and pipeline transportation expenses that they deducted from royalties–leaving some landowners with checks for (literally) a few dollars (see Bradford County, PA Landowners Sue Chesapeake over Royalties). HB 1684 would have cleared up the language and ensured landowners get 12.5% as a minimum–but the bill was met with opposition from the drilling industry (see Rare Schism Between Landowners & Drillers over PA Royalty Law). The bill ultimately failed to get to the floor for a vote. But 2015 is a new year, and PA State Rep. Garth Everett, with the backing of the PA National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO), will introduce a brand new bill next week that is largely a reconstituted HB 1684. So far 35 members have signed on as co-sponsors. Everett and NARO are planning a “bill launch party” in the Capitol Rotunda for next Tuesday, June 23 at 1:30 pm. They want every single landowner who can to show up as a sign of support…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration
June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

Last September Range Resources was assessed a then-new record high fine of $4.15 million for a series of leaking frack wastewater impoundments in southwestern Pennsylvania (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). A short time later, in October 2014, EQT replaced Range as the “highest ever” fine when the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) assessed EQT a $4.53 million fine for a leaky wastewater impoundment in northeastern PA, in Tioga County (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). There’s a new mafia don, er a, “sheriff” in town–PennFuture DEP Secretary John Quigley–and he’s just slapped Range Resources with a new highest-ever fine nearly double EQT’s fine: $8.9 million. The offense? Methane migration from a well in Lycoming County, PA. The DEP says the Range well, drilled in 2011, has been leaking methane since at least 2013 (improperly cemented well casing) and the methane has “contaminated the groundwater-fed wells of private water supplies, and a nearby stream.” The DEP doesn’t say how many water wells have been affected nor which stream is affected…
Read More “PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

This is a tale of two Pennsylvania townships. Both towns were part of the original seven selfish towns that sued the State of Pennsylvania to overturn portions of the Act 13 oil and gas law (see PA Court Says 7 Towns Can Keep Marcellus Money & Ban Drilling Too). Both towns share a border and both are in Washington County, PA. The residents of one town have clung to their anti-drilling views and continue to obstruct and obfuscate and block anything to do with drilling or pipelines. That town would be Cecil (see today’s story titled Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions). The other town, Robinson, has done a complete reversal. The residents of Robinson tossed their anti-drilling supervisors out of office, elected new ones, and have embraced the Marcellus Shale revolution happening around them (see Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate). Whereas Cecil is still trying to block a single MarkWest compressor station in their town, Robinson is moving forward with plans for a second MarkWest compressor station…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Snyder Brothers | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA PUC Sues Snyder Bros to Collect $500K in Unpaid Impact Fees
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

CORRECTION: The PUC misspoke in the figures given to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Snyder Brothers were actually fined a total of $499,520 — $390,250 for impact and administrative fees, $11,707.50 in interest and a fine of $97,562.50. Our thanks to NGI’s Shale Daily for tracking down the mistake and alerting us to it!

Last year we brought you the interesting story of strippers in the Marcellus–stripper wells, that is (see High-Priced Strippers in PA: Semantic Gymnastics with Impact Fee). Synder Brothers is an oil/gas producer in Pennsylvania. Most of the wells they drill are vertical-only wells. Among them are 24 wells from 2011 and 21 wells from 2012 that are vertical only–but all targeting the Marcellus. According to the definition of a stripper well under the Act 13 law passed in 2012, a well qualifies as a stripper well if it doesn’t produce over 90 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas per day. Synder Bros. says their wells don’t, ergo their wells are stripper wells and not liable to pay an impact fee. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with evaluating what does and does not qualify, says nope–your wells target the Marcellus formation and produced above 90 Mcf for at least one month out of the year, therefore must pay the impact fee. So the PUC has sued Snyder Bros. and intends to collect $500,000 in unpaid fees in the next 20 days, PLUS a $50,000 fine for inconveniencing the PUC…
Read More “PA PUC Sues Snyder Bros to Collect $500K in Unpaid Impact Fees”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Why Haven’t Anti Groups Opposed Andrew Place for PA PUC?
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Surprisingly, a very perceptive article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News asks the question, Why hasn’t there been a peep on the part of anti-drillers over the nomination of EQT’s Andrew Place to become a member of the board for the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC)? Indeed, it’s a great question. EQT is a major Marcellus Shale driller based in Pittsburgh. The PUC is charged with collecting impact fees from shale drillers. The author of the article says imagine this headline, if it were 2014: “Corbett administration taps shale industry exec for key regulatory post.” Mainstream (Democrat) media would have a field day! We would have been treated to nonstop exposés on how Tom Corbett is in the back pocket of the drilling industry…political payoff…political patronage…backroom dealing…conflict of interest…et cetera ad nauseam. A year later it’s a Democrat governor doing the appointing, so the obedient Democrat media hasn’t breathed a word questioning the appointment. We’ve seen wingnut groups disagree with Wolf when it comes to drilling–they’d rather have no drilling than tax it, given the option. So why are these same “environmental” groups, like PennFuture which is opposed to the drilling industry and anyone/anything connected to it, apparently OK with the nomination of Andrew Place?…
Read More “Why Haven’t Anti Groups Opposed Andrew Place for PA PUC?”