Regulation

Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Cabot Says Constitution Pipeline Construction to Begin this Fall
July 27, 2015July 27, 2015

Last Friday during the Cabot Oil & Gas quarterly earnings call update with analysts, Cabot’s CEO Dan Dinges provided an important update on the Constitution Pipeline, a 125-mile pipeline that will stretch from the gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA into New York, to Schoharie County. It is a critically needed pipeline to get Cabot’s natural gas in Susquehanna County to markets throughout the northeast and New England. Although Williams is the lead company building the pipeline, Cabot is the other primary partner in the project. Currently the Constitution is 100% FERC authorized and they have 100% of the rights of way leases signed for the project. The only hold-up is the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation in granting 401 Water Quality Certificates that allows the Constitution to lay pipe through and under swamps, creeks and other bodies of water. According to Dinges, they expect NY to issue those permits any day now…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Will NY Gov Cuomo Ban LPG Fracking Too?
July 27, 2015July 27, 2015

A column in the New York Post asks the question of whether or not Gov. Andrew Cuomo will work to block LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, or gelled propane) fracking in the Empire State as he has done with water-based fracking. MDN told you earlier this month about the ingenious plan by Tioga County, NY landowners who have filed for a permit to use LPG fracking in a limited test (see NY Landowners File to Frack Horizontal Well w/Waterless Tech). We also gave you our analysis of how this action paints Cuomo into a corner (see Update on LPG Fracking in New York – What Comes Next?). The NY Post column does a great job exposing the lies of New York’s anti-drillers. They bleat and blat about contaminated water sources–that’s their stated objection to shale drilling. That’s the argument they always lead off with–how shale drilling will contaminate everyone’s water supply within a hundred miles. The argument is 100% false, but for the sake of our discussion, let’s remove water from the process, as LPG fracking does. To drill and frack an LPG well takes zero gallons of water. And yet, NY’s anti-drillers still object. Why? Because they irrationally hate all fossil fuels, including natural gas…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA IG Report Says EPA Can Keep its Finger in the Fracking Pie
July 24, 2015July 24, 2015

In June the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report detailing the findings of their four-year study that found no harmful effects on water supplies from fracking (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). That doesn’t stop the EPA from using whatever toehold they can to regulate fracking–an activity that Constitutionally belongs to the states. Recently the EPA’s Office of Inspector General released a report (full copy below) saying, in essence, “we lost the public argument that we should regulate fracking, but here’s a couple of ways we can keep our finger in the fracking pie”…
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Allegany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

1st Lawsuit Filed Against NY Cuomo Frack Ban – in Allegany County
July 23, 2015July 22, 2015

An Allegany County, NY attorney quietly filed a lawsuit–two months ago–against the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) over their infamous frack ban. It is the first such lawsuit that we are aware of to be filed against the DEC since the frack ban was officially declared (see It’s Official: Cuomo Bans Economic Opportunity & Prosperity in NY). The beauty of the Allengany attorney’s lawsuit is that it uses the DEC’s own words against them. The DEC, according to the lawsuit, admits in their own documentation that fracking for shale gas and oil is a “viable and acceptable” method for capturing natural gas. Those words may come back to haunt the DEC. This clever attorney is suing on his own behalf, for the right to drill and frack on his own property. He filed the lawsuit in a relatively low court, called (ironically) Supreme Court–one step up from county court in NY. Here’s the details on what we hope is the beginning of the end of the infamous Andrew Cuomo frack ban in NY…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

No Work Gets Done at Inaugural PA Pipeline Task Force Meeting
July 23, 2015July 22, 2015

In May, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced the formation of the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (PITF)–an effort to “promote unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders to facilitate the development of a world-class pipeline infrastructure system” (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). Last week we told you who Wolf appointed to the 42-member committee–one-third of them report to him in one fashion or another (working for the state government), and over one-half of the members work for either local, state or federal government (see PA Gov Wolf Packs Pipeline Task Force with His Own Minions). In other words, Wolf packed the so-called task force with people who don’t know a darned thing about the private sector and how to run a business. Yes, it is a train wreck waiting to happen. Wolf and his minion DEP Sec. John Quigley intends to slow down the pace of pipeline construction in the state just when it needs to speed up. Such are the consequences of voting for the wrong candidate. Yesterday the PITF held it’s first official meeting with Quigley chairing it. Interestingly, there was talk from Quigley about midstreamers getting a “social license”…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Bill Gives Tax Breaks to “Downstream” Natgas Businesses
July 21, 2015July 21, 2015

Here’s a cool idea: What if Pennsylvania granted 10 years of tax breaks to businesses that use shale gas and create at least 10 new jobs within three years? And what if those tax breaks for businesses were available in PA’s more rural areas–not the big cities? In other words, what if PA created more “downstream” jobs–jobs in manufacturing? Sure sounds like a winner to us. PA State Senator Scott Hutchinson (Republican from Oil City) has introduced Senate Bill (SB) 886 that would do just those things–turning PA into a jobs-creating powerhouse in the downstream sector…
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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Congressman Says Obama Purposely Not Enforcing Pipeline Safety
July 21, 2015July 21, 2015

Congressman David McKinley, Republican from West Virginia, recently expressed his frustration with the Obama Administration and their lack of action in enforcing the 2011 Pipeline Safety Bill. McKinley said pipelines are safe but because Obama isn’t interested in promoting the image of safe pipelines (because it leads to more natural gas use), the Obama Administration is intentionally dragging its feet as it so often does when it doesn’t want to enforce laws Congress has passed that the lawless Lord B.H.O. disagrees with. McKinley threatens if federal agencies won’t do their job, Congress will force them to do it…
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Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Hilcorp Well Pad Approval Conundrum in Lawrence County Resolved
July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

In May MDN told you about an unusual case in Pulaski Township (Lawrence County), PA where all three Board of Supervisors had a potential conflict of interest if they proceeded to approve a well pad for Hilcorp (see Conflict of Interest Prevents Hilcorp Wellpad Approval, What Now?). The proposed well pad would sit on one of the supervisors’ property. A second supervisor owns land adjacent to the first and his land would presumably be located in the first’s drilling unit. So they were both out of the running to make a motion. The third supervisor works for Hilcorp, so she couldn’t make the motion. We asked the question, what next? Now we know. A provision in Pennsylvania state law, according to a legal notice filed by Hilcorp, states that a decision “is deemed to have been rendered in favor of the applicant” after Hilcorp published legal ads on July 9 and 16. Anyone who wants to challenge it has 30 days to do so in the PA Court of Common Pleas (county court). No comment from anti-drillers at The Fracking Resistence, Lawrence County, PA (so far) other than to note that on their Facebook page that Supervisor Sam Varano will get a well pad after all…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation

Athens, OH Antis Win Court Approval for Anti-Injection Well Vote
July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

You have to give the anti-drilling nutjobs one thing: they’re persistent. And we need to be just as persistent if we’re going to overcome their lunatic objections to fossil fuels. Case in point: In February the Ohio Supreme Court, once and for all, struck down so-called “home rule” legislation passed by local municipalities where anti-drillers are able to convince enough citizens to vote for it (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). When it comes to creating local laws and zoning ordinances that prohibit or otherwise try to control oil and gas drilling and associated activities, Ohio state law stipulates only the State regulates it–not towns and villages and cities. That’s the law, and that’s the law the Supreme Court upheld. Athens County, hotbed of anti-drilling radicalism, has put numerous ballot measures before its citizens in an attempt to stop shale drilling. They finally won one last November (see 3 of 4 Frack Ban Ballot Measures in Ohio Fail – Athens Exception). However, the Supreme Court decision renders the Athens ballot initiative null and void. But that doesn’t stop the crazies in Athens. They’re back again with another ballot measure–this one targeting wastewater injection wells. A lower court judge gave them clearance last week to put their proposed measure, illegal as it is, on the ballot in November…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NH Gov Hassan Asks FERC to Schedule More Hearings for KM Pipeline
July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan seems to be playing both sides of the fence in the debate to bring cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas to New England to help relieve sky-high electric and natural gas prices in the region–particularly in the winter months. Hassan is one of six New England governors who previously backed the concept of a new natural gas pipeline to the region (see Blue State Blues: 6 New England States Want New Natgas Pipeline). Yet lately, Hassan, one of the five Democrat governors supporting a pipeline, seems to be backing away from the concept and calling on Kinder Morgan with its proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline plan to bend over backwards, sideways and any which way it can to please her lib constituents. The latest in her escalating rhetoric is a letter sent Wednesday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking them to schedule more than just three scoping hearings. As we’ve often commented, anti-drilling nutters need cameras and open forums to feel good about themselves. They parade and preen and behave in the wackiest ways when they know a camera and microphone are present. Hassan wants to provide more such opportunities for her supporters…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio DNR Enacts Expensive New Utica/Horizontal Drilling Rules
July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

Yesterday the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) implemented new horizontal drilling rules that regulate the construction of horizontal well pad sites for Utica Shale and other shale drilling. The new rules require drillers to first submit a detailed well pad site plan, certified by a professional engineer, and then the plan will be reviewed by the ODNR before permits are issued. The ODNR claims the new requirements (full copy below) are “the most comprehensive and proactive horizontal well pad regulations in the country.” Translation: It’s going to cost Utica drillers more money to drill in the Buckeye State starting today…
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Anadarko | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Southwestern Energy

Antis Ask PA Gov Wolf to Stop New Drilling in Loyalsock Forest
July 16, 2015July 16, 2015

Representatives from a dozen far-left anti-fossil fuel groups sent a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday asking him to illegally prevent drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest–where the mineral rights are owned by private individuals and not the state. Groups like PennFuture (most of whose employees now work in the Wolf Administration), the Sierra Clubbers and the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters are signatories to the letter urging Wolf to wave his magic wand and prevent drilling in the Loyalsock. Of course their pleas and demands ignore the fact that drilling is already happening in many state forests–INCLUDING Loyalsock. Their objection is to the addition of more drilling in the Clarence Moore Lands area of the Loyalsock…
Read More “Antis Ask PA Gov Wolf to Stop New Drilling in Loyalsock Forest”
Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Manhattan Institute Says Now is Time to Ramp Up Shale Production
July 15, 2015July 15, 2015

The New York-based Manhattan Institute, a non-profit think tank with a mission “to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility” has just released a new report titled, “Step on the Gas! How to Extend America’s Energy Advantage” (full copy embedded below). The 20-page report says now is the time for the U.S. to press its advantage in shale energy. The report’s writer, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Oren Cass, points out the cyclical nature of commodity prices for oil and gas and says even though prices are down now–they won’t stay that way. In order to take full advantage of the shale boom, Cass suggests 11 reforms to help craft a smarter U.S. energy policy–one that will amplify the current boom and extend it far into the future. At the top of the hit parade: allow domestic producers to export oil and gas, and streamline the process to let it happen more quickly…
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Ashtabula County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Regulation | Velocys

Ohio EPA Issues Final Permit for Ashtabula GTL Plant
July 15, 2015July 15, 2015

In March the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft permit to Ashtabula Energy that will allow the company to build a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant converting Utica Shale gas into other products like diesel fuel (see OH EPA Issues Draft Lake Erie Discharge Permit for Ashtabula GTL Plant). The permit will allow the plant to discharge wastewater into Lake Erie (essentially freshwater used for cooling in the plant). After holding two public meetings and further consideration, the Ohio EPA has issued a final permit to Ashtabula–a sign that the project will now move forward. Just one teeny tiny problem that we can see. Ashtabula was bought out by Velocys GTL, the manufacturer of the equipment that will be used in the plant. Just over a week ago Velocys suspended its CEO for “possible serious misconduct” (see Velocys GTL Company Suspends CEO for Possible Serious Misconduct). So what does that mean for the future of the Ashtabula GTL project?…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Drought Watch Lifted – Marcellus Drillers can Restart Withdrawals
July 14, 2015July 14, 2015

In May MDN brought you the news that drought conditions in Pennsylvania were beginning to take a bite out of Marcellus drilling activities–at least in the northeast part of the state (see PA Drought Conditions Begin to Affect Marcellus Drilling). On May 26, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a drought watch for 27 counties in the state, including large natgas producers like Susquehanna, Bradford, Tioga and Lackawanna, all counties in northeast PA. On June 17 the DEP expanded the drought watch to 37 counties. However, we have good news. The DEP has just lifted the drought watch for all 37 counties–which means Marcellus drillers previously affected can return to normal operations…
Read More “PA Drought Watch Lifted – Marcellus Drillers can Restart Withdrawals”
Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

Update on LPG Fracking in New York – What Comes Next?
July 13, 2015July 13, 2015

As MDN noted last Thursday, taking a break from being on break in breathtakingly beautiful Ogunquit, Maine, a group of Tioga County, NY landowners have painted Andrew Cuomo and his Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in a corner with respect to fracking in the Empire State (see NY Landowners File to Frack Horizontal Well w/Waterless Tech). Much of the case against fracking for the DEC is that it uses large amounts of water. The Tioga landowners aim to test LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas, fracking–which uses no water. According to the recently adopted Final Supplemental Environmental Generic Impact Statement (FSGEIS) in New York, “Well applications that specify and propose the use of LPG as the primary carrier fluid will be reviewed and permitted pursuant to the 1992 GEIS and Findings Statement”(FSGEIS 2015, pages 9-10). The Tioga landowners mean to use that exception to drill a small well–covering just 53 acres–to prove that fracking is safe. It’s a brilliant move…
Read More “Update on LPG Fracking in New York – What Comes Next?”