Regulation

Air Quality | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Newspaper Admits PA Gas-Powered Electric Plant Will Pollute Less
May 28, 2015May 28, 2015

The world has gone topsy turvy. The anti-drilling Scranton Times-Tribune, normally a purveyor of half-truths when it comes to shale drilling, pipelines and the Marcellus Shale in general, has a story that grudgingly admits that no, a planned electric generating plant in Jessup, PA won’t pollute the air nearly as much as anti-drillers say it will. We’ve written a number of articles about Invenergy’s plan to build a 1500-megawatt plant (largest in the state) in the borough of Jessup (Lackawanna County), near Scranton, on an 80-acre former coal mine and landfill site (see MDN’s stories here). The plant will use clean burning Marcellus Shale gas to produce cheap electricity. The main objection to the plant is the possibility of air pollution. Experts interviewed by the Times-Tribune say you’re more likely to breathe harmful air pollution living downwind from a major highway than you are living downwind of this proposed plant…
Read More “Newspaper Admits PA Gas-Powered Electric Plant Will Pollute Less”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland’s Pusillanimous Gov Allows Frack Moratorium to Become Law
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

What a disappointment Maryland’s new Republican governor, Larry Hogan, has turned out to be. On his way out of office, Maryland’s previous governor, Martin O’Malley (Democrat), created strict drilling regulations that would allow fracking in Maryland THIS YEAR (see Maryland Gets Ready to Frack! Gov O’Malley Files New Regulations). O’Malley was a disaster as Maryland’s governor, and even though he lobbed new fracking regs over the wall in a sleazy political move (he’s running for president), we tipped our hat to him for doing the right thing–even if he did it for his own personal reasons. The prospect of any fracking was too much for the environmentally insane that belong to Maryland’s legislature. They passed a two-year moratorium bill and sent it to Hogan for his signature (see Maryland Closer to a 2-Year Fracking Ban, Will Gov have Guts?). Looks like the pusillanimous Gov. Hogan doesn’t have guts after all. He’s already defeated just a few months into his first term. Last Friday the Baltimore Sun quotes his office as saying Hogan, who supposedly supports shale drilling, will let the bill become law without his signature–a cop out if ever we’ve seen one…
Read More “Maryland’s Pusillanimous Gov Allows Frack Moratorium to Become Law”
Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County

Lordstown $800M Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets Village Approval
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

In April 2014, MDN told you about a proposal from Clean Energy Future to build an $800 million electric generation plant in Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH. The plant will be fired by natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus (see Clean Energy Plans NatGas Electric Generation Plant in Lordstown). At that time, the plan was to begin construction in December 2015 and complete the plant by the end of 2018. There was some initial resistance to the location, so Clean Energy Future changed the location and moved up the timeline to build it (see Lordstown Gas-Powered Electric Plant Moves Up Construction Timeline). Last night the last major hurdle was scaled when the Lordstown Village Council gave the project a big thumbs up. The Village Council voted to offer the project a number of incentives and actively worked to get the deal done–not something you observe very often with these kinds of projects…
Read More “Lordstown $800M Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets Village Approval”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Canadian LNG Project to Export Marcellus Gas Gets DOE Approval
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

In April MDN shined the spotlight on one of four LNG export projects planned for Nova Scotia, Canada–Pieridae Energy’s Goldboro LNG project (see Canadian LNG Project Woos Europeans with Promise of Marcellus Gas). There are a number of hurdles Pieridae must overcome before the first shovel hit the ground to build the facility. The Maritimes & Northeast pipeline has to get FERC permission to reverse its flow. The gas has to get to the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline in the first place via new pipelines from either Kinder Morgan or Spectra Energy. The price of oil has to rise to make it economical. And oh, since it will be U.S. shale gas from the Marcellus/Utica feeding the LNG plant getting exported, the U.S. Dept. of Energy will need to approve export licenses for the plant. You can check that last one off the list. The DOE announced last week they are granting Pieridae permission to export up to 292 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per year of natural gas (0.8 Bcf per day) to countries that have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.S. The DOE has not yet ruled on exports to non-FTA countries…
Read More “Canadian LNG Project to Export Marcellus Gas Gets DOE Approval”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation

Broadview Hghts, OH Won’t Appeal Overturned Home Rule Law
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

In March MDN told you about the crushing defeat of a home rule law in Broadview Heights, a Cleveland, OH suburb (see OH Antis Handed Crushing Defeat in Broadview Hghts Home Rule Case). A Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge struck down Broadview Heights’ so-called community bill of rights that bans all oil and gas drilling–including shale drilling. The judge rightly ruled that only the state–and not localities–have the right to regulate oil and gas drilling. That caused the anarchists at the Ohio Community Right to Know Network (OHCRN) to call for an uprising. They “refuse” to recognize the court’s decision (i.e. they’re lawless). Fortunately for the citizens of Broadview Heights, city leaders do still recognize the rule of law. Last week the city announced it will not appeal the decision, because it has no basis on which to appeal it. But that doesn’t stop the nutters from an OHCRN associate group, calling itself Mothers Against Drilling In Our Neighborhoods, from filing yet another frivolous lawsuit, which they’ve done…
Read More “Broadview Hghts, OH Won’t Appeal Overturned Home Rule Law”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Regulation

Lawsuit Won’t Stop NC Agency from Drilling Test Holes in Shale
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

An interesting twist in the story out of North Carolina where a judge recently halted the forward momentum on fracking in the Tar Heel State that was set to begin in July (see Judge Puts NC Fracking on Hold Pending Outcome of Lawsuit). Even though Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens’ decision means the Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) can’t issue permits for drilling and fracking in shale deposits, that isn’t stopping the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) from contracting with a private drilling company to sink a series of test holes in Stokes, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties starting June 12 to see whether shale gas is present in those locations…
Read More “Lawsuit Won’t Stop NC Agency from Drilling Test Holes in Shale”
Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Regulation

Propane Gets its Own Congressional Caucus, Support from OH/PA/NY
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

No doubt you’ve heard of Congressional caucuses, right? They are informal groups composed of members of Congress, dedicated to the promotion of a single issue or cause. One of the most prominent such groups, perhaps the most well known, is the Congressional Black Caucus. (Can you imagine a group called the Congressional White Caucus? But we digress.) There’s the Blue Dog Coalition–a group of liberal Democrats pretending to be conservatives. How about the Republican Study Committee? No, they’re not Congresspersons who need to study more. They’re a group of conservative Republicans promoting social and economic conservative values (i.e. traditional values this country was founded on). There are, according to the Congressional Research Service, some 694 (!) such groups or caucuses in the U.S. Congress. Here’s number 695: the Congressional Propane Caucus. Yes, propane, a natural gas liquid (and filthy hydrocarbon destroying Mother Earth through evil global warming) now has a group of both Republicans and Democrats (truly bipartisan) Congresspeople who have formed a caucus to promote and legislate and protect and push the use of propane–a fossil fuel. The brand new Propane Caucus has among it’s members Congressman from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region–from Ohio, Pennsylvania and (yes) even from New York…
Read More “Propane Gets its Own Congressional Caucus, Support from OH/PA/NY”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | North Carolina | Regulation

Judge Puts NC Fracking on Hold Pending Outcome of Lawsuit
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Last July MDN told you that the first permits to frack shale wells in North Carolina would start to be issued this July (see North Carolina Shames New York: Fracking Begins in 2015). The NC Mining and Energy Commission did its part and completed regulations in March (see Triassic Park: North Carolina Becomes 34th State to Frack Shale). Everything was set to go. And then the lawsuits began. A NC judge has issued a ruling that prohibits the Mining and Energy Commission from issuing any permits until another case currently before the NC Supreme Court–questioning the legality of the appointment of several boards that manage state resources and the environment–plays out. It’s a pretty safe bet that the first permits to frack in NC won’t happen in July…
Read More “Judge Puts NC Fracking on Hold Pending Outcome of Lawsuit”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

New Bill “Encourages” FERC to Make Speedier Pipeline Approvals
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, from West Virginia, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, recently introduced a bill that speed up the approval time for new pipeline projects. The “Oil and Gas Production and Distribution Reform Act” strengthens the role of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to better coordinate government agencies involved in the pipeline permitting process. That is, it gooses FERC and tells them to hurry it up (especially with Marcellus and Utica pipeline projects)–and reportedly gives them new tools and new deadlines to do so…
Read More “New Bill “Encourages” FERC to Make Speedier Pipeline Approvals”
Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Takes Aim at Bakken Oil Trains Traveling Thru PA
May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is now taking aim at railroads transporting Bakken crude oil that pass through PA on their way to refineries along the East Coast. While railroads are typically regulated by the federal government, Wolf is a) hoping to pressure railroads apart from the feds, and b) may try to sneak in his own regulations on top of federal regulations. He’s hired an “expert,” Dr. Allan Zarembski, to look into the matter for the next three months–to provide Wolf with “policy recommendations” (which means new rules and regulations are on the way). Wolf sent a letter (copy below) to CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway telling them to shape up…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Takes Aim at Bakken Oil Trains Traveling Thru PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Riverkeeper Sues Federal DOT Over New Oil Train Regs
May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

The fossil fuel hating New York Riverkeeper–not to be confused with fossil fuel hating THE Delaware Riverkeeper–has just sued the U.S. Dept. of Transportation over rules the DOT recently issued with regard to railroads transporting crude oil (usually Bakken crude) through New York State. Riverkeeper is being joined in their frivolous lawsuit by several other odious anti-drilling, anti-capitalist Big Green organizations: Earthjustice, Waterkeeper Alliance, ForestEthics and the Sierra Clubbers. Riverkeeper says the DOT’s new rules for oil trains won’t protect rivers like the Hudson…
Read More “NY Riverkeeper Sues Federal DOT Over New Oil Train Regs”
Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation

GreenHunter Says OH River Wastewater Barging to Begin September
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

The centerpiece of GreenHunter Resources strategy is to quickly ramp up, and start producing revenue from, a series of wastewater injection wells in Meigs County, OH (see GreenHunter Resources 1Q15: Bets the Ranch on OH Injection Wells). There are two ways wastewater, both flowback and brine, will get to the Meigs County wells (called the Mills Hunter facility): 1. trucking, 2. barging. For years MDN has covered the controversy about barging brine (and possibly flowback) down the Ohio River to injection wells in Ohio. The holdup–frankly the problem–has been that the Obama administration has been pressuring the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to withhold such approval. Never mind that substances far more toxic than shale wastewater are currently (right now) barged up and down the Ohio River every single day. That makes no difference. It’s public perception and how anti-drillers are able to warp and mold public opinion that is at issue here. After having their fill of waiting, GreenHunter made a brilliant move on the chessboard to break the stalemate. Using the USCG’s own rules and regulations against them, GreenHunter said current regulations issued in 1987 give them the right to barge brine–right now. And they intend to do so as soon as they have a facility built to load the barges. This is a little-covered aspect of this story and MDN, if we may immodestly say so, was the first and one of the few to figure it out (see GreenHunter/Coast Guard War of Words — MDN Explains It). Although a war of words has gone back and forth, GreenHunter has not backed down. During the 1Q15 earnings call we got an update on where things stand and a time frame for when GreenHunter plans to begin barging wastewater down the Ohio River…
Read More “GreenHunter Says OH River Wastewater Barging to Begin September”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Those trouble-making Martians are at it again. Four virulently anti-fossil fuel parents from the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA are being assisted–we maintain illegally–with support from THE Delaware Riverkeeper (violating its own charter of operating on the other side of the state in the Delaware River Basin) and by the Philadelphia group Clean Air Council. Riverkeeper’s interference in Butler County invalidates their tax-exempt status. Get this, using money from Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, the four Middlesex residents are trying to FORCE locally elected leaders in Middlesex to “protect them” from an activity that’s harmless–drilling a shale well 3/4 of a mile away from the local Mars School. It’s the same type of “sue and settle” being used at the national level, being tried locally. Seven selfish PA townships sued the state (and won) to retain the right to zone where drilling can and can’t take place. Now the Martians want to (ab)use the same Act 13 law to force the town to enact zoning that this small group of residents wants regardless of what a majority of town residents want. In other words, there is only one outcome (for them) allowed under Act 13: no drilling. It is an amazingly arrogant position and needs to be vigorously opposed legally, morally, via popular opinion–in any way possible…
Read More “Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Permit Applications Down 30% in PA, DEP Scrambles for Funding
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Starting in 2014, the price to file an application for a permit to drill a Marcellus or Utica Shale well in Pennsylvania went from $3,200 to $5,000 (see Coming Soon: PA Drillers to Pay 56% More for Marcellus Permits). In early 2014, then head of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Chris Abruzzo, said the fee hike and forecasted new revenue from it would allow the DEP to hire more help (see New Staffers on Way at PA DEP O&G Courtesy Higher Permit Fees). But a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum–the price of natural gas dropped like a rock because of too much supply and, in the northeast, not enough pipelines. Year over year the number of applications for permits to drill new wells is down about 30% according to the DEP, and that means the previously forecasted revenue isn’t there. What will the DEP do now?…
Read More “New Permit Applications Down 30% in PA, DEP Scrambles for Funding”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Cecil Twp Violates Court Order re MarkWest Compressor Permit
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

MDN first started tracking the issue of MarkWest Energy’s desire/application to build a compressor station in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA all the way back in May 2011–four years ago (see MarkWest, Range Resources File Legal Appeal Over Denial of Permit for Gas Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The case goes back even further to the fall of 2010 when MarkWest first filed for the permit. Since that time, Cecil has steadfastly denied MarkWest a permit to build the compressor. It took nearly four years of lawsuits (see our many stories here), but last fall a judge ruled that Cecil could not disallow the MarkWest compressor in an area zoned industrial (see MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The Cecil Town Board decided not to appeal the decision, but the zoning board has kept it bottled up since last October. The town has now exhausted all legal options and the court, in April, told the town they have 45 days to grant the permit. The clock is ticking and yet the zoning board is still dragging its feet and intends to violate the 45-day court order…
Read More “Cecil Twp Violates Court Order re MarkWest Compressor Permit”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Appoints EQT’s Andrew Place to Public Utility Commission
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

A few weeks ago Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, disastrous Democrat ruining the Keystone State, appointed someone we suspect is an anti-driller to head the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), Gladys Brown (see Anti-Drillers Cheer PA Gov Wolf’s New Appointment to Head PUC). The reason we think Ms. Brown is an anti-driller is her religious-like belief in man-made global warming coupled with a big endorsement from the odious anti-drilling National Resources Defense Council, which issued a press release positively gushing at Brown’s appointment. Perhaps to soften the criticism, perhaps because he’s mildly schizophrenic, Gov. Wolf has appointed another new member of the PUC–this time someone from the Marcellus Shale industry–Andrew Place. Andrew, you may recall, works for Marcellus driller EQT and was the founding and interim executive director of the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). Andrew seems to have the ability to “reach across the isle” and work with loony toons environmentalists, so it’s no surprise Wolf has tapped him for this important post…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Appoints EQT’s Andrew Place to Public Utility Commission”