Regulation

Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

Breaking: Coast Guard Says They Did NOT Grant Barge Permission to GreenHunter
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Was GreenHunter fibbing when they claimed the U.S. Coast Guard has given them permission to barge produced water down the Ohio River? MDN brought you the news yesterday that parent company MagnumHunter CEO Gary Evans and GreenHunter COO Kirk Trosclair said they have received approval from the U.S. Coast Guard to ship produced water via barge down the Ohio River (see US Coast Guard Approves Brine Shipping via Barge on Ohio River). You can listen to them say it themselves on this analyst phone call. However, according to an article in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Coast Guard is saying that’s not true–they have NOT yet given a final go-ahead to GreenHunter…
Read More “Breaking: Coast Guard Says They Did NOT Grant Barge Permission to GreenHunter”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio County | Regulation | Wastewater | West Virginia

GreenHunter Faces Challenge to Get Wheeling Barge Facility OK’d
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Yesterday MDN shared the big news that GreenHunter Resources has now received permission from the U.S. Coast Guard to haul produced water via barge down the Ohio River (see US Coast Guard Approves Brine Shipping via Barge on Ohio River). Today that assertion is in question (see our related story on the Coast Guard’s response). Aside from the question of whether the Coast Guard did or did not grant permission for barging of produced water, GreenHunter has another problem–getting permission to load the water onto barges in the first place at their facility in Wheeling, WV…
Read More “GreenHunter Faces Challenge to Get Wheeling Barge Facility OK’d”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Southwestern Energy | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Gov Tomblin Signs “We Love You Southwestern” Bill into Law
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Last week MDN told you about the hurry-up-and-pass-it Senate Bill (SB) 280 in the West Virginia legislature. Southwestern Energy has just paid over $5 billion to acquire a bunch of land and drilling operations from Chesapeake Energy, most of it in WV (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). A new drilling law passed a few years ago stipulates if leases/operations change hands, the new owner must apply for permits to drill all over again, even if the previous owner had already been awarded those permits. The law threatened to shut down a number of drilling operations for new owner Southwestern. So the legislature passed a law “fixing” that problem–in record time. They then hustled it over to Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s desk where, as we predicted, he was waiting with bells on to sign it…
Read More “WV Gov Tomblin Signs “We Love You Southwestern” Bill into Law”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Delegate Introduces Moratorium, Before Fracking Begins
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

A member of the Maryland House of Delegates, David Fraser-Hidalgo (Democrat from Montgomery County) will host a news conference today to propose a bill that slaps a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state–before such drilling has even begun. This is rich on many levels. First, Marcellus drilling would only happen in 1 1/2 counties at the far western edge of the state. Second, Fraser-Hidalgo sits his rear-end in Montgomery County, a Washington, D.C. suburb–at the opposite end of the state. Third, a commission made up of many his fellow Democrats evaluated fracking for *four* years, and outgoing Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley recently green lighted fracking–with arguably the strictest rules anywhere (see Maryland Gets Ready to Frack! Gov O’Malley Files New Regulations). All of that is not good enough for Mr. Fraser-Hidalgo. Fortunately Maryland now has a new Republican governor, Larry Hogan, and Fraser-Hidalgo’s bill, if it passes, will be DOA on Hogan’s desk…
Read More “Maryland Delegate Introduces Moratorium, Before Fracking Begins”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Sen Inhofe Takes EPA’s McCarthy to Task Over “Waters of the U.S.”
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

We’ll say it again: We love Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe. He doesn’t suffer fools and he doesn’t mince words. Sen. Inhofe chaired a joint hearing yesterday in Washington, D.C. where the “guest of honor” (on the hot seat) was EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. You may recall that the EPA, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has been trying to redefine what is, and isn’t, a “waterway of the United States” as defined in the 1972 Clean Water Act (see Altoona Hearing on Latest EPA Outrage: Redefining Clean Water Act). If the EPA is successful in redefining it away from the originally-intended “waters that can be navigated,” they will have succeeded in making everything bigger than a mud puddle part of the CWA and therefore subject to the EPA and ergo the EPA would be (unconstitutionally) in charge of oil and gas drilling via the back door of the CWA. This move is dangerous and Inhofe knows it. In opening yesterday’s hearing on expanding the meaning of waterways in the U.S., Inhofe gave McCarthy a what-for to her face…
Read More “Sen Inhofe Takes EPA’s McCarthy to Task Over “Waters of the U.S.””
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Ritchie County | Wastewater | West Virginia

US Coast Guard Approves Brine Shipping via Barge on Ohio River
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

Some big news coming from GreenHunter Resources, the wastewater disposal arm of MagnumHunter Resources. As MDN has chronicled for the past several years, MagnumHunter has been trying to secure a permit from the U.S. Coast Guard to transport frack wastewater via barges down the Ohio River. The Coast Guard floated a preliminary plan to allow it all the way back in November 2013 (see More on Coast Guard Plan to Allow Barging of Frack Wastewater). However, until now, they have withheld permission due to meddling by The White House and other federal agencies. According to a conference call last week, MagnumHunter/GreenHunter officials said the Coast Guard “quietly” granted permission in December to allow them to begin barge shipments down the Ohio River. The permission apparently applies only to brine, or “produced water” and not flowback for frack wastewater…
Read More “US Coast Guard Approves Brine Shipping via Barge on Ohio River”
Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Looks Ahead 1,000 Yrs, Changes Landfill Rules for Cuttings
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Citing concerns over radon, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection “quietly” change the rules on Marcellus drillers near the end of last year with respect to disposing of shale cuttings at landfills. Starting on Jan. 1 of this year, landfills must move to a monthly, instead of annual, limit on how much “radioactive waste” they accept from drillers in the form of cuttings (leftover rock and dirt). The new standard is calculated so that a person living 1,000 years from now in a house built on the landfill would not be exposed to levels of radiation over what is considered safe today. Nice to know the DEP is always thinking ahead, a thousand years…
Read More “PA DEP Looks Ahead 1,000 Yrs, Changes Landfill Rules for Cuttings”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Peters Township, in Washington County, PA, continues to “struggle” with whether or not they will allow Marcellus Shale drilling within their borders. Peters, you may recall, is one of the seven selfish towns that sued the state over the zoning provisions in the Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). That “victory” has proven to be a disaster in more ways than one. The court decision does, however, require municipalities with districts zoned industrial to allow drilling, albeit those municipalities have plenty of options to continue stopping it by road use restrictions, etc. It seemed like Peters had finally come to grips and was looking for ways to allow shale drilling (see Peters Twp, PA Once Sued to Stop Act 13, Now Considers Drilling). However, recent comments by town leaders and an email from an MDN reader indicate Peters remains as hardened against drilling as ever…
Read More “Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Signs Exec Order to Ban Drilling Under State Land
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is, disappointingly, keeping campaign promises to his anti-drilling supporters. Today he will make a trip to Benjamin Rush State Park in northeast Philadelphia to sign an executive order to prohibit (for now) any more leases for drilling under (not on) state-owned land. The move is creating child-like excitement among far-left “environmentalist” groups like PennEnvironment–well known for rabid anti-drilling activities. You may recall two governors ago Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell was hell bent for leather in leasing state-owned land for drilling ON said land. After his voracious appetite for money was sated and his Democrat cronies in the legislature spent all $444 million of it, Rendell tried to pretend that he’s an environmentalist by slapping an executive order–a moratorium–on any more leasing of state-owned land. Hypocrite. Last year Gov. Tom Corbett lifted that moratorium with an executive order of his own so that another $75 million of badly needed revenue could be raised by leases for drilling under (not on) state land. Today, Gov. Wolf will turn down that $75 million with an executive order of his own for purely political pandering reasons. How utterly disappointing (but not surprising)…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Signs Exec Order to Ban Drilling Under State Land”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Southwestern Energy | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislature Passes Bill to Help Southwestern Keep Drilling
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Currently in West Virginia, if an E&P company, say Chesapeake Energy, has applied for and received permits to drill dozens or hundreds of wells which are currently in various states of being drilled, and then decides to sell those leases and drilling operations to someone else, like Southwestern Energy, the drilling law passed a few years ago says the new company buying those leases and drilling operations must re-apply for all of those permits to continue drilling. That’s a big problem. Southwestern, you may recall, has just paid Chessy $5.375 BILLION for leases, wells and drilling operations–most of it in WV. Can you imagine what will happen? Rigs idled…people laid off…chaos and confusion. It’s an economic disaster. So you can understand why the WV legislature has dispensed with the rules and passed a bill in record time that fixes the problem, allowing Southwestern (or anyone else) to assume permits on leased property that changes hands…
Read More “WV Legislature Passes Bill to Help Southwestern Keep Drilling”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Columbia Withdraws Compressor Plan, Seeks Alternative in SWPA
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Columbia Midstream Group, a subsidiary of NiSource, has withdrawn an application to build a compressor station in South Strabane Township (Washington County), PA and has, instead, applied to build two smaller facilities at the same site: a launcher/receiver facility and a metering station (both related to pipelines). The land they intend to build on is a 251-acre plot owned by Range Resources. Nearby residents who attended a public hearing on Tuesday night were still against the plan, even though it’s not nearly as big and noisy and polluting as a compressor station…
Read More “Columbia Withdraws Compressor Plan, Seeks Alternative in SWPA”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Federal Defense of Property Rights Act Explained; End of Frack Bans?
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

MDN has the low-down on proposed new federal legislation we first told you about yesterday, the Defense of Property Rights Act (see Congressman Proposes Bill to Compensate NY’s Jilted Landowners). When we published yesterday’s article, we did not have a copy of the proposed legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Tom Reed (Republican from Corning, NY). We now have a copy of the bill (embedded below), we have comment from Reed’s office, comment from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), and we’ve spoken to a top attorney that has elucidated just what is in the bill. Bottom line: it’s a good bill and we need to support it. Here’s why…
Read More “Federal Defense of Property Rights Act Explained; End of Frack Bans?”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Small Victory: NY to Allow LNG Storage Facilities – Again
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

Fracking to obtain natural gas is potentially too dangerous for public health, according to New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. Or so he said in December when he agreed with a trumped up report by Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. (Stay tuned, Zucker won’t be “acting” much longer–he’ll soon be rewarded with the full title for his performance in December–the quid pro quo for prostituting himself for Cuomo.) However, it’s just fine with Joe if fracked gas from other states is liquefied and stored in facilities in NY, available for use by trucking fleets and other customers. Today (Wednesday) Martens will release new rules that allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage facilities to operate in the state–facilities that have been banned since the 1970s following an explosion at an LNG facility on Staten Island that tragically killed 40 workers. Anti-drillers have fought the re-introduction of LNG facilities tooth and nail, so we count today’s announcement as a small victory for the good guys in the ongoing fracking wars in NY…
Read More “Small Victory: NY to Allow LNG Storage Facilities – Again”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

USFS Seeks Comment on Pipeline Survey in Monongahela Natl Forest
January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

Here on Pandora where the forests are sentient and can think and feel…oh wait, that’s in the movie Avatar and the sequel is not due out until the end of 2017 (drats!). We live on Mother Earth, not on Pandora. But you wouldn’t know it by the reaction of anti-drillers at the prospect of running Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline through 17 miles of the Monongahela National Forest. You’d swear the forest can actually feel it–and would experience a catastrophic wound in its very soul…
Read More “USFS Seeks Comment on Pipeline Survey in Monongahela Natl Forest”
Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Congressman Proposes Bill to Compensate NY’s Jilted Landowners
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

Congressman Tom Reed (Republican, Conservative) from the Southern Tier/Twin Tiers area of New York (Corning region) is “leading the charge” in Washington by proposing new legislation that would require states, like New York, to compensate residents when it causes them harm by action or inaction–like the recent Gov. Andrew Cuomo decision to ban fracking in the state. Under Reed’s proposal, called the “Defense of Property Rights Act,” landowners would be entitled to receive $20,000 or 20% of the value of their land. Below is the press release from Reed’s office, a few extra details we’ve gleaned from news accounts, and our own opinion of this strategy…
Read More “Congressman Proposes Bill to Compensate NY’s Jilted Landowners”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Guest Post: Bradford Co Landowner Asks Gov. Wolf to Support HB 1684
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

MDN has written plenty about Pennsylvania’s HB 1684–the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act (see these MDN articles). In essence, some companies (cough *Chesapeake Energy* cough) have gotten creative with deducting post-production costs from royalty checks. According to the PA Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act of 1979, royalty owners (landowners) must receive no less than 1/8, or 12.5%, by law. But when Chessy and others start deducting this and that, never spelled out in the original lease agreement, landowners are getting the shaft–way lower than 12.5%. In some cases they get royalty checks for a few dollars! Bradford County landowner John Williams is concerned, both about HB 1684 and newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf’s stand on that bill, and about Wolf’s proposed 5% severance tax. Will the severance tax be the next deduction gas companies take, further reducing royalty checks? Is the severance tax Tom Wolf proposes a tax that will be paid, in essence, by landowners? We thank John for his guest post…
Read More “Guest Post: Bradford Co Landowner Asks Gov. Wolf to Support HB 1684”