Regulation

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Anti-drillers are fundamentally unhappy people. They want no drilling, so in an effort to try and scuttle drilling, they do stupid things–like last year when they forced a change in Ohio away from filing lists of chemicals used at drill sites electronically to having them filed by paper instead (see OH Antis Force Change in Chemical Reporting, Everyone Less Safe). Going backward is not a good plan, so the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) lobbied for new changes in the chemical reporting law to fix the mess caused by anti-drillers. The changes were made two weeks ago when an omnibus environmental and agricultural bill was passed by the Ohio House. Problem is, the changes made weren’t the ones ODNR wanted…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Fracking in Maryland (!) in 2015? Quite Possibly
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Looks like we owe an apology to Maryland. For years we’ve laughed and poked fun at Maryland and said it is the only state more dysfunctional than New York when it comes to allowing fracking. Yesterday, the special Maryland commission, set up 3 1/2 years ago by the outgoing, leadership-deficient Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley, released it’s final report with recommendations for how fracking can go forward in the state (full copy below). Incoming Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has promised swift action on the fracking issue. Meanwhile, NY sits on its hands and does nothing. Mind you, the proposed Maryland regulations are so off-the-charts restrictive that even the nutty, far-left Chesapeake Climate Action Network is singing its praises (a big red flag). But hey, the ability to drill half a dozen wells in Maryland is better that what NY has! Let’s start with a summary of the new regulations put forward by the commission…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan Changes Route for Pipeline from MA to NH
November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

Kinder Morgan has, for some time, been locked in a battle with far-left anti-fossil fuelers in Massachusetts who oppose KM’s plan to extend the Tennessee Gas Pipeline across the width of the state in an attempt to deliver cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus Shale natural gas to New England. Those same anti-fossil fuelers use fossil fuels throughout the day every day of their lives, but fail to see the hypocrisy in their twisted position. Pressure against the pipeline, called Northeast Energy Direct (or NED) is mounting as both MA U.S. Senators–both are Democrat–oppose it (see Both Mass. Senators Oppose TGP Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline). Two weeks ago KM proposed an alternate route (see map below). The alternate route, now said to be the preferred route, will shave off something like half of the distance the pipeline stretches across MA and instead chart a course northward–through southern New Hampshire–following the route of an existing power line. The cool thing? NH wants it…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation

EPA Issues New Rules for O&G Industry on GHG Emissions Reporting
November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

The Federal Environmental Protection continues to regulate things it has not business regulating–not that it makes a hill of beans worth of difference that we point it out. Nobody will challenge them on their out-of-control behavior, so we all just pretend it’s OK and go along. The latest aggressive action taken by the EPA is to publish a rule change that will go into effect in 60 days. This new rule change is in how so-called greenhouse gas emissions are reported by the oil and gas industry. Both midstreamers and upstreamers are affected, so pay attention or prepare to be fined by the EPA…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Dem Congressman Cartwright Continues to Bash DEP
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

An anti-drilling Democrat Congressman from Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District (eastern part of the state), U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, continues a campaign of smearing the Marcellus Shale industry with a so-called investigation into how frack wastes in PA get handled and disposed. In October Cartwright demanded information from the new acting Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (see PA Dem Congressman Demands Info from DEP on Frack Waste). Cartwright’s latest media stunt is to send demand letters to WV and OH to ask them how they dispose frack waste in their states…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PennEast Tells DRBC Not So Fast, FERC has Final Say on Pipeline
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

An interesting battle is shaping up over just who has what say with respect to the PennEast Pipeline and their plan to build a $1 billion, 108-mile pipeline from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ–part of it through the Delaware River Basin area. Yesterday MDN told you that the Delaware River Basin Commission has notified PennEast that the pipeline is “subject to DRBC jurisdiction and must obtain a docket before it can proceed” (see DRBC Tells PennEast They Need DRBC (Not Just FERC) Approval). The DRBC seems to be saying if they don’t approve it, the pipeline won’t get built. But yesterday officials with PennEast pushed back and said, point blank, that while they welcome the DRBC’s review, the DRBC is not the agency that will approve whether or not the pipeline gets built…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Regulators Issue Guidance to Landfills on Accepting Frack Waste
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

Three days ago the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, and the Ohio Department of Health issued a joint 4-page “guidance letter” to landfills in Ohio that clarifies how and when they can dispose liquid and solid waste from oil and gas drilling (full copy embedded below). According to our friends at the Babst Calland law firm, “The letter addresses what waste is defined as solid waste that must be disposed in landfills, classification of certain drill cuttings as not constituting regulated solid waste, and substances classified as TENORM that must be analyzed for radioactivity prior to landfill disposal.” Ohio landfill operators and Ohio drillers will need to pay attention to these new guidelines, some of which recently went into effect…
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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Lawmaker Threatens Marcellus Industry with New Safety Laws
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

The Marcellus and Utica Shale industry is laser-focused on the safety of its workers. MDN editor Jim Willis has witnessed it first-hand when touring active rigs, pipeline sites, compressor stations and even completed well sites. State and federal regulations are strictly followed. Even though Marcellus Shale workers in West Virginia are required to take either an 8-hour or 30-hour OSHA safety training course, depending on the job, WV lawmakers are still concerned that the industry is not “regulated enough” when it comes to safety. Those same lawmakers–namely Del. Randy Smith from Preston County, WV–are threatening to slap new safety laws on drillers in the Mountain State…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Another Day, Another Lawsuit from Food & Water Watch
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

The anti-drilling Fresh Water Accountability Project (FWAP)–based in Ohio–along with the odious and litigious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch have once again, sued. Surprise! This time they’ve sued OH Gov. John Kasich along with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for what they claim are the “illegal approval of at least 23 fracking waste handling, storage, processing and recycling facilities to operate.” Lea Harper, head of the so-called FWAP, has been involved in other anti-drilling lawsuits, including one against the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. FWW must have to employ a librarian to keep track of all their anti-drilling lawsuits. Here’s the latest bald-faced lies from these two litigious organizations:
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

DRBC Tells PennEast They Need DRBC (Not Just FERC) Approval
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Looks like all those phone calls and emails and letters and complaining by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, about the PennEast Pipeline that will carry cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas from northeast PA to NJ, have had their intended effect. The Delaware River Basin Commission, under the new leadership of Steve Tambini, has notified PennEast that they will need to get the DRBC kiss of approval before they can build the pipeline through the Delaware River Basin area. Let’s hope it’s not the (typical) DRBC kiss of death…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

Shocker: U.S. Forest Service to Allow Shale Drilling in GW Forest
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Virginia’s Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe may end up eating his own words. He once famously said that as long as he’s governor there will be no fracking in the George Washington National Forest, most of which is located in his state (see VA Gov. McAuliffe Vows No Drilling in Washington Natl Forest). Whoops. Careful what you promise, Terry. The U.S. Forest Service, in a shock reversal of their previous position, released a plan today that allows oil and gas drilling on 167,000 acres of the 1.1 million-acre GW National Forest…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s four Massachusetts state representatives that residents of MA may want to consider voting out of office for their rigid stance against the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a pipeline aimed at delivering cheap, abundant clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas so desperately needed in MA and the other New England states: Rep. Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), Sen. Eileen Donaghue (D-Lowell), Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), and Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton). They boast that they pressured current/out-going governor Deval Patrick to back away from supporting the pipeline. The Democrat candidate for governor in November’s election, Martha Coakley (Patrick decided not to run again), opposed the pipeline too. She lost. Even in the face of defeat and the prospect of rolling blackouts (see the story below), these dimwits continue their push to prevent more natural gas from reaching their region due to their own misguided prejudice against fossil fuels…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Utility’s Innovate Plan to Deliver Marcellus Gas to Customers
November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

Although there’s a lot a cheap, abundant, and clean-burning natural gas being produced in Pennsylvania, there’s still a lot of customers who can’t burn it because of lack of pipelines through their neighborhoods. Natural gas prices currently are 61% less than fuel oil and 68% percent less than propane. But when it costs between $500,000 and $1 million a mile to install the pipelines to carry the gas–you need a lot of customers to sign up to make it work. Not everyone signs up at the beginning–some wait and see. So in places like the suburbs of Philadelphia where there’s a lot of people, it has still been a conundrum–a complex problem with no obvious solution. One of the utilities serving the Philly area, Peco, believes they have solved the problem. Peco has proposed a new formula to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) that will allow them to assume that 75% of their customers will sign up for gas over the next 20 years. The Peco plan will allow current customers to stretch the natgas hook-up fee across 20 years, radically changing the economics and lowering the hook-up price for customers–making it a no-brainer to make the change–now or in future years. Here’s the details of Peco’s plan…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY’s Anti-Drillers Fail to Make a Difference in Elections
November 10, 2014November 10, 2014

What can we divine by reading the tea leaves from the recent election outcome in New York State vis-à-vis the relative strength of the anti-drilling agenda in the Empire State? A casual reference to media reports gives one the impression that those opposed to drilling–particularly in the Southern Tier area of New York–are on the rise. Yet in head-to-head contests (at least in the Southern Tier) pro-drilling candidates have now beaten anti-drilling candidates over the span of two election cycles. We can’t find a single race of consequence (anything bigger than town board level) where a pro-drilling candidate lost! Does that portend good things for New York State and the future of drilling?…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Stone Energy | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Stone Energy Fined $177K by EPA for Fouling WV Creeks
November 7, 2014November 7, 2014

Stone Energy has been slapped with a fine of $177,500 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for violating the Clean Water Act and dumping dirt and stone into a couple of creeks (without a permit) in Wetzel County, WV during well pad and roadway construction related to Marcellus Shale drilling. Here’s the details from the EPA…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Portage County | Regulation

3 of 4 Frack Ban Ballot Measures in Ohio Fail – Athens Exception
November 6, 2014November 6, 2014

What about those idiotic “ban fracking” ballot measures up for a vote on Tuesday in Ohio’s Utica Shale? The ballot measure in Youngstown, OH was the fourth such vote for that city (see Fourth Time the Charm for Youngstown Frack Ban Measure?). The Youngstown ballot measure went down in flames. There was a ban measure in Gates Mills, OH, a suburb near Cleveland (see Gates Mills, OH Caves – Anti-Frack Measure on Nov. Ballot). The Gates Mills ballot measure went down in flames too. Finally, there was a ballot measure in ultra-liberal Kent, OH. That ballot measure was voted down (miracles never cease!). Three strikes and yer out. But what’s this? The loonies in Athens, OH prevailed in snookering enough Democrat voters to support a ban that it actually passed in Athens. A year ago we asked the question, Will Utica Shale Drilling Come to Athens County, OH Soon?. We can now answer that question: NO. No drilling will come to Athens–at least to the city (and likely the rest of the area) now that the voters of Athens have thumbed their nose at the industry. There’s plenty of other locations outside of Athens in which to drill…
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