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PA DEP Fines NFG Midstream $250K for Pipeline Violations
The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just slapped NFG Midstream Trout Run LLC $250,000 for pipeline violations in Lycoming County, PA. NFG Midstream is a subsidiary company of National Fuel Group–the big utility and driller (via their subsidiary Seneca Resources) headquartered in Buffalo, NY. The fine is for “multiple violations” of the Clean Streams Law and DEP regulations during construction of the Trout Run Gathering System pipeline in five Lycoming County municipalities during 2011 and 2012. The DEP documented “continuing violations at multiple locations” over a 7-month period. NFG has already paid the fine…
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Range Resources has just had their knuckles rapped, hard, by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) with respect to wastewater/recycled water impoundments (i.e. ponds) they operate in Washington County, PA. Range has been fined the most any company has been fined by the DEP in the modern shale era–$4.15 million. They will also be required to close five of the seven impoundments they’ve operated in the county (Range was closing them anyway), and make major upgrades to the two remaining impoundments. There’s no way to sugarcoat this–Range was taken to the proverbial woodshed by the DEP and got a lot more than a switch to the rear-end…
In March 2013, the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) burst onto the scene. It had been a closely guarded secret, the creation of a few hand-picked people from both industry and the environmental movement working together to see if there is any common ground on which both sides can agree that shale development would be safe, sustainable AND affordable. They worked hard for over a year and finally hammered out a set of 15 standards that if a driller (or midstream company or contractor) would meet, it would get a stamp of approval from both the industry and environmental groups as being a good goobie–a safe driller. We were somewhat skeptical from the start (see 
Who knew the U.S. Constitution had a clause in it that grants the Deerfield, Massachusetts town health board “unlimited power” to do what they want to do. That’s what Cristobal Bonifaz, a lawyer from Conway, MA, is claiming. Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to federal law, is the sole agency charged with granting or withholding permission on interstate pipelines, Bonifaz says the Deerfield health board has “unlimited power” to do what they want, and he’s volunteering to be their attorney in attempting to stop the expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through the township. How?…
Finally! On Friday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection wisely granted drilling permits to Rex Energy for a site 3/4 of a mile away from a school in Mars (Butler County), PA. Some of the Martian parents are anti-drilling and demanded the school board engage in the illegal action of setting up a no-drill zone two miles beyond school property (see 
“This is Dr. Frasier Crane. I’m listening.” Oops. Wrong channel. Click. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection will conduct a “listening session” to hear people address the mythical topic of climate change and the federal EPA’s draconian efforts to restrict things like carbon–the stuff you breathe out with every breath. The feds are forcing states to clamp down on so-called greenhouse gas emissions and have proposed a “Clean Power Greenhouse Gas Reduction Rule” to do just that. The PA DEP wants to hear from PA residents what they think about all of this nonsense so they can check off the appropriate boxes on their checklist. The “listening session” will be held on September 25 in Harrisburg…