Regulation

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

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?…
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Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Rex Gets Permits to Drill Near Martian School, Antis Apoplectic
September 15, 2014September 22, 2014

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 Martians Still Trying to Invade Neighbors to Prevent Drilling). Clearly such a measure would never hold up in court–but that doesn’t stop anti-drillers from trying, wasting everyone’s time and money. Now it looks to be a moot point. However, the Martians are not done yet. They’re a bit shell-shocked that their pretentious demands have been turned down (adult versions of spoiled children who have just been told “NO!”), so they’re regrouping and hatching new strategies on where to go from here…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

We seriously wonder if PBS reporterette Marie Cusick, who writes anti-drilling diatribes on the Pennsylvania StateImpact website, has ever, herself, visited a Marcellus well pad. How else could she write an article pejoratively titled “Gas drillers still ignoring law to include women and minorities”? MDN has visited pads a number of times–and the thing that stood out to us was the number of women suited up in overalls working in the dirtiest jobs on the drill site. But let’s not let reality destroy a good work of “journalistic” fiction…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wyoming County (PA)

FEMA Discriminates, Won’t Help PA Landowners with Gas Leases
September 12, 2014September 12, 2014

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a reputation as a dysfunctional government agency–deservedly so. They botched the response to folks in need in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina under Pres. George W. Bush, and they botched the response to Hurricane (then “super storm”) Sandy in New Jersey and New York under Pres. Barack Obama. Many folks in New Jersey and New York still aren’t back in their homes or in comparable replacement homes–two years later. Now we learn that FEMA continues their losing streak with a new rule (published in May of this year) that if you’re a landowner with a shale drilling lease and you get flooded–you’re outta luck. FEMA will not grant flood insurance for properties, nor will they purchase flooded properties, that have a drilling lease. Landowners Pete and Sharon Morgan from Meshoppen Township (Wyoming County), PA have learned that the hard way…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Does PA Royalty Bill 1684 Still Have a Chance This Year?
September 11, 2014September 11, 2014

As MDN wrote back in June, Pennsylvania lawmakers punted on doing anything about House Bill (HB) 1684, what MDN calls the “stop Chesapeake Energy from screwing landowners out of their royalties” bill. We also pointed out, at the time, that it seems pretty likely nothing would get done on that bill for the balance of this year (see PA Royalty Bill 1684 Off the Agenda, Likely for Rest of 2014). We’re sorry to say (so far) we were right. However, MDN received a call from an MDN subscriber (and member of the PA National Association of Royalty Owners, or NARO) to say there’s still a chance–albeit a long shot–that if PA landowners and residents flood their representatives with calls and emails over the next few days before the end of this year’s session, HB 1684 may yet get a vote and go to the governor for a signature…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Delaware Riverkeeper Petitons DRBC to Stop PennEast Pipeline
September 11, 2014September 11, 2014

THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, the haughty and arrogant Maya van Rossum, has sent a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) “petitioning” (i.e. demanding) that the DRBC “exercise jurisdiction over the PennEast Pipeline Project.” You may recall that energy utility giant UGI along with three other partners announced a proposed pipeline that will run from Wilkes-Barre, PA all the way to Trenton, NJ to flow abundant, cheap Marcellus Shale gas to homes and businesses in southeastern PA and NJ (see 3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ). UGI and partners didn’t waste any time. They recently completed a successful open season on the $1 billion PennEast Pipeline to sign up potential customers (see Successful Open Season Concludes for Marcellus PennEast Pipeline). Now along comes Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet to try and throw her curds and whey on the process (see her letter below). If van Rossum can convince the DRBC to get involved, she stands a good chance of blocking the PennEast Pipeline from ever getting built…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA to Hold “Listening Sessions” on EPA Greenhouse Gas Rule
September 11, 2014September 11, 2014

“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…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov Cuomo Comments on Fracking, Hounding by Protesters
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

He speaks! The man-child Andrew Cuomo, erstwhile (and rumored) Governor of New York, someone who has a problem making decisions (should I wear the black tie or the blue tie?), had to run a small gauntlet of anti-drilling protesters to cast his ballot in yesterday’s statewide primary. Cuomo, as we’ve chronicled for years, refuses to allow fracking in New York ahead of this November’s election. The betting money is that he will allow it after the election. When asked about the anti-drilling protesters outside the polling place, Cuomo uttered an entire paragraph on the topic–more than he’s said in a year…
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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Trucking | West Virginia

WV PSC Gets Fed Money to Increase Truck Inspections Near Drilling
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

Truck drivers in West Virginia–particularly in areas where there’s a lot of Marcellus Shale drilling activity–you’ve been put on notice by the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) that they’re stepping up the frequency of inspections. The WV PSC has received a $180,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) that allows them to pay for overtime for officers to step up the number of truck inspections. Regular patrols will continue, however, the grant money allows the PSC to increase patrols in certain areas, which will include…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation

Gates Mills, OH Caves – Anti-Frack Measure on Nov. Ballot
September 9, 2014September 9, 2014

The very exclusive and uppity Cleveland suburb of Gates Mills, OH is the latest community to fall prey to the misnamed, so-called community bill of rights that seeks to ban all drilling on, under or near property in the community. We’ve written about Gates Mills before (see these MDN stories). We originally chided Gates Mills Mayor Shawn Riley for concocting a plan that we thought would prevent drilling in the community (a community that already has some conventional wells in it). We were contacted by an MDN reader and by Mayor Riley to correct us: His intent is to pool landowners together and together (somewhat akin to a landowner coalition) to develop a contract that would strictly control how, when and where any Utica drilling would be done. He’s not anti-drilling–just really really careful and infrequent drilling. But there are a number of anti-drillers in town who want nothing to do with it whatsoever–and they want to force their preferences on their neighbors too. That’s what a “community bill of rights” does–it forces anti-drilling regulations down everyone’s throat. That’s what will be on the ballot in November in Gates Mills…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell

Shell Files Permit to Build Barge Facility at Cracker Plant Site
September 8, 2014September 8, 2014

Something just coming to light now. In February of this year, Shell applied for a permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a barge facility on the Ohio River in Beaver County, PA at the site of Shell’s proposed ethane cracker. Is this yet another sign that Shell is finally getting serious about building the multi-billion dollar cracker plant in PA?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Philly Inquirer Exposes PennFuture Lies in Lycoming County Case
September 5, 2014September 5, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the virulently anti-drilling PennFuture was crowing about another scalp their lawyers have claimed in preventing fracking in Lycoming County, PA (see Bad PA Supreme Court Act 13 Decision Comes Home to Roost). We’ve often told you about the lying propaganda pumped out by PennFuture. Our words certainly don’t bother them. But we bet the words of none other than the Philadelphia Inquirer do bother them. The Inquirer is also out with a story about the challenge by PennFuture and a couple of ninny nanny “neighbors” (more than 2/3 of a mile away) who abused the recent Supreme Court decision to force the town to not allow the drilling it wants to allow. The Inquirer skewers PennFuture, pointing out the lies they tell…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Trans Energy | West Virginia

Trans Energy Fined $3M for Polluting WV Creeks & Swaps with Dirt
September 4, 2014September 4, 2014

Trans Energy, a smaller, “pure play” driller in the West Virginia Marcellus Shale, has just been slapped bigtime by the federal Environmental Protection Agency along with the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection. The EPA announced a deal with Trans Energy whereby the company will pay an astounding $3 million fine for “unauthorized discharge of dredge or fill material” into creeks and swamps in 15 different locations. Apparently Trans Energy didn’t get a “Mother May I?” permit when building roads and pushing dirt around at some of their Marcellus drilling sites and so will now pay a heavy fine. Oh, and speaking of the $3M fine–it will be split 50/50 between the EPA and the WVDEP. Party time at EPA HQ!…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Inflection Energy | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Bad PA Supreme Court Act 13 Decision Comes Home to Roost
September 4, 2014September 25, 2019

The anti-drilling spin machine is in full cycle from the virulent anti-drilling group PennFuture. They’re hoping you won’t notice what we’re about to point out: the rank hypocrisy of a court decision last Friday. PennFuture is out with a press release that’s all peaches and cream, butterflies and unicorns that a (low) county court in Lycoming County has tossed out a drilling permit reviewed and allowed by Fairfield Township against Inflection Energy and landowners Donald and Eleanor Shaheen. PennFuture is billing it as the first test of the PA Supreme Court’s decision to allow local towns to create their own oil and gas zoning ordinances (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). “But, wait a minute!” (you may say), “The Supreme Court said towns can do as they please, right?” Right. “The town decided the well pad was OK, so what’s the deal?” Good question…
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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Research | Statewide MD

MD Report on ‘Potential’ Health Impacts from Marcellus Drilling
September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

Back in April MDN told you that Maryland anti-drillers were lobbing an opening preventative strike against a forthcoming study on potential health impacts from Marcellus drilling, should it ever happen in Maryland (see Maryland Anti-Drillers Say Fracking Health Report Will Fall Short). Anti-drillers pre-judged the study even before it was released. The study, titled “Potential Public Health Impacts of Natural Gas Development and Production in the Marcellus Shale in Western Maryland,” was released on August 18, all 203 pages of it (full copy embedded below). We predict anti-drillers may find a lot to like in this study and perhaps were a tad hasty in their knee-jerk reaction. What was the study supposed to cover, and what did it find?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Regulation | Wayne County

DRBC’s New Director is Listening & Learning
September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

In March MDN brought you the good news that the replacement for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) director Carol Collier–a strident anti-driller–would be (thank God) someone from the private sector who has a fresh perspective on balancing good environmental stewardship with a healthy dose of real-world practicality (see DRBC Selects Steve Tambini as New Leader, Enviro Groups Unsure). Mr. Tambini was previously vice president of operations at Pennsylvania American Water. He’s now been on the job for a month “listening and learning.” Of course the nutters at Dasmascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS) are very concerned that their “special relationship” with previous director Collier will not survive with Tambini. They’re afraid they won’t have unfettered access to try and bamboozle Tambini the way they did Collier–so DCS wrote a letter to Tambini to express their concerns…
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