Regulation

Energy Companies | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | West Virginia

Range “Sludge” in WV Landfill Not So Radioactive After All
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is telling everyone to calm down over so-called radioactive “sludge” being dumped in WV landfills. You may recall not long ago a load of drill cuttings was refused at a southwest PA landfill for being “too radioactive” and sent to a different landfill, owned by the same company as the PA landfill, in WV (see Range Radioactive Containers Sent to WV for Disposal). That got everyone up in arms–that Range was “secretly” shipping stuff that will make those poor hicks in WV glow in the dark. So the WVDEP slammed the door on any more imported “radioactive sludge” (see Curious: Everyone’s Happy with WV Ban on Imported Drilling Sludge). The WVDEP launched and investigation and found the so-called sludge, or drill cuttings, have next to no radioactivity…
Read More “Range “Sludge” in WV Landfill Not So Radioactive After All”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

New Zoning Law Needlessly Restricts Drilling in SWPA Borough
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

Pittsburgh, PA is located in Allegheny County. So you can imagine that any town, borough or hollow in Allegheny is somehow in the Pittsburgh political orbit–including Jefferson Hills. Most large cities like Pittsburgh lean liberal in their politics, and surrounding neighborhoods often lean that way too. Like Jefferson Hills (population 10,619). Last week Jefferson Hills Borough Council voted 6-0 to lard on new restrictions for shale drilling–on top of the already strict standards set up by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. The new unnecessary standards create a “conditional use” situation where a driller has to get paperwork signed in triplicate for every minor step in the drilling process…
Read More “New Zoning Law Needlessly Restricts Drilling in SWPA Borough”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | MAX Environmental | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

New Landfill Expansion in SWPA Aimed at Marcellus Drillers
June 12, 2014June 12, 2014

Max Environmental has operated the Bulger hazardous waste landfill in Smith Township (Washington County), PA since 1958. The company plans to expand the landfill by 21 acres in order to handle an increase of drill cuttings and even liquid waste (which they will turn to solid waste) coming from Marcellus Shale drilling. First up is a public information meeting (sure to be a must-attend, and controversial) being held later this month. Then Max will file a formal application with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. Max officials say it will likely take a good five years to receive a permit–such is how mind-numbingly slow the regulatory wheels turn these days…
Read More “New Landfill Expansion in SWPA Aimed at Marcellus Drillers”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Voters Like Marcellus Fracking – Analyzing the Latest Q-Poll
June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

A poll by Quinnipiac University of Pennsylvania voters released last week has turned up some interesting insights into the prevailing attitudes of PA voters with respect to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, the issue of Marcellus Shale drilling and the issue of whether or not to allow drilling under (not on) state lands in PA. All of the mainstream media focused on a single number: 57% of those polled oppose Corbett’s executive order to allow a tiny bit more drilling, after former Gov. Ed Rendell had thrown the door wide open during this tenure, under PA’s state lands and parks. That’s the headline, the narrative, and the “it’s all over for Corbett as soon as the fat lady sings” talking points they all work from. MDN has a different take on the numbers and what they mean…
Read More “PA Voters Like Marcellus Fracking – Analyzing the Latest Q-Poll”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Attention WV Drillers: Time to Register Your Above Ground Tanks
June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

MDN previously reported on the new West Virginia law that regulates most above ground storage tanks. The new law was passed after an accident with tanks containing chemicals from coal mining leaked and temporarily polluted the drinking water for some 300,000 West Virginians (see Coal Industry Blamed for West Virginia Chemical Spill). Although shale drilling had nothing to do with the spill, the new regulation passed earlier this year will greatly affect WV drillers (see Impact of WV’s New Chemical Tank Law on Marcellus Drillers). The new law went into effect last week and the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection announced above ground tank registration is now open…
Read More “Attention WV Drillers: Time to Register Your Above Ground Tanks”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Media in the Anti-Drilling Tank for Tom Wolf/Tom Steyer
June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

PA Democrat nominee for governor Tom Wolf is set to get something like $14.3 million from a big-time anti-driller from California, Tom Steyer (see CA Anti-Driller Tom Steyer Purchasing Tom Wolf PA Governorship). In other words, Steyer will buy the election for Wolf–all Wolf has to do is shut down Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. Such a small price to pay. You might think PA media would be all over such a story–but then, you would be wrong. Because PA’s state-run media is “in the tank” for Wolf and the fossil fuel-hating Steyer. So instead, we get stories from newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer that focus on drilling companies chipping in a few thousand here and there to Republican Tom Corbett’s campaign. It’s typical of the sleaze we’ve come to expect from PA’s mainstream media…
Read More “PA Media in the Anti-Drilling Tank for Tom Wolf/Tom Steyer”
Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Minuteman Environmental Services | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit
June 10, 2014June 10, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, had spearheaded an “investigation” against Minuteman Environmental Services, a PA company that serves the shale industry with several different businesses (see PA’s Anti-Drilling AG Charges Minuteman with Enviro Crimes). It now appears it was less investigation and more witch hunt. Minuteman sent MDN a press release yesterday in which they make very strong allegations against the AG’s office, stating members of the family-owned business have been “terrorized” and its employees “abused” by the AG and her cadre of witch hunters. Minuteman states they are about to file a lawsuit against the AG and her office for abuses suffered at their hands…
Read More “Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Federal Court Slaps FERC Over TGP Northeast Pipeline Approvals
June 10, 2014June 10, 2014

Even though Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline is thousands of miles long, and even though upgrades to a 200-mile section in the northeast are now complete, a federal appeals court last Friday faulted the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) oversight of those upgrades. In 2012 FERC approved construction of five pipeline “loop” (or extra lines laid near existing lines) segments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The projects included upgrades at two PA compressor stations. The total project cost was $500 million and the projects together were/are badly needed to boost pipeline capacity for new quantities of Marcellus Shale gas. But that makes no difference to the ideologues at the petulant Delaware River Keeper, the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the New Jersey Sierra Club. They sued when FERC wouldn’t re-hear their bleating and blatting. So the enviro groups took it to federal court and judges ruled last week that FERC should not have treated the projects individually when considering an approval…
Read More “Federal Court Slaps FERC Over TGP Northeast Pipeline Approvals”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Discussion over Geological Layers has Real Consequences in PA
June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

There’s a controversy brewing in Pennsylvania–over how to define what’s conventional and what’s unconventional in oil and gas drilling. It may sound like a boring exercise in obscure geological speak because it involves concepts like the Elk formation. The theological equivalent of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” However, the outcome of this argument/controversy has the power to change the economics of drilling in PA and will impact drillers, landowners, and the state government (i.e. tax revenue). It’s a big deal and the outcome is vitally important…
Read More “Discussion over Geological Layers has Real Consequences in PA”
Albany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Fate of NY Fracking Now in Hands of 7 Judge Court of Appeals
June 4, 2014June 4, 2014

Yesterday was an important day for the future of fracking in New York State. Attorneys Tom West (from Albany) and Scott Kurkoski (from Binghamton) argued before the New York State Court of Appeals, NY’s highest court, in the Dryden and Middlefield town ban cases. MDN has some of the comments made at the trial by both sides, a statement from the Joint Landowner’s Coalition of New York (JLCNY), and a rough estimate of when a decision will be rendered…
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Broome County | Delaware County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | New York | Otsego County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Schoharie County | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County | Tennessee Gas Pipeline | Williams

KM Announces Marcellus Pipeline Parallel to Williams Constitution
June 4, 2014June 4, 2014

A “this is pretty interesting” story recently crossed our radar. MDN has reported, for several years now, about the Williams Constitution Pipeline being built from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY where it will connect to both the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) and the Iroquois pipeline (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route). We even took you along for an inside look at one of the public comment sessions, called a scoping hearing (see Vicariously Attend FERC Scoping Hearing on Constitution Pipeline). The Constitution will begin construction very soon. Now comes word from Kinder Morgan that they want to build a second pipeline from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Susquehanna County to their TGP, taking virtually the same route…
Read More “KM Announces Marcellus Pipeline Parallel to Williams Constitution”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Mitch McConnell: EPA Killing Coal is Attack on Middle Class
June 4, 2014June 5, 2014

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican from Kentucky) may not be a true-blue conservative, but he has his good days. Yesterday was one of those days. McConnell blasted the new EPA takeover of the U.S. energy industry by proposing draconian cuts in the stuff you breathe out with every breath–carbon (see Obama’s Climate Madness Metastasizes – EPA Kills Coal Electricity). Kentucky is a coal state and McConnell is hopping mad over the proposed new carbon limits. So he introduced the “Coal Country Protection Act” to defang the EPA. We love his statement on the Senate floor. In it he compares Obama and the Democrats to a Ginsu knife pitchman who deceived us once (on Obamacare) and is deceiving us again (on carbon). Fool me once…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Smoking Gun in NY? Cuomo Political Aides Met with Shah & Martens
June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

Let’s give credit where it’s due. Gannett repeatedly filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to get schedule details about former Commissioner of the New York State Dept. of Health (DOH) Nirav Shah. Gannett has been fishing to see who Shah talked to in his now 1.5+ year “review” of proposed fracking regulations–a process that Shah himself said should only take a few weeks to complete (see NY Health Com. Nirav Shah Says Fracking Health Review Almost Done). Not long after that statement, Shah did some major backpedaling and refused to peg a date when he would finish his review (see Cuomo Underling Shah: “No Timetable” on Fracking Decision). It’s now a year and a half later. The question we posed at the time was, who’s pulling Shah’s strings? Thanks to some (rare) investigative reporting by Gannett–now we know. Andrew Cuomo was and is pulling the strings, and there’s a smoking gun to prove it…
Read More “Smoking Gun in NY? Cuomo Political Aides Met with Shah & Martens”
CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Good News: Maryland Approves Dominion Cove Point LNG Plant
June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

First the Dept. of Energy approved it (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility), then the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment), and now, the Maryland Public Service Commission has approved Dominion’s plan to build a ~$3.5 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Cove Point, MD. Specifically, the PSC issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) last Friday. The certificate is needed to allow Dominion to install two 65-megawatt steam turbine generators that produce electricity. The waste heat from two combustion turbines, which are used to drive compressors to produce LNG, will be recycled to produce steam to drive the steam turbines. The PSC’s action is yet another important milestone/hurdle passed by Dominion on their inevitable way to building and operating the plant…
Read More “Good News: Maryland Approves Dominion Cove Point LNG Plant”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama’s Climate Madness Metastasizes – EPA Kills Coal Electricity
June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

Get ready for rolling blackouts. We predict a run on candles at the local Walmart. We’re talking, of course, about President Obama’s EPA unilaterally forcing coal generating electric plants to shut down in the coming years because they can’t meet strict new carbon emission standards (coal is made from…carbon). All of the wind and solar and purple unicorns in the world won’t replace the electricity that’s about to go away thanks to the Obamadroids. Some of the slack will be taken up by natural gas–but it’s a hollow victory for natgas because electric power plants won’t be able to convert quickly enough and infrastructure won’t be in place soon enough to prevent mass electric outages. And no, we’re not kidding…
Read More “Obama’s Climate Madness Metastasizes – EPA Kills Coal Electricity”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Watch Who’s For & Against Change in DOE’s LNG Approval Process
June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

Last week MDN told you about the Dept. of Energy announcement that they’re changing the way they approve potential LNG (liquefied natural gas) export projects to non-free trade countries (see DOE Changes Way They Evaluate/Approve LNG Export Facilities). We said at the time that while we appreciate that the DOE wants to streamline and turn a two-stage process into a single approval process, we have some deep reservations about the change-up. So we noticed, with interest, that the anti-drilling Sierra Club praised the change, and the pro-gas Center for LNG (CLNG) expressed deep reservations, not unlike our own, which verifies our own thinking and skepticism about this policy change…
Read More “Watch Who’s For & Against Change in DOE’s LNG Approval Process”