Regulation

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…
Read More “Philly Inquirer Exposes PennFuture Lies in Lycoming County Case”
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!…
Read More “Trans Energy Fined $3M for Polluting WV Creeks & Swaps with Dirt”
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…
Read More “Bad PA Supreme Court Act 13 Decision Comes Home to Roost”
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?…
Read More “MD Report on ‘Potential’ Health Impacts from Marcellus Drilling”
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…
Read More “DRBC’s New Director is Listening & Learning”
Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Releases List of Water Wells Impacted by Shale Drilling
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

Here comes the next media smear campaign. This time the meme is “You know that lie we’ve been telling about how shale drilling contaminates water wells? Well it was true all along. Here’s the proof!” Case in point: The Associate Press has a single, breathless story of a new list just released by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) of 243 water wells “contaminated” by Marcellus Shale drilling. We’ve included the list below. These 243 are wells DEP officials believe have been affected by shale drilling after conducting an investigation. Some of the cases are still under investigation but included on the list because the DEP thinks they were likely contaminated by drilling. Is this the smoking gun? Is Marcellus drilling a threat to water after all? As always, MDN is here to provide some much needed perspective…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Regulation | West Virginia

Marshall County Votes to Accept Gas-Powered Electric Plant
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

In April MDN told you about a plan from a Buffalo, NY company to build an electric generating power plant in Marshall County, WV that will use Marcellus Shale gas to power it (see Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Coming to Marshall County, WV). The plan is a bit complicated, as we’ve previously outlined. In essence, Moundsville Power, the name of the company, will build the plant and then turn over the deed to the plant to the county. Since it will be county-owned, on paper, the company will not pay any property taxes. Instead, they will pay annual “rental” payments to the county in lieu of property taxes (see Complicated Deal for Proposed WV Gas-Powered Electric Plant). It makes the project affordable and doable. County officials recently approved the plan…
Read More “Marshall County Votes to Accept Gas-Powered Electric Plant”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Send PA DEP Letter: You’re Falling Down on the Job
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

A group of virulently anti-drilling (and anti-fossil fuel) groups sent a nasty-gram letter to Pennsylvania Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, Chris Abruzzo, essentially telling him he’s not doing is job. The groups, sprearheaded by the wacky Sierra Club, THE Delaware Riverkeeper (the haughty and arrogant Maya van Rossum), and PennEnvironment, cite a completely discredited “report” from the politically-motivated Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”), along with other so-called reports from groups like the half-baked Earthworks, to accuse the DEP of being sloppy, neglectful, obstructionist, or all three. Mainstream media spins this as “environment groups send a letter to the DEP with their concerns.” It’s nothing of the sort. It’s pure horse manure and frankly, meaningless…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Send PA DEP Letter: You’re Falling Down on the Job”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA PUC Appeals Act 13 Case to Supreme Court One More Time
August 29, 2014August 29, 2014

It seems there’s still a bit of unfinished business with the ongoing, never-ending lawsuits around the Act 13 oil and gas drilling law in Pennsylvania. At least one final bit of unfinished business. You will recall that seven selfish towns sued the state over the Act 13 law and it’s provision that would substitute a statewide, uniform and fair set of zoning ordinances for drilling in place of a patchwork, crazy quilt system of local ordinances for oil and gas drilling. These seven selfish towns wanted their own ordinances and sued, ultimately winning at the Supreme Court (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). The PA Supremes couldn’t, however, be bothered with deciding every tiny bit of nuance and sent some items back to the lower Commonwealth Court for final decisions. One of those decisions was about whether or not the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) has the right to review any local oil and gas ordinances for compliance with state standards, making the award of impact fee money to a town based on such compliance. The Commonwealth Court gutted that right, taking it away from the PUC in a July decision (see PA Court Says 7 Towns Can Keep Marcellus Money & Ban Drilling Too). The PUC has appealed that decision back up to the Supremes…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA AG Kane Goes on Witch Hunt of Drilling Industry over Royalties
August 28, 2014August 28, 2014

You can’t say we didn’t warn you. In April MDN warned you that by inviting Pennsylvania’s avowed anti-drilling Attorney General Kathleen Kane (Democrat) to investigate Chesapeake Energy for shorting landowners on royalties, an invitation extended by PA Gov. Tom Corbett and PA Sen. Gene Yaw (both Republicans), they would unleash something far worse than they expected (see PA AG Kathleen “Anti-Driller” Kane Probes Chessy Royalty Issue). We were right. Word has filtered down that Kane is expanding the scope of her investigation “throughout the energy industry” in PA. Translation: the witch hunt has begun…
Read More “PA AG Kane Goes on Witch Hunt of Drilling Industry over Royalties”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama Back Door Climate Plan: Use UN to Police US Global Warming
August 28, 2014August 28, 2014

President Barack Obama intends to once again act illegally and unlawfully–in contravention to the U.S. Constitution and it’s separation of powers. Obama’s flouting of the Constitution has been breathtaking during his ignominious presidency–and it’s about to get worse. On Tuesday the New York Times reported a story that Obama and his global warming cronies are concocting a plan to sign a binding agreement, in essence a new treaty–without consent of two-thirds of the Senate as required by the Constitution–that would commit the U.S. to arbitrary and punitive emissions standards to be enforced by the United Nations. Talk about chutzpah…
Read More “Obama Back Door Climate Plan: Use UN to Police US Global Warming”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

PA Gov Corbett Makes Political U-Turn on Pipeline Project
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

Last week Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett waded into the thorny issue of whether or not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should approve the Williams Tranco pipeline expansion project. Dubbed the Atlantic Sunrise project, the $3 billion project which reaches far beyond just PA, would carry PA Marcellus Shale gas to the East Coast and to southern states (see Williams Open House Sheds more Light on Transco Atlantic Sunrise). Last week Corbett sent a letter to FERC asking the feds to look carefully at the Atlantic Sunrise expansion project because he’s hearing a lot of noise from voters about it. He also requested FERC to zoom out and look at the big picture–consider all of the proposed pipeline projects for PA and whether as a whole it makes sense–and not just look at each project individually…
Read More “PA Gov Corbett Makes Political U-Turn on Pipeline Project”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Venango County | Wastewater

PA Driller Slapped with $250K Fine for Dumping Brine, Erosion
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

UPDATE: An alert MDN reader from Venango County with industry knowledge contacted MDN to say he very much doubts Henderson has done any Marcellus Shale drilling. Henderson’s history is as a shallow/conventional driller and not a shale driller. Thanks for that clarification!

William Henderson, the president and operator of three companies–Titusville Oil & Gas Associates Inc., Eagle Line Corporation, and Olympia Oil Services Inc.–has been fined $250,000 by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for violations of the Clean Stream Law, Solid Waste Management Act, and Oil and Gas Act. The DEP says Henderson and his companies have caused environmental damage from illegal discharges of production fluids (brine), for causing erosion, and more. The violations occurred from 2010 to 2014. It’s not clear to MDN that any of the violations were from Marcellus Shale drilling activities, but it seems likely. Here’s what the DEP said, along with information not provided by the DEP that MDN has dug up on Henderson from 2011…
Read More “PA Driller Slapped with $250K Fine for Dumping Brine, Erosion”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater | Westmoreland County | WPX Energy

DEP Says WPX Needs to Replace 3rd Water Supply in SW PA
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

In July, MDN told you the water wells for two of three families living near a WPX recycled frack wastewater impoundment (i.e. “pond”), near Ligonier (Westmoreland County), PA, were determined to have been contaminated by that impoundment. That is, the Kalp impoundment leaked into the ground, according to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), and that has caused a long-term problem with those wells (see WPX Wastewater Impoundment Source of Water Contamination in W PA? and our follow-up story Important Update on WPX Energy Leaking Impoundment in SWPA). The DEP has made a final determination that the third family’s well, the elderly Ken and Mildred Geary, was also affected and that WPX will need to find a permanent water replacement solution for them too…
Read More “DEP Says WPX Needs to Replace 3rd Water Supply in SW PA”
Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

PA DEP Rescedules Hilcorp Forced Pooling Hearing 4th Time
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

Hearings on Hilcorp’s request to force a few recalcitrant property owners with a total of 35 acres in the middle of land leased by Hilcorp to allow Hilcorp to drill have now been rescheduled for the end of October. This is the fourth time these hearings have been rescheduled by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Why the ongoing delays for these hearings?…
Read More “PA DEP Rescedules Hilcorp Forced Pooling Hearing 4th Time”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

AAF Fails to Get Many to Oppose Barged Frack Wastewater
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

Americans Against Fracking (AAF), a loose confederation of virulent anti-drilling groups who oppose fossil fuels and their use in society, has issued a press release to commemorate/mourn the closing of the comment period on whether or not the U.S. Coast Guard and a myriad of other federal agencies should allow barging of frack wastewater on the Ohio River. Even though AAF has multiple groups backing it–including the odious and misnamed Food & Water Watch–they were only able to get 3,400 people to sign form letters opposing federal approval for barging of frack wastewater. And so the propaganda machine at AAF has tried to spin that into a positive. What other choice do they have?…
Read More “AAF Fails to Get Many to Oppose Barged Frack Wastewater”