Regulation

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Budget Signed by Gov. Corbett – No Severance Tax This Year
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, signed a Republican-passed budget for the state yesterday. The budget, thankfully, does not include a Marcellus Shale severance tax. It does, however, include new regulations that separate drilling standards between conventional (vertical only) and unconventional (shale) drilling. MDN has long chronicled the battle by PA’s Democrats to transfer wealth from the drilling industry to PA schools, and in the process kill the goose laying the golden eggs in PA (see PPG Op-Ed: Don’t Kill the Marcellus Goose Laying the Golden Eggs). In signing the budget, Corbett axed a bunch of money from the legislature’s budget, which has led to a Republican civil war in Harrisburg…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Trucking | Washington County

Range’s Next Battle in Robinson Twp: Water Tank Facility
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

In May MDN told you that after a two-year intentional delay by Robinson Township (Washington County), PA, Range Resources finally won the right to move forward with drilling two wells (see Range Resources Finally Wins Case to Drill 2 Wells in Robinson Twp). Robinson is one of the seven selfish towns that sued Pennsylvania over zoning provisions in the Act 13 law–a case they eventually won. Robinson tries to block drilling as much as they can–but the court has goosed them and told them they can’t stop all of it. Range’s next battle is whether or not Robinson will allow them to build a “tank pad”–a pad with tanks to store fresh water used in drilling and fracking operations…
Read More “Range’s Next Battle in Robinson Twp: Water Tank Facility”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Try to Delay GreenHunter Dock
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

The anti-drilling nutters of Athens, OH are at it again. They’ve just discovered what MDN told you on Tuesday–that GreenHunter Water has filed an application with the U.S. Coast Guard to get permission to build a barge facility in Meigs County (see GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH). The Athens nutters (see Break the Law in OH, Get an Award – Anti-Drilling Nuttery on Display) are now accusing the Coast Guard of undue secrecy because they didn’t beat the drums and sound the gongs that a private company had filed an application with them…
Read More “Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Try to Delay GreenHunter Dock”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Spurred on by several accidents of trains transporting light crude oil from the Bakken Shale, one month ago the federal government ordered railroads to share more details about those shipments with the states through which they pass. One of those states is New York. Some (a lot) of Bakken crude goes to the Port of Albany, where terminals store the oil and transfer it to ships and barges heading down the Hudson River. New York State is still deciding what information, and how much, to share with the public. The information, according to railroad CSX, is supposed to be shared with first responders (and not the general public). That’s just not good enough for virulent anti-drilling groups like Earthjustice, the Sierra Clubers and THE Riverkeeper…
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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation

DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

The third busiest landfill in Pennsylvania is the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, located on the outskirts of Scranton. The Keystone Landfill accepts a great deal of drill cuttings–leftover dirt and rock from Marcellus drilling. MDN has long chronicled Keystone’s fight to first accept and then expand the landfill (see Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved and Scranton Landfill Wants to Double (Again) Shale Cuttings). Local officials objected to the expansion but eventually gave up (see Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill). The Keystone Landfill is back with another request. But it’s not to expand outward–this time they want to expand skyward…
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Earthquakes | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Considers New Rules to Prevent Earthquakes from Fracking
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has launched a “massive data mining project” to consider drafting new rules around induced seismicity–or the possibility that in rare circumstances fracking itself may cause low-level earthquakes. What seems to have caught the attention of the DEP is the assumption by their counterparts in Ohio, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), that a series of low-level earthquakes near the OH/PA border were in fact due to fracking operations being conducted by Hilcorp (see ODNR Says Youngstown Earthquakes “Probably” Caused by Fracking)…
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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Over the past few years GreenHunter Water, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, has purchased seven barge facilities along the Ohio River with the stated intent to transport frack wastewater from up the river in places in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and even Ohio, to further down the river in Ohio–where it would be offloaded and disposed by injection well. We wrote in May 2013 of the long road to receiving federal approval for such a plan (see The Long (Federal) Road to Approve GreenHunter’s Barge Terminals). Then in October it seemed like an approval from the U.S. Coast Guard was imminent (see Coast Guard Green Lights Barge Transport of Frack Wastewater). Here we are in July 2014–and still no Coast Guard approval in sight, which is disappointing…
Read More “GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Utica Shale

Gates Mills, OH Mayor Faces Uphill Battle in Proposed Land Trust
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

In February MDN reported that an Ohio community near Cleveland had concocted a plan to restrict drilling in their neighborhood by getting residents to sign a restrictive land trust (see Cleveland Suburb’s Socialist Model for Restricting Utica Drilling). As it turns out, MDN was a bit off base in our analysis (yes, we admit when we’re wrong!). The mayor of Gates Mills, Shawn Riley, contacted MDN to set the record straight–something we haven’t had a chance to do, until now…
Read More “Gates Mills, OH Mayor Faces Uphill Battle in Proposed Land Trust”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama EPA Targets Landfill Fugitive Methane, Compost Piles Next?
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

A word of warning to all of you anti-drillers who are “back to the land” types–Obama’s EPA is coming for you next. Your own environmental extremism will soon turn around and bite you on the backside. The rogue federal Environmental Protection Agency, since 2009, has targeted fracking and the oil and industry any which way it can, attempting to usurp state regulation (see Rogue Obama EPA Goes on Methane Witch Hunt). We’ve now moved beyond the oil and gas industry. The EPA announced on Tuesday they’re now targeting landfills for methane leakage in their never-ending quest to stop mythical global warming. So we ask: How long will it be before that precious compost pile in your backyard is regulated by the feds?…
Read More “Obama EPA Targets Landfill Fugitive Methane, Compost Piles Next?”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Federal Court Dismisses Doctor Lawsuit re Act 13 “Gag Rule”
July 2, 2014July 2, 2014

The lawsuit brought by seven selfish towns against Pennsylvania’s Act 13 drilling law has had more twists and turns than a back road in the Pocono Mountains. The litigious towns, plus a doctor, sued over various provisions in the Act 13 law. The towns didn’t like being told they couldn’t zone drilling out of existence within their borders, and the doctor didn’t like being told he couldn’t blab drillers’ trade secrets all over the place. So it went to PA’s Supreme Court and they ruled in favor of the towns, but sent parts of the lawsuit back to a lower court, including the doctor’s portion (see Act 13 Goes Back to Lower Court, Disturbing Comments from Judge). A second lawsuit was filed by a different doctor along the same lines (so-called “gag rule”)…
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Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

MDN Calls on NY Towns to Ban Windmills; Boycott Cooperstown
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

They’re noisy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They use rare earth minerals in their manufacturing process and endanger Chinese workers who have to mine the toxic metals from the ground. They kill bald eagles and bats and all manner of birds. No one wants to live next to one going whup whup whup 24/7 (drives the neighbors insane). We’re talking of commercial windmills of course. Today MDN kicks off a campaign to get 170 New York townships to ban windmills. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s also have town boards ban big solar farms too…
Read More “MDN Calls on NY Towns to Ban Windmills; Boycott Cooperstown”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Reaction to NY High Court’s Ill-fated Decision to Allow Town Bans
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the sad news that New York’s highest court has sided with towns giving them the right to completely ban shale drilling (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). Today we bring you reaction from several New York pro-drilling groups, along with quotes from others, both for and against drilling. This is a really bid deal–a “10” on the news scale. So we need to devote some time to reactions to the court’s ill-fated decision…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Regulation | Wastewater

Anti-Drillers Try to Close Portage County, OH Injection Well
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

Two anti-drilling groups–Concerned Citizens of Ohio and the the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment and Justice–have filed a reckless complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging an injection well in Portage County, OH has been illegally accepting millions of gallons of frack wastewater. The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) disagrees. Here’s a breakdown of the situation and the claims and counter claims…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Try to Close Portage County, OH Injection Well”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

This is a very sad day indeed. We’ve just received word that New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed two lower court rulings that allows entire townships in the state to strip away property owners’ rights to allow drilling, in contravention to the U.S. Constitution. The two cases, long chronicled here on MDN, are the “Middlefield” and “Dryden” cases (see NY Pro-Drillers File Final Briefs in Dryden/Middlefield Cases for background). What does it mean? In our opinion it means there will never be any meaningful shale drilling in New York. No driller in his right mind will roll the dice, lock up thousands of acres by spending millions of dollars, just to see it all disappear at the next town board election with a vote by 3 of 5 people. What a complete and utter tragedy this is for freedom-loving Americans who happen to live in the increasingly communistic state of New York. Below is a copy of the decision…
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp Continues to Plot and Plan to Stop Drilling
June 30, 2014February 3, 2015

Peters Township (in Washington County, PA) is one of the seven selfish townships that sued the state and eventually won to dismantle large and important pieces of the Act 13 Marcellus drilling law (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law and PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). Peters continues to meet and plot how they can further undermine drilling in their township, even after winning the Act 13 lawsuit…
Read More “Peters Twp Continues to Plot and Plan to Stop Drilling”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Another PA Senate Bill Seeks to Help Conventional O&G Drillers
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

MDN recently reported on legislation making headway in Pennsylvania that would split regulations between conventional and unconventional oil and gas operators in the state (see PA Legislation to Split Conventional/Unconventional Regs Advances). A second PA Senate bill, SB1310, is also making its way through the legislative process. MDN views 1310 as a “helper bill” for SB1378. SB1310 would create a new group called the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Development Advisory Council that would be composed of 17 members (yes, it already sounds bloated) to “assist” the PA Secretary of the Dept. of Environment Protection. Assist the secretary with what?…
Read More “Another PA Senate Bill Seeks to Help Conventional O&G Drillers”