Regulation

Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Pro-Drillers Lose 2nd Important Shale Drilling Court Case
July 15, 2014July 15, 2014

Yet another defeat for shale drilling in anti-drilling New York. First, the most important case that will hamper drilling in the Empire State was lost just a few weeks ago (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). Yesterday, a lower court decided to toss out the “Article 78” lawsuit brought by the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and Norse Energy against Gov. Andy Cuomo, DEC Sec. Joe Martens, and former Dept. of Health Sec. Nirav Shah (see D-Day: JLCNY Files Lawsuit Today Against Cuomo, Martens, Shah). The Article 78 lawsuit would have forced them to finally release new drilling rules as they are obviously colluding to stop the release. Other states take two years or less to review and allow shale drilling (see today’s story about North Carolina). It’s been over six years in New York, and with this decision, there is literally no end in sight…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

North Carolina Shames New York: Fracking Begins in 2015
July 15, 2014July 15, 2014

It’s taken six long years and New York State still has no regulations in place to allow high volume hydraulic fracturing–to it’s utter shame and the shame of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. When it is allowed (and it will be allowed at some point, you can bank on it), the fight will go local because of a bone-headed decision by the state’s highest court (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). By this time next year, North Carolina will have active fracking and shale drilling. How long did it take that state? Two years from the time they placed a moratorium on fracking (in 2012) until last week when the Republican governor of North Carolina signed a law to allow it by next year…
Read More “North Carolina Shames New York: Fracking Begins in 2015”
Allegany County | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Releases 2nd Report on Shale Drilling: “Best Practices”
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

Maryland finally released their “Internal Final Best Practices” (Part II) study on Friday. The behemoth 255-page study (full copy below) appears to be an exercise in how to stifle Marcellus Shale drilling in the two western Maryland counties where it’s found. This is the second of three reports being produced by a joint effort of the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR), as required under an executive order from outgoing Gov. Martin O’Malley (see Maryland Marcellus Shale Commission to Have First Meeting This Week – One Meeting Down, Three More Years of Meetings to Go). There’s lots to like in this so-called best practices (more like “no practices”) report–if you’re anti-drilling…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Is PA’s Act 13 Law on Last Legs with Passage of PA Budget?
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

It’s early days yet–but here’s a developing and potentially disturbing story for drillers (and landowners, and supply chain companies) in Pennsylvania. As MDN reported, last week PA Gov. Tom Corbett signed a $29.1 billion budget bill (see PA Budget Signed by Gov. Corbett – No Severance Tax This Year). The good news is there will be no jobs-and-drilling killing severance tax–this year. The bad news is that regulations that should have been standalone–to separate conventional and unconventional drilling–were slipped into the budget bill. Why is that bad? Because, as StateImpact Pennsylvania is reporting, it may lead to the total gutting of the Act 13 law…
Read More “Is PA’s Act 13 Law on Last Legs with Passage of PA Budget?”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Commerce Dept Slaps Foreign Countries for Steel Pipe Dumping
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

MDN has kept an eye on the developing story of foreign countries–particular South Korea–“dumping” cheap steel pipes in the U.S., pipes used in the shale drilling industry (see US Senators Join Chorus: “Illegal” Steel Pipe Dumping by S Korea and “Dumping” Leads to 177 Jobs Lost at PA Marcellus Pipeline Plant). Seems that the Obama Commerce Department agrees and has taken decisive action to put an end to it. Last Friday the Commerce Department slapped a stiff tariff (i.e. tax) on tubular goods (steel pipes) coming in to the U.S. from South Korea and eight other countries…
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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…
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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”)…
Read More “Federal Court Dismisses Doctor Lawsuit re Act 13 “Gag Rule””
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”