Regulation

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    PA DEP Sec. Abruzzo Grilled by PA Senate on Global Warming

    We already had a high opinion of Acting Secretary of PA’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), Chris Abruzzo. But our already high opinion just went higher. Abruzzo has been “acting” secretary since the spring. He finally had his hearing yesterday before the PA Senate where senators got to grill him on various issues before they vote to confirm him as the real-deal secretary. At the hearing Abruzzo was asked about the global warming mythology and whether or not he believes in Santa Claus global warming.

    Abruzzo had the unmitigated gall to speak the truth (always a dangerous thing to speak truth to politicians). He said he thinks global warming is happening a teeny bit, but it’s not adversely affecting humans or animals or plants. It’s minor. Not a big deal. And it’s certainly not something PA can or should address with heavy-handed government policies. Well! You would think he had grown two heads right there before their very eyes! Some of the warmers were ready to roll out the old elevated platform they used to hang people from who were thought to be witches! Three cheers for Abruzzo, who has brass…er, Christmas ornaments…for not sugarcoating his views. Here’s how his grilling was reported by the reliably anti-drilling StateImpact Pennsylvania:
    Read More “PA DEP Sec. Abruzzo Grilled by PA Senate on Global Warming”

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    Who Dat Sneakin’ Around my Well Pad…PA DEP?!

    We’re not quite sure what to make of this one… PA State Sen. Scott Hutchinson (Republican from Butler County) has introduced legislation to prohibit the state Dept. of Environment Protection (DEP) from using video surveillance cameras, some of them with “night vision”, to monitor and enforce environmental laws at oil and gas sites. DEP also uses “unmarked cars” in drive-by inspections and Hutchinson wants that fixed too.

    Is the DEP being shifty? Are they sneaking around? Should they better announce themselves? Or is this just a tempest in a teapot as DEP says it is? You decide…
    Read More “Who Dat Sneakin’ Around my Well Pad…PA DEP?!”

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    The “Flexible” (and Capricious) Ways of EPA Admin. McCarthy

    It used to be that the law (and regulations, which are based on and have the power of law) were “blind” and not a respecter of men nor companies. The law was designed to apply to all equally and without exception. But when you have a law-breaker–someone who flouts the law–as your president, you then get a situation where the law is twisted to the political whims of those in power. Don’t like a particular law because you oppose it? No problem–just ignore it and don’t enforce it. Don’t like the political blow back of enforcing laws and regulations you yourself passed? No problem–just be “flexible” with how you implement said law or regulation.

    The latest “flexible” Obama official is none other than newly minted EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who is signaling she won’t enforce the draconian carbon regulations her agency recently established that are designed to kill coal. Instead of killing coal all at once, she’ll toy with it, like a cat with mouse…
    Read More “The “Flexible” (and Capricious) Ways of EPA Admin. McCarthy”

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    US Chamber to Obama: Don’t Let EPA Screw Up Fracking Miracle

    One of the finest organizations in America–the U.S. Chamber of Commerce–sent a warning to President Obama yesterday to put him on notice that if the Obama Environmental Protection Agency continues down the road of federal regulation of fracking (something that is unconstitutional by the way), it will kill the very jobs and economic success that Obama has had nothing to do with but takes credit for. OK, the Chamber didn’t use that exact language, but that’s our take on their sentiment.

    Chamber President Thomas Donohue essentially said “don’t go there” with respect to the EPA wanting to horn in with regulating fracking…
    Read More “US Chamber to Obama: Don’t Let EPA Screw Up Fracking Miracle”

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    ACCF to DOE Sec. Moniz: Please Hurry Up LNG Export Approvals

    On Monday, the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) sent a letter to Dept. of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to encourage him to continue approving new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals, and to “goose him along” and get him to speed up the process (full copy of the letter embedded below). To be fair, DOE has now approved five such facilities which will allow the export of LNG to countries without a free trade agreement with the U.S. However, there are another 21 applications waiting to be reviewed–and it took 65 days between the last two approvals (way too long).

    ACCF respectfully requests Moniz to hurry it up in their letter, and provides him with compelling arguments for why more LNG exports should go forward…
    Read More “ACCF to DOE Sec. Moniz: Please Hurry Up LNG Export Approvals”

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    Tom West Demands DEC Com. Martens Release the SGEIS – Soon

    just do your jobYesterday Tom West, lead attorney with The West Firm in Albany, NY, issued a “demand” letter to Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens (full copy of the letter embedded below). The hand-delivered letter (arrived around 12:30 pm we’re told) tells Martens that, as MDN revealed last week, The West Firm has been retained as legal counsel for Norse Energy (see Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS). The letter asks (actually demands) that Martens inform West within the next two weeks of the “date certain in the near future” he plans to release the SGEIS drilling regulations…or else.

    The “or else” is not spelled out in the demand letter, but we know what it is: If Martens does not release the drilling rules promptly, West will file an Article 78 lawsuit to force Martens–and Gov. Cuomo and Health Commissioner Nirav Shah–to get off their rear-ends and just do their jobs. That’s what an Article 78 is–a citizen or company’s legal way of forcing recalcitrant and disobedient public servants (Martens, Cuomo and Shah) to do the job they were hired to do. So three cheers for Norse Energy and Tom West! Finally we should start to see a resolution to the 5 year, 4 month and 10 day old defacto ban (i.e. “moratorium”) on shale drilling in New York…
    Read More “Tom West Demands DEC Com. Martens Release the SGEIS – Soon”

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    21 LNG Fueling Stations Coming to NY in Next 5 Years, Maybe

    Recently MDN brought you the story that New York State is the only state in the union that does not allow liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and fueling stations (see LNG Storage/Fueling Stations Latest Anti-Drilling Target in NY). Such facilities were banned after a tragic accident at a Staten Island LNG facility killed 40 workers in the early 1970s. Wacko anti-drillers oppose building new ones because, well, they’re wacko. Calmer heads, however have prevailed and the Dept. of Environment Conservation expects to finalize new regulations early next year to allow construction of LNG storage/fueling facilities that can super-cool and store natural gas in a liquefied state.

    Why is it important that NY get with the program? Why do we need LNG anyway? Because entire trucking fleets–like that of UPS–are converting from diesel to LNG because it’s cleaner burning and cheaper. LNG is a true win/win, regardless of what the ninny nanny naysayers say. Once the new regs are in place, the DEC estimates NY will see 21 new LNG facilities built over the next five years…
    Read More “21 LNG Fueling Stations Coming to NY in Next 5 Years, Maybe”

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    National Park Service Tosses Ingraffea Anti-Frack Comments Out

    Someone who used to work at the National Park Service (NPS) is probably in the unemployment line this week because he or she made the boss look bad. Last week the NPS had to retract negative comments inserted by an unnamed (and hopefully unemployed) NPS staffer about shale drilling in the official NPS position on fracking forwarded to the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is formulating their own rules to regulate fracking on federal lands and wanted (intelligent) input from other agencies.

    As part of the official comments/views on fracking from NPS, some idiot unnamed staffer at NPS actually quoted the goofy Cornell professor Tony Ingraffea and his wild ideas (published in the compliant New York Times) about fracking being “a gangplank to more global warming.” Whatever Tony. NPS now says they don’t agree with those crackpot comments…
    Read More “National Park Service Tosses Ingraffea Anti-Frack Comments Out”

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    Coast Guard Wants Frack Wastewater Barges Tested – Every Load

    In late October MDN told you the good news that the U.S. Coast Guard has green lighted barge shipments of frack wastewater–good news for GreenHunter and their multiple barge facilities along the Ohio River (see Coast Guard Green Lights Barge Transport of Frack Wastewater). At the time the Coast Guard published their draft rules for a 30-day comment period. Those 30 days have come and gone as of last Friday, but still no official date for when barge shipments for frack wastewater will begin.

    However, from an article published by the reliably anti-drilling StateImpact Pennsylvania (NPR), we do find out that every shipment of frack wastewater via barge will first have to be analyzed by a state accredited laboratory before it can leave the dock. Why? Frack wastewater is not uniform–each batch varies in the chemical compounds found in that batch. The Coast Guard intends to keep a close eye on it. Of course analyzing every load will add a lot of time and expense to the process, but this precaution will reassure reasonable people that barge shipments of frack wastewater is safe…
    Read More “Coast Guard Wants Frack Wastewater Barges Tested – Every Load”

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    OH Court Tells ODNR: Turn Over Emails in Patriot Water Lawsuit

    Patriot Water Treatment of Warren, OH has had a long-running feud with the Ohio EPA and Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR)–a feud that goes all the way back to 2011 (see MDN’s string of Patriot Water stories here). Patriot processes frack wastewater at it’s Warren plant and then disposes of the wastewater by using the local Warren municipal sewage treatment plant. That is, Patriot strips out all of the really nasty stuff, and then the sewage plant finishes off the process and the water is then released into the Mahoning River, near Youngstown.

    The OH EPA and ODNR pulled Patriot’s permits to operate for a four-month period in 2012, but Patriot sued and won the right to continue operating (and sending their wastewater to the sewage plant). In relation to the shut-down, Patriot is suing for damages and the ODNR has not been altogether forthcoming with emails and paperwork requested by Patriot as part of the lawsuit. So the OH District Court of Appeals told the ODNR yesterday to comply, or else…
    Read More “OH Court Tells ODNR: Turn Over Emails in Patriot Water Lawsuit”

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    Obama’s Warming Cultists Raise “Social Cost of Carbon” Number

    Just boggles the mind. Make up some cockamamie, pretend number, call it the “social cost of carbon” and proceed to use it as if it’s real science with real data behind it so you can justify unilaterally implementing Communistic regulations to control every aspect of slaves’ citizens’ lives. That sums up the actions of the Obama administration and their so-called justification in raising the rate of the “social cost of carbon” from $21 per metric ton to $35 per ton. Oh, and issue a white paper with a bunch of fake numbers to give it the veneer of legitimacy (check! that’s now done too).

    Feels like Alice going through the Looking Glass. Are there no real scientists with the intestinal fortitude to stand up and tell Obama and his warmist cult followers, “You have no clothes on this issue, Mr. Emperor”? The Hill reports on this latest Obama scam/power grab:
    Read More “Obama’s Warming Cultists Raise “Social Cost of Carbon” Number”

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    Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS

    Breaking newsThis is BIG news: It seems we haven’t heard the last from Norse Energy–the Norwegian-based driller that just over a month ago converted from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, or “keep the creditors at bay while we reorganize,” to Chapter 7, or “sell off the furniture and turn off the lights” (see Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy). There’s still a bit of fight left in Norse–or fight left in its creditors anyway. Late last week MDN received a tip from friend and intrepid blogger Andy Leahy, writer of the excellent NY Shale Gas Now! blog, about some of the biggest New York news we’ve heard in some time: Norse Energy, or what’s left of it, has decided to file a lawsuit against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens, and State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah–a lawsuit that will force the release of draft drilling regulations called the SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement).

    The official lawsuit has not yet been filed but according to MDN’s sources, it will be filed in early December. This story is a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you and show you the evidence we have that a lawsuit against the Cuomo/Martens/Shah cabal is indeed on the way–very soon…
    Read More “Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS”

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    House Passes Bills to De-Fang BLM Frack Rules, Speed Up Permits

    Republicans have grown tired of heavy-handed regulations coming out of the Obama administration, from the Obama EPA and Dept. of Interior (DOI) that seek to strangle the blossoming energy industry in this country due to shale drilling. Mainstream media tells you Obama is an “all of the above” guy–he likes that shale drilling stuff ’cause he’s a big thinker and sees the big picture, and even some in his own party grumble and complain about his support for drilling. It’s bunkum. Obama and his sycophants seek to enforce federal regulations on drilling any way they can–to slow it down.

    Republicans have had enough and passed two bills yesterday: one would de-fang the DOI Bureau of Land Management’s plan to enforce new fracking regulations on federal lands; the other speeds up the permitting process for drilling on federal lands, to allow more drilling more quickly…
    Read More “House Passes Bills to De-Fang BLM Frack Rules, Speed Up Permits”

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    Ironic: PA Enviro Court Forcing DEP to Rule on Forced Pooling

    A 51-year old forced pooling law in Pennsylvania that strangely does not apply to the Marcellus Shale layer, but does apply to the deeper Utica Shale layer, is being put to the test. In early October, MDN told you that Hilcorp had decided to take “the low road” and sue a landowner in Lawrence County, PA to force that landowner to allow his 14.6 acres to be drilled under using the old law (see Hilcorp Uses PA Forced Pooling Law Against Lawrence Cty Landowner).

    The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection balked at invoking the old law to force the landowner and instead tossed this hot potato to the Environmental Hearing Board. The Hearing Board ruled this week that it doesn’t have jurisdiction and that the matter properly does belong back at the DEP. So what will the DEP do now?…
    Read More “Ironic: PA Enviro Court Forcing DEP to Rule on Forced Pooling”

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    NY Congressman Chides Cuomo for Continued Fracking Delay

    Well there’s at least one New York Congressman with a spine–willing to stand up and call Gov. Andrew “can’t make up his mind on fracking” Cuomo what he is: someone who kowtows to fringe anti-drilling, anti-business wackos. Republican Congressman Chris Collins represents the 27th district in western NY–everywhere from the edge of Buffalo to the edge of Rochester, and from Lake Ontario to halfway down the state. It’s a large district.

    Collins was speaking on the floor of the house yesterday in support of H.R. 2728 (see our companion story today on the two pro-drilling House bills that passed yesterday). Here’s Collins chiding his lordship Andy:
    Read More “NY Congressman Chides Cuomo for Continued Fracking Delay”

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    Allegheny County (PA) Council Votes Down Drill Ban for Parks

    A few weeks ago MDN told you about a meeting convened by PA State Sen. Jim Ferlo (we called it Ferlo’s Follies) where Ferlo and other anti-drillers carped and complained about a proposed plan to allow drilling under (not on) some Allegheny County, PA parks. We noted that one anti-driller at the meeting offensively and shamefully shoved an 8 year-old child in front of the microphones to plea for a ban on drilling in parks (see PA Anti-Drillers Shove Their Children Before the Microphones).

    We’re happy to report the anti-drilling rabble-rousers have been defeated–soundly. Last night the Allegheny County Council voted down the proposed 3-year moratorium on drilling under (not on) county parks, and they voted it down rather convincingly: 9 to 2…
    Read More “Allegheny County (PA) Council Votes Down Drill Ban for Parks”