Regulation

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

House Dems Want OMB/EPA Tag Team to Ban Diesel in Fracking Fluid
October 31, 2013October 31, 2013

More federal interference in fracking appears to be on the way. Two House Democrats–Henry Waxman and Diana DeGette–have “asked” (demanded?) the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to finalize a permitting guidance rule from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that disallows using diesel fuel in fracking fluids. Waxman and DeGette say the current rule in place is not specific enough and that some drillers continue to use diesel in fracking fluids. Accusing drillers of using diesel fuel in fracking fluid gives politicians a talking point to stoke their radical green supporters (and increase campaign contributions).

MDN asks: Is the OMB/EPA rule a good thing, or a bad thing?…
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Warren County | Wastewater

Waste Treatment, PA DEP Respond to CWA Lawsuit
October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

Yesterday MDN told you about a wastewater treatment plant in Warren, PA that has been sued by Clean Water Action with claims the plant continues to receive, process and dump frack wastewater into the Allegheny River (see CWA Sues/Accuses Waste Treatment Corp of Continued Shale Pollution). Waste Treatment Corporation’s Warren operation was supposed to have stopped that practice in May 2011. The lawsuit says it’s still happening, based on the results of tests from last year by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Both Waste Treatment Corp. and the PA DEP have responded with statements addressing the CWA allegations and lawsuit. Waste Treatment says they did stop processing Marcellus Shale wastewater in 2011. The PA DEP says the agency filed its own lawsuit against Waste Treatment in September of this year. Frankly, it’s not at all clear to MDN what the real facts are in this case–yet. After reading the responses, we have more questions than answers…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco

Anti-Drillers Try to Slow New Transco Pipeline Near Princeton, NJ
October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

Several so-called environmental groups, including the odious Food & Water Watch, have filed a notice of intervention with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in an attempt to stop Transco from building 1.3 miles of new natural gas pipeline near Princeton, NJ.

FERC now has to review the objection and render a decision, a process that will further delay the project, which of course is the intent…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Congressional Research Service Issues Updated Report on Fracking
October 30, 2013October 30, 2013

From time to time our brilliant leaders in Washington need an update on a given topic, a “Cliff Notes” summary they can scan to supposedly bring themselves up to date on a given weighty and pressing issue. Where do they turn? To their very own Congressional Research Service, of course. The CRS has been producing reports for, well, as long as there’s been a CRS (predating MDN’s Jim Willis’ time on Capitol Hill in the 1980s). Last week an updated report was issued by the CRS titled “Hydraulic Fracturing: Selected Legal Issues” (full copy embedded below). The previous version of the very same report, R43152, was issued in July (see New Congressional Report: How Federal Laws Govern Fracking).

Since these reports only get created and issued when requested by a member of Congress, we’re guessing someone requested an update. Which makes us nervous because the federal government should have NO role in the regulation of fracking (Constitutionally it belongs to the individual states, not the federal government). We don’t know what may have changed between July and today, but we include the new version of the report below for your reading and scanning pleasure…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

When Will We Know if NY Will See Fracking? June 2014
October 29, 2013

A question MDN is frequently asked… Q: When will the issue of fracking in New York State really and truly be decided–and by whom? A: June 2014, by the NY Court of Appeals. “Not by Gov. Cuomo?” you ask. Nope. He’ll come around, eventually. The real issue has always been whether or not entire towns can ban fracking based on the vote of 3 or 4 people who sit on a town board–a vote that denies every citizen in that town their Constitutional private property rights. Two cases now before the New York Court of Appeals will decide the issue once and for all.

Thanks to the lead attorney for one of those cases–Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the “Middlefield” case–we now have insight into how and when this will all progress from now through June of next year. It started yesterday when briefs were filed by Kurkoski (for Middlefield) and by Albany-area attorney Tom West (for the “Dryden” case) with the Court of Appeals…
Read More “When Will We Know if NY Will See Fracking? June 2014”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Warren County | Wastewater

CWA Sues/Accuses Waste Treatment Corp of Continued Shale Pollution
October 29, 2013October 29, 2013

Is a municipal waste treatment facility in Warren County, PA (northwestern part of the state) still accepting and treating Marcellus Shale frack wastewater that is polluting the Allegheny River? That is the very serious charge made in a federal lawsuit filed yesterday by the radical anti-drilling organization Clean Water Action (CWA). Waste Treatment Corporation’s facility near Warren was supposed to have stopped receiving frack wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling in May 2011, after a deal was made with then-Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water). According to CWA, Waste Treatment continues to accept Marcellus frack wastewater, process it and dump it into the Allegheny, thereby polluting it. The Allegheny is the source of drinking water for Pittsburgh and other municipalities.

The CWA also charges that the PA DEP knows about said dumping and is sitting on its hands, attempting to work out a new deal rather than shut the plant down or otherwise pull their permits to get them to stop…
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Anadarko | Bradford County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Southwestern Energy | Sullivan County

PA DCNR Blocks Drilling in Loyalsock State Forest – For Now
October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

Back in April, MDN told you about a ginned-up “controversy” over Anadarko Petroleum’s plan to drill in the Loyalsock State Forest that covers parts of Lycoming, Sullivan and Bradford counties in PA (see Manufactured Controversy over Drilling in Loyalsock State Forest). Anadarko owns the lease rights to 25,000 acres underneath the Loyalsock. Even though Anadarko provided the state with their plan to drill (as requested, in March 2012), the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) last week temporarily refused their application to begin drilling. Why? Not because of any problems with the proposed plan, but because another driller, Southwestern Energy, owns the rights to about the same amount of acreage and has not submitted a plan to drill on their acreage.

Is it fair that Anadarko be held back because Southwestern isn’t ready to drill yet? Did the DCNR stipulate that all drillers must supply a drilling plan first, when Anadarko submitted their plan back in March 2012? Why did it take until October 2013 for the DCNR to tell Anadarko that Southwestern has to file too? Troubling questions…
Read More “PA DCNR Blocks Drilling in Loyalsock State Forest – For Now”
Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Doctor’s Act 13 Lawsuit Tossed Out, Judge Says No “Standing”
October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

Last Wednesday a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled against a doctor who sued the state over it’s new Act 13 law (passed in 2012). The new law requires doctors to sign a confidentiality agreement before discussing chemicals workers may have been exposed to as part of the drilling (specifically fracking) process in shale drilling.

U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo dismissed the lawsuit filed by Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez saying he hadn’t proven he had been harmed by the law (i.e., no “standing”)…
Read More “PA Doctor’s Act 13 Lawsuit Tossed Out, Judge Says No “Standing””
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

How Many New WV Jobs Go to Out-of-State Workers? We Can’t Know
October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

A developing issue in West Virginia is how many of the new jobs created in the state (which was up an astonishing 20% last year) are going to WV workers, and how many are going to out-of-state workers? According to WV’s 2011 Horizontal Well Control law, the annual report filed by the Dept. of Commerce’s Workforce West Virginia division is supposed to break it down. Problem is, both last year’s report and this year’s (recently issued, see Looking for a Job in the Marcellus? Think WV), does not provide the required in-state/out-of-state numbers.

Technically, Workforce WV is breaking the law by not providing the numbers–but not because it’s intentional. The one WV agency that could provide Worforce WV with the numbers they need for the report–the Revenue department–is prevented from doing so, by law. Talk about screwed up…
Read More “How Many New WV Jobs Go to Out-of-State Workers? We Can’t Know”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Warning to Lawmakers: Back Us in a Corner, You’ll be Sorry
October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

A U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) official warned last Wednesday that if House Republicans continue to push a bill that limits the amount of time FERC has to review pipeline projects, those Republicans (and their energy company constituents) will be sorry.

Jeff Wright, director of FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, told an Energy Bar Association conference in Washington that if backed into a “one year to approve a project or else” corner, FERC will start denying projects rather than let them go forward…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regulation | Statewide PA

Philly Conference: Dramatic Ramp-up & Challenges in PA Midstream
October 24, 2013October 24, 2013

A conference in Philadelphia yesterday, hosted by the law firm Blank Rome and by engineering firm Hull and Associates, focused on the importance of the midstream–pipelines and processing plants. And for good reason–there’s an incredible amount of money being spent in the midstream sector. Here’s what grabbed our attention about the conference: One of the speakers quoted numbers from Oil and Gas Journal that say spending on pipelines across the U.S. was $8.6 billion last year, in 2012–but this year, that number is zooming to $38 billion!

We will add our own number to that mentioned at yesterday’s conference. MDN has just published Volume 2 of the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. In our new volume we compiled a comprehensive list of 111 midstream and infrastructure projects that either already are being built or have been announced. MDN found that from 2013 and spanning the next 10-15 years, announced midstream projects in the Marcellus/Utica region will top $40 billion of investment! That’s investment in just the Marcellus/Utica…
Read More “Philly Conference: Dramatic Ramp-up & Challenges in PA Midstream”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Michigan Driller Walks Away in Frustration from SE PA Leases
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

Michigan-based driller Arbor Resources leased a bunch of land in southeastern Pennsylvania six years ago–in Bucks County (in the orbit of Philadelphia). Specifically, they leased land for gas drilling in Nockamixon Township. There is no Marcellus Shale in that area, but there are other formations, including the South Newark Basin. Arbor wanted to drill a few test wells for natural gas in the area, but the town opposed it and went to court to block it. Then in 2012, some squishy liberal Republicans shamefully snuck an eleventh hour ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin until more “studies” could be done into the 2012 budget (see Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal).

With continuing low prices for natural gas, six years of legal issues with Nockamixon Township, a ban by the Delaware Basin Commission in effect in that area, and a state-enforced ban from RINOs in place, Arbor is throwing in the towel and walking away from Nockamixon and southeast PA. Good riddance for Arbor, no doubt. Goodbye tax revenue, goodbye jobs and goodbye millions of dollars of investment for Nockamixon…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVU Prof Tells Legislators 625′ Setback in Drilling is Not Enough
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

A West Virginia University professor that helped prepare a report for the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) continues to voice concerns about the way the WVDEP has interpreted the results of the study he helped research. In June the WVDEP released a third and final study (this one on air quality) required under WV’s 2011 Horizontal Well Control legislation. The report as issued by the WVDEP says based on the results of the research study, no new regulations are needed to control air emissions around drilling sites (see WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling).

However, Dr. Michael McCawley, chairman of the Dept. of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at WVU and author of the original “raw” report, said he thinks air emissions from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling do need tweaking, particularly the amount of distance required from a well site to the nearest structure, like a home or school (called a “setback”). McCawley thinks 625 feet from the center of a well pad is not enough (see Did WVDEP Ignore It’s Own Research on Shale Well Air Pollution?). On Monday Dr. McCawley was back before WV legislators making the same argument…
Read More “WVU Prof Tells Legislators 625′ Setback in Drilling is Not Enough”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Electronic Permit Filing for Marcellus Drilling Coming Soon in WV
October 21, 2013October 21, 2013

In December 2011 a special session of the West Virginia legislature took up and passed a new Marcellus drilling bill in record time–four days flat–although in reality it took most of 2011 to prepare the legislation. The WV Senate passed the “Horizontal Well Act” 33-0 and the House passed it 92-5. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed it immediately. (For a summary of what’s in the “new” law, see WV Has New Marcellus Drilling Law in Record Time).

It’s now been nearly two years since then, time for a status report. WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) spokesman Tom Aluise says the new law is paying off. Aluise talked about a new electronic permit filing system on the way, and he identifies the top five counties in WV with Marcellus wells…
Read More “Electronic Permit Filing for Marcellus Drilling Coming Soon in WV”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy
October 17, 2013October 17, 2013

It’s a sad day for New York landowners–for everyone really. Norse Energy has converted from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which means the courts protect you while you regroup, to Chapter 7, which means break it all up and sell off the pieces to the highest bidder. Norse has now literally, as well as figuratively, shut off the lights and closed the door behind them. The remaining eight employees of Norse have just been let go.

For years MDN has been writing about the plight of Norse and their inability to tap shale deposits under 130,000 acres of leased land in New York. The signs have been there for some time that Norse may face extinction if NY does not open up for shale drilling (see Norse Energy 2Q13: Concerned About Remaining ‘a Going Concern’). Thanks Gov. Andy! You sure know how to make NY “business friendly.” Norse announced the change to Chapter 7 last week in a very brief press release. Buffalo Business First reports about the final employees being shown the door…
Read More “Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy”
Energy Companies | Forest County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | McKean County | Minard Run Oil | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Warren County

Final Appeal? Court Says Drilling in Allegheny Natl Forest Legal
October 17, 2013

When the federal government digs in its heels and is intent on obstructing justice, it can take a long time to remedy via the courts. But (sometimes) justice does prevail in the end. We now have–hopefully–a final resolution in the ongoing series of cases known as Minard Run Oil v. United States Forest Service. We wrote about this case back in 2011, but it goes back much further, to 2009 (see Drillers Sue US Govt over Allegheny National Forest Delays). As a brief background, the federal government purchased a number of parcels of land in 1923 that became the Allegheny National Forest (ANF) in northwestern Pennsylvania. However, the government did not purchase the mineral rights under most of the land–seems that back in 1923 the government didn’t just print the money it wanted (“quantitative easing” anyone?).

Even though they don’t own the mineral rights, in 2009 the U.S. Forest Service (federal agency managing the ANF) entered into what was an illegal out of court settlement with environmentalist groups stipulating that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) will govern all oil and gas drilling in the ANF. It effectively shut down any new drilling in the forest, denying private citizens the ability to benefit from their private property (mineral) rights. The drilling industry sued and the case has now gone through three appeals. The most recent appeal was heard by the federal U.S. Court of Appeals Third Circuit. The court ruled, once again, in favor of private property rights…
Read More “Final Appeal? Court Says Drilling in Allegheny Natl Forest Legal”