Regulation

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Act 13 Lawsuit and its “Supporters”
April 10, 2012April 10, 2012

The Pittsburgh newspapers want us to believe there is a huge surge of support behind a lawsuit recently filed against what is known as Act 13—a new law passed just a few months ago in Pennsylvania that updates Marcellus oil and gas drilling rules in the state. Although the law brought much-needed new regulations to the Commonwealth, it also contained two measures that have particularly irked those who oppose drilling: an impact fee instead of a severance tax, and preemption of local oil and gas zoning ordinances with a “one size fits all” set of ordinances from the state. MDN will not recount the arguments for and against, you can read them by doing a search for “Act 13 lawsuit” in our search box (upper right corner).

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Drillers, Industry Groups File to Join Act 13 Lawsuit
April 9, 2012April 9, 2012

The oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania is not sitting on the sidelines idly while a group of municipalities attempts to temporarily halt, and eventually overturn the new Act 13 drilling legislation passed earlier this year. Seven municipalities along with an enviro-leftist group and a doctor are suing the state to stop Act 13 (see this MDN story for background, and this guest post from one of the litigants).

The Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association and the Marcellus Shale Coalition have filed a petition seeking to join the lawsuit—on the other side, trying to stop the lawsuit by the municipalities.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Industry Reacts to Interior Sec. Salazar Fracking Statement
April 9, 2012April 9, 2012

Last week, MDN reported the comments made by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as he toured a drilling “man camp” in the Bakken Shale of North Dakota (see this MDN story). Salazar made the comment that his Interior department is working on new rules for hydraulic fracturing, which seems premature given that the Environmental Protection Agency, another federal agency, is working on a multi-year study of fracking. We now know that the rules Salazar was referring to are for fracking on federal lands that come under the jurisdiction of Bureau of Land Management, an Interior sub-agency. We also now have industry reaction to his statement.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Act 13 Lawsuit Plaintiffs Seek Injunction to Stop Law Now
April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

The plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week seeking to overturn PA’s newly adopted Act 13 law that overrides local municipal zoning ordinances of the oil and gas industry, filed a motion yesterday asking the court for an injunction to prevent the new law from going into effect on April 14.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Cheerleads (but doesn’t join) Act 13 Lawsuit
April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Pittsburgh City Council, long-time opponents of the Marcellus Shale drilling industry, passed a resolution called a “Will of Council” yesterday supporting the lawsuit filed by seven municipalities, the Delaware Riverkeepers and others against the State of Pennsylvania’s newly adopted Act 13 law. The Act 13 law replaces local zoning ordinances with a state ordinance when it comes to oil and gas drilling (see this MDN article about the lawsuit). Council President Darlene Harris sponsored the measure and all nine city council members signed it. A full copy of the resolution and a letter signed by all council members is embedded below.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Online Map Shows How Much PA Towns Will Make from Impact Fee
April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

A website MDN has previously highlighted, FrackTrack.org, has published an interactive map that helps Pennsylvania residents track whether or not their county and local municipality has voted to accept the recently passed impact fee law (screen shot below). The map includes a clock counting down to the final deadline. The first deadline under the new law is for counties, which was 60 days from when the measure passed. The second deadline is for municipalities, which is 60 days after that. Combining the two you get 120 days total, of which we now have 69 days left.

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Guest Post | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

Guest Post: Peters Twp Responds to MDN on Act 13 Lawsuit
April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

Last week, MDN wrote an article about the just-filed lawsuit by a group of Pennsylvania townships seeking to strike down provisions in a new PA law referred to as Act 13 (see this MDN story). Act 13 preempts local zoning ordinances that prohibit or regulate oil and gas drilling and replaces those ordinances with a set of rules from the state. In essence, Act 13 substitutes the state’s “one size fits all” zoning ordinance for local zoning ordinances. MDN’s comment at the end of that article was that in examining some of the attachments to the filed lawsuit it seems to MDN that anti-drillers are the ones driving the lawsuit.

David Ball, a council member from Peters Township (Washington County), PA—one of the towns filing the lawsuit—emailed MDN to challenge our view and assessment that he and others filing the lawsuit are anti-drilling, and to further explain their reasons for the lawsuit. MDN asked permission to publish his comments and he accepted. This is not the very first, but perhaps the second or third guest post on MDN. We are happy (from time to time) to offer guest posts that disagree with our own views if that post is courteous, serious and advances the discussion. This one does and we thank Mr. Ball for taking the time to write.

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Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

Anti-Driller Campaign Against LPG Fracking Begins in NY
April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

It certainly didn’t taken long for anti-drillers to start talking down LPG (waterless) fracking. Just last week, a Tioga County, NY landowner group announced they will sign a lease with eCorp to allow drilling on 135,000 acres in New York using a proprietary technology by Canadian company GASFRAC (see this MDN story). The waterless technology uses liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a gel-like substance that replaces water in fracking. Perhaps most importantly, by using LPG fracking, eCorp can move ahead with permitting and drilling now (in New York!), ahead of the release of new fracking regulations that have been stalled in a four-year review process.

MDN predicted that with almost all stated reasons to oppose water-based fracking now removed, anti-drillers would invent new reasons to oppose LPG fracking. MDN’s prediction has already come true. An article printed in the “news” section of the Albany Times Union, which clearly is an opinion piece, says this:

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Anadarko | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Otsego County | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

Dryden & Middlefield NY Drilling Bans Officially Appealed
March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

An update on the two New York lawsuits recently decided in lower courts that upheld local municipal bans on hydraulic fracturing and gas drilling:

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law
March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

A threatened lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s newly passed Act 13 law that preempts local zoning ordinances passed to prevent shale gas drilling has finally materialized. The lawsuit was filed yesterday by seven PA municipalities and several other people (a copy of the lawsuit is embedded below). Act 13, signed into law in February by Gov. Tom Corbett, contains a provision that disallows local PA municipalities from passing zoning laws that are specifically aimed at preventing shale gas drilling. The loss of zoning power has some municipalities hopping mad.

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Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landowner Coalition News | New York | Regulation | Tioga County (NY)

Alternative Fracking Method May Soon Debut – in New York!
March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

The anti-drilling crowd is about to be tested as to their true reasons for opposing shale gas drilling, and it will happen in leftist paradise—New York State.

What if you removed 99 percent of the stated objections to fracking? Took away the millions of gallons of water needed to frack a single well? Took away almost all of the chemicals used? Took away fracking wastewater that either needs to be recycled or treated or injected into a deep well? Took away almost all of the heavy truck traffic and noise and other industrialization concerns? In short—what if you took away almost every reason to oppose gas drilling?

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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Regulation | Shell

Shell’s ‘Silent’ Partner in Building Cracker Plant: The EPA
March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

Shell will decide whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA over the next two years (see this MDN story). If they decide to build, which seems likely, it will take between four and 10 years and $3 billion to build it. It’s a massive project. And Shell will have the federal Environmental Protection Agency looking over their shoulder the whole time, according to an EPA rep from Texas:

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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

GAO Setup for Federal Regulation of Gathering Pipelines?
March 23, 2012March 23, 2012

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report yesterday on the status of natural gas gathering pipelines (a copy of the full 41-page report is embedded below). We should note that the GAO issues a half dozen or more reports per day—i.e., they are a report-generating “mill” for the federal government, usually Congress—your tax dollars at work.

[Begin rant] Two Democrat Senators, Jay Rockefeller from WV and Frank Lautenberg from NJ, requested a report from the GAO on the safety or lack thereof for the estimated 240,000 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines now in use or under construction throughout the country. Sure seems like Congress is nosing around yet another federal takeover of what is properly a state’s Constitutional responsibility, and this report is designed to provide justification to do just that.

The report’s operating assumption is that all pipelines should be federally regulated—even small gathering lines. If a pipeline is not federally regulated, it’s an aberration, not normal, something is wrong—“Danger Will Robinson!” The further arrogant assumption is if pipelines are not regulated in the manner “we” say, they are not safe. Welcome to the nanny state where the federal government uses fear to manipulate public opinion: “Your pipelines will blow up or crack and leak nasty things if we don’t slap strict regulations on them right now.” Question: When was the last time you heard about a pipeline—any pipeline—exploding, breaking or leaking? [End rant]

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Hosting Webinars on Act 13 Zoning Law
March 23, 2012March 23, 2012

Want to know more about the recently passed Act 13 law in Pennsylvania? That’s the new law essentially removing the right of local municipalities to regulate or otherwise ban drilling within their borders. Some townships are up in arms and threatening a lawsuit. The state Department of Environmental Protection wants to educate local officials and the public and is conducting four one-hour webinars to do it.

From the DEP press release:

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

API Study: New EPA Emissions Rules Will Cut Drilling 52%
March 16, 2012March 16, 2012

If proposed new EPA air emissions regulations go into effect later this year as proposed, the number of wells drilled using hydraulic fracturing will drop by half, according to a study commissioned and just released by the American Petroleum Institute (a copy of the study is embedded below). The Obama administration has given lip service support for shale gas drilling, most notably in Obama’s recent State of the Union speech—but the administration’s actions don’t match their words.

According to the study, the new EPA regulations would result in an 11 percent drop in gas production, and a 37 percent drop in domestic oil production. The federal government will also receive $8.5 billion less in royalty payments from reduced drilling.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Try to Stop SRBC Meeting in Harrisburg
March 16, 2012March 16, 2012

Yet another case of anti-drillers behaving badly. At yesterday’s meeting of commissioners of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) in Harrisburg, PA, demonstrators tried to stop the commissioners from doing their work during an open meeting. The commissioners were voting on water withdrawal requests for Marcellus drillers, among other items on the agenda. And protestors once again tried to stop an SRBC open and public meeting.

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