Investment Firm Opposing Trumbull Energy Center Slinks Out of Mtg
Last week MDN told you about opposition from a neighbor in an industrial park in Lordstown (Trumbull County, OH) to a proposal by Clean Energy Future to build a second natural gas-fired electric plant next door to one already under construction now (see Investment Firm Threatens 2nd Lordstown Electric Plant, $30B @ Risk). The two Lordstown Energy Center plants will result in an estimated $60 BILLION of economic activity locally–a staggering number. Inexplicable opposition from Vienna Investments, the landlord/owner of a building that houses a car seat manufacturer in the industrial park where the plants will get built, is threatening to block the second plant, putting $30 billion in jeopardy. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held a public hearing at the local high school on Tuesday night, to accept public comments on the second power plant. Residents from around the community turned out in force–to support the project. More than 200 people crammed the auditorium (standing room only). Of the 25 who spoke, only a few expressed mild concerns about the project–about water runoff in a local creek. Yes, there were two representatives from Vienna Investments (attorneys)–both registered to speak. According to an eye witness MDN had on location, “they retreated from the room quietly and did not speak when their names were called.” Our source speculates they elected to not talk after hearing overwhelming support from the crowd. Cowards. Hopefully the overwhelming support shown by the local community will put the issue to rest, and Ohio will approve the second project without delay…
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In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see 
In May MDN brought you the news that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) was going after Rover Pipeline for failing to properly plan storm water management which resulted in heavy storm water runoff into farmers’ fields where Rover is digging trenches (see 
Washington County, OH, along the southeastern tip of active Utica drilling, has never been known as a hotbed of Utica drilling. However, there is at least some drilling in the county. In 2016 and the first quarter of 2017 there were eight (8) active Utica wells producing hydrocarbons–gas and oil and NGLs. Those eight wells are owned by three companies: Edgemarc Energy, Protege Energy and PDC Energy. PDC, you may recall, announced in May that it has put all of its remaining Utica assets up for sale, including wells/land in Washington County, so it can use the proceeds to drill for oil in Texas and Colorado (see 
The CORNballs of Ohio continue to try and shut down the $2 billion, 255-mile NEXUS interstate natural gas pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. CORN stands for Coalition to Reroute NEXUS. CORNballs is what we affectionately call the group–as a way of pointing out their nutty true purpose–to try and shut the NEXUS project down. Period. Their aim has nothing to do with “rerouting” and everything to do with shutting it down. In May 2017, the CORNballs revealed their true colors when they filed a lawsuit in federal court in Akron, OH (see 
Last week the Monroe County, OH Chamber of Commerce and other organizations held an information forum to highlight what’s coming down the pike in the way of drilling and pipeline work for the county. Monroe is one of the leading Utica Shale counties in Ohio. According to Mike Chadsey, director of public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), “Monroe County has been at the heart of the industry coming out of the downturn.” He also had an interesting perspective on the issue of “boom and bust” in the oil and gas business. We’ve written a number of times about the cycles experienced in the o&g industry. Drillers expand like crazing, creating a “boom,” and when too much of oil or gas floods the market and prices crash, a “bust” follows. Chadsey has different terminology. He thinks it is more accurate to call those cycles “ebb and flow” rather than “boom and bust.” We like it! A number of people addressed the forum, including drillers Rice Energy and EdgeMarc. Here’s how Monroe is leading the way out of the downturn…
We spotted an outrageously fake news story published in something called the Public News Service that quotes an organic farmer in northern Ohio who is opposed to the NEXUS Pipeline–a pipeline that won’t even cross her property. NEXUS is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. It is a joint venture between DTE Energy and Spectra Energy. The Ohio organic farmer claims a NEXUS compressor station a mile from her property “will create a toxic cloud” and ruin her crops. She also claims “toxins” leak from pipelines, and that compressor stations “contain dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.” Yes, any time you want to oppose something, throw out the “c” word, to make sure they get good and scared. Other problems caused by pipelines: livestock illness and death; spontaneous explosions; fires; mini-earthquakes. To which we say, what a load of organic bullcrap…
In June 2016, MDN shared with you the news that Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH had filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Beck Energy to prevent drilling–after already losing a similar case before the Ohio Supreme Court (see 
As recently as July 7th, Energy Transfer Partners, builders of the mighty 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, said that a portion of Phase 1–from Cadiz, OH to Defiance, OH–will be completed and go online this month, in July (see 
In May 2015, Rover purchased a house in Carroll County, OH, located near where the pipeline, and a compressor station for that pipeline, is due to run. Rover bought the house to use for offices for several Rover affiliate companies. After buying it, Rover determined the house was “ill-suited for its intended purpose” and decided to demolish it. Problem was/is, that house was under consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. Their action in demolishing the house landed Rover in hot water with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a letter to Energy Transfer regarding the Rover Pipeline project. You may recall that Rover hit some bumps along the way in its aggressive schedule to get part of the pipeline up and running by the end of this month, and the rest operational by the end of November. In Ohio, Rover experienced a series of mishaps, the most serious of which spilled 2 million gallons of non-toxic drilling mud in a swamp near the Tuscarawas River back in April (see 
The Ohio Controlling Board, part of the Office of Budget and Management, has raided (i.e. stolen) $15 million from Ohio’s severance tax fund to use in settling a lawsuit from the late 1990s–a lawsuit that has nothing whatsoever to do with oil and gas. According to the American Petroleum Institute Ohio, the misappropriation of the money is likely illegal. The Controlling Board was set up by the Ohio legislature to handle “necessary adjustments to the state budget.” In other words, it was set up to pick one pocket and put the money in a different pocket. In 1997 Ohio widened a dam spillway in the western part of the state, and the result flooded the property of some unfortunate landowners, who sued. The lawsuit has languished for years, and it’s now time to pay up. The Controlling Board decided to raid/steal the money from the severance tax fund–a fund that’s supposed to be used for things like plugging abandoned orphan o&g wells. Most drilling in Ohio happens on the eastern side of the state. The flooded property in 1997 happened on the western side of the state. Anyone else see a disconnect and sleazy politics going on here? The severance tax fund has become the personal piggy bank for certain Columbus politicians…
Sounding eerily like a Borg drone from Star Trek (“YOU WILL COMPLY, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE”), the Ohio EPA (OEPA) has asked Ohio’s Attorney General, Mike DeWine, to force Rover to pay the Ohio EPA $914,000 in so-called fines it has unilaterally levied (with no apparent authority to do so) to punish Rover for a series of accidents while constructing the pipeline. Rover has not agreed to the fines and is challenging the OEPA’s authority to levy them. So the OEPA is asking DeWine to use the full weight and force of his office to force Rover to comply. Rover has had the pedal to the metal since receiving a go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March to begin construction to build a 711-mile natural gas pipeline from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada (see 
Thumbing their collective noses at Ohio RINO Gov. John Kasich, in May Republican legislators in the House added a “little-noticed provision” in the state budget deal that will give the legislature, and not the governor, the power to select members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (see 
Once again, the radicals behind the Pennsylvania-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), operating in Ohio, have suffered a humiliating defeat. This time in liberal Athens, Ohio. For three years running, the CELDF and their local useful idiots have been pedaling a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure–which is nothing more than an anti-fracking law. No, there is no drilling in or under Athens, but such a law would send a loud and clear signal that Athens is closed for business when it comes to the oil and gas industry–an industry that pumps millions into the local economy (even without drilling in the area). For the third year running the CELDF drones filed a petition to include the “Bill of Rights” measure on the November ballot–and for the third year in a row, the County Board of Elections voted NOT to allow it–unanimously…