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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Aug 9-15
Last week both Pennsylvania and West Virginia issued permits to drill new shale wells. Ohio remained skunked for a fourth week in a row. PA issued 30 new shale permits–one of the highest weekly tallies we’ve seen. PA’s permits were issued for wells on 11 pads, meaning there were a number of multi-well permits issued. WV issued 7 new shale permits, all of them for the same pad being drilled by EQT in Wetzel County.
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A small group of extremist left-wing Democrats in Pittsburgh are demanding Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, himself a Democrat and long-time supporter of the Marcellus Shale industry, turn against shale. Last week around 30 fossil fuel haters delivered a petition signed by 300 fellow haters to Fitzgerald’s office. He didn’t cave to the pressure, so the haters became more aggressive, going to Fitzgerald’s house yesterday in their attempts to bully him into submission. The cops told them to clear out or get arrested.
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natgas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh (see 
Two and a half years after Energy Transfer’s (ET) 24-inch Revolution Pipeline entered service in western Pennsylvania and exploded following a landslide (in September 2018), the pipeline finally returned to service in March of this year (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has done a little more fundraising to underwrite the salaries of overpaid management. The DEP fined Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) for $175,000 in a “civil penalty.” What did Olympus do that was so egregious? After a hard rain some of the rainwater got muddy on an Olympus well pad and washed down an unnamed creek in Allegheny County. Oh, and the language on a sign posted at the pad site didn’t contain some of the exact “Simon Says” language on it, including permit numbers. The shame! The horror!
Last Wednesday the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) held its Spring Meeting for 2021–in person! The meeting convened at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. The several hundred who attended got the pleasure of hearing people talk positively about oil and gas and fossil fuels in general. PIOGA President Dan Weaver said, “Don’t be afraid to stand up and speak out.” CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis said, “This industry is a noble one. You are doers that should be celebrated by all and appreciated by the informed.” God bless them both! Isn’t it great to be affirmed for the good work you do, rather than smeared and lied about?
With the Biden administration relentlessly attacking American fossil fuels with bans and over-regulation, and with foreign-backed Big Green groups relentlessly attacking American fossil fuels via lawsuits, sometimes it’s hard not to be pessimistic about our beloved industry. Every now and again we happen across a feel-good fossil fuel story with a happy ending. This is one such story. A long-fought-over wastewater injection well in Plum Boro (Allegheny County, Pittsburgh suburb) is finally open for business, having overcome all sorts of smears and slanders and lawsuits by the enviro-left. Here’s a story where the good guys win!
Here’s a new truism of life you may not have heard before: Be careful that the corporation you climb into bed with actually has a spine. Interestingly, U.S. Steel in East Pittsburgh, whom you would assume has a steel spine, doesn’t have a spine at all! Merrion Oil & Gas found that out the hard way. Merrion, a privately-owned oil and gas company headquartered in New Mexico, signed a lease with U.S. Steel to drill a series of up to 18 shale wells on the Edgar Thomson Works property in Allegheny County. Following blowback from loud-mouth anti-fossil fuel nutters, U.S. Steel decided the project isn’t worth the negative press. So they caved and canceled the lease with Merrion. Shame on U.S. Steel.
Some good news to share. GoExpedi, a “supply chain, e-commerce and analytics company” based in Houston, Texas, opened a 15,000 square foot warehouse in North Fayette earlier this week. The company provides supplies to oil, gas, and industrial companies. The company’s database offers more than 200,000 parts and supplies. This is the company’s first northeast hub.
In February 2020, Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Pat McDonnell sent a letter to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). McDonnell’s letter alleges Shell’s 97-mile, two-legged Falcon pipeline system that will carry ethane to the mighty Shell cracker plant now under construction in Beaver County, PA, “may have been constructed with defective corrosion coating protection.” It’s an explosive charge just coming to light now, more than a year later.