Allegheny County

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    Allegheny Comm. College Offers Free Scholarships for Cracker Jobs

    Last week MDN told you that Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) is operating a program in process technology that leads to an associate’s degree as preparation for a job at Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant, being built now in Beaver County (see Community College of Beaver County Preps Students for Cracker Jobs). Shell primed the education pump by offering 14 full-ride scholarships for the program. Not to be outdone by CCBC, Community College of Allegheny County is offering free tuition to Washington County residents, thanks to a $100,000 scholarship program that’s looking to build a cracker-ready workforce. Yikes! Yes, it does seem a bit odd to us that Community College of *Allegheny County* is offering free tuition to *Washington County* residents–but hey, it works for us. Students can get either a one-year mechatronics certificate, or a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The “Cracker Ready Grant” program is funded by the Remmel Foundation through PNC Charitable Trusts. Here’s the deets…
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    Civil Debate in Plum, PA re Proposed Wastewater Injection Well

    As MDN reported in July, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, is currently reviewing an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well in Plum, PA–near Pittsburgh (see New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA). PA has just a handful of wastewater injection wells–less than 10. The most recent two such projects were vigorously opposed by the municipalities where they are located–Highland Township in Elk County, and Grant Township in Indiana County. The towns eventually backed down when they were sued by the PA DEP over their illegal actions (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). Although we expected a huge push-back in Plum, if a meeting held yesterday to debate the project is an indicator, perhaps the push-back won’t be as much as we thought. Yesterday a panel of experts–both pro and con–interacted with a crowd of around 100 people in Plum Council’s chambers. One of the people on the pro side was MDN friend Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition. One of the people on the con side was Doug Shields, former Pittsburgh councilman and now paid agitator/protester for the radical Food & Water Watch. You might think there would be fireworks at such a meeting–but there wasn’t. The biggest surprise of the meeting is that there were no surprises–it was civil. No shouting. No theatrics. No loud-mouthed protesters. Such a project comes with serious questions and concerns–like earthquakes and water contamination. Those issues and more were addressed at the meeting…
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    Monroeville, PA Passes Restrictive Seismic Testing Ordinance

    Monroeville, PA (Allegheny County, suburb of Pittsburgh) voted last night to restrict seismic testing within municipal boundaries–a move meant to restrict future shale well drilling in the area by Huntley & Huntley. In a July story, MDN brought you the news that Cougar Land Services, a subcontractor working with Huntley & Huntley, is planning to conduct seismic testing in two rural areas of the municipality, including “small portions” of Monroeville’s northernmost and southernmost tips (see H&H: Seismic Testing Coming to Monroeville, Not to Oakmont). Monroeville Council voted in early August to publish a draft of its new seismic testing ordinance for 30 days of public comment, prelude to a final vote (see Monroeville, PA Close to Passing Restrictive Seismic Testing Ord.). The restrictions are meant to hassle anyone wanting to conduct seismic testing, i.e. Huntley & Huntley. Which is kind of sad, as H&H is headquartered in Monroeville. Kind of like spitting in the company’s face. Last night Monroeville hawked up a huge wad of phlegm and let a big one fly in the face of H&H. Not to worry. If the ordinance “is outside the state parameters,” H&H intends to sue. Just to add insult to injury and let the Marcellus industry know how unwelcome they truly are, the council also voted to put a new ordinance on the agenda that pretty much blocks all Marcellus Shale drilling throughout the municipality…
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    Penn Hills, PA Grudgingly Votes 5-0 to Allow H&H Seismic Testing

    What a difference two months–and the very real threat of a lawsuit–can make. At the end of July Penn Hills (in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh) voted to ban seismic testing in their community as a symbolic action “meant to send a message to companies that the municipality is against oil and gas activities on Penn Hills property.” Driller Huntley & Huntley has hired Texas-based Geokinetics to conduct seismic testing in the region and had wanted to conduct testing on 37 municipal-owned properties in Penn Hills, about 390 acres total. But Penn Hills resisted. So H&H’s attorneys at Steptoe & Johnson sent a “we’ll sue your rear-ends” letter and that got the attention of the symbolizers. Last night another vote was taken. This time it was 5 to 0 in favor of allowing seismic testing after all. The mayor (grumbling) said the municipality did it’s best to resist…
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    Babst Calland Adds 6 New Lawyers in Pittsburgh O&G Practice

    Babst Calland is one of the biggest and best energy law firms in the northeast, with its headquarters in Pittsburgh. MDN is a long-time fan and reader of the company’s Shale Energy Law Blog. One of the ways you know whether the shale industry is getting busier, or less busy, is to watch the law firms that practice in the shale space. Here’s a bit of good news to share. Babst Calland has, in one fell swoop, added six new members to its energy practice–all of them with experience and expertise in oil and gas. Yes, the firm already has some 130 attorneys on staff. Adding another 6 energy lawyers boosts the size of the firm’s headcount another 5%. That’s pretty significant–and evidence that the Marcellus/Utica shale space is heating up. Here’s BC’s announcement of who just joined up…
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    Findlay Twp Signs Deal w/Range to Drill Under Town Park, $3K/Acre

    Findlay Township (Allegheny County, PA, west of Pittsburgh) has just signed a deal with Range Resources to allow drilling under (not on) the towns 61-acre Clinton Park. Terms of the deal: Findlay gets a $3,000 per acre signing bonus and when the gas begins to flow, an 18% royalty. That means Findlay will get a nice, fat check for $183,000 in the next 90 days. The lease has been a long time in coming. Town supervisors worked on a deal five years ago, but then drilling slowed down and the deal was “put on the shelf.” Range will actually drill under the property from the Seibel Farm, which sits just over the border in Beaver County. The board of supervisors voted unanimously to approve the deal…
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    Monroeville, PA Close to Passing Restrictive Seismic Testing Ord.

    Monroeville, PA (suburb of Pittsburgh) is making moves to restrict seismic testing within municipal boundaries–a move meant to restrict future shale well drilling in the area by Huntley & Huntley. In a July story, MDN brought you the news that Cougar Land Services, a subcontractor working with Huntley & Huntley, is planning to conduct seismic testing in two rural areas of the municipality, including “small portions” of Monroeville’s northernmost and southernmost tips (see H&H: Seismic Testing Coming to Monroeville, Not to Oakmont). Monroeville Council recently voted to publish a draft of its new seismic testing ordinance for 30 days of public comment, which means they intend to adopt it following that period. The restrictions are meant to hassle anyone wanting to conduct seismic testing, i.e. Huntley & Huntley. Which is kind of sad, as H&H is headquartered in Monroeville. Kind of like spitting in the company’s face. Perhaps H&H should consider moving? At any rate, H&H says they are reviewing the ordinance now and if it “is outside the state parameters,” H&H will litigate…
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    ‘Father of Marcellus’ Weighs in on Proposed Plum, PA Injection Well

    As MDN reported in July, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, is currently reviewing an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well in Plum, PA–near Pittsburgh (see New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA). PA has just a handful of wastewater injection wells–less than 10 of them. The most recent two such projects were vigorously opposed by the municipalities where they are located–Highland Township in Elk County, and Grant Township in Indiana County. The towns eventually backed down when they were sued by the PA DEP over their illegal actions (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). We expect the project in Plum will also encounter stiff opposition. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review asked Terry Engelder, the now-retired Penn State University professor and geologist who first discovered the potential of the Marcellus (called “the Father of the Marcellus Shale”) to offer his opinion on the injection well proposal for Plum. Engelder’s advice to Penneco? “[B]e a little bit cautious because [you] don’t really know how the rock will respond to this foreign fluid”…
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    Shell Needs 450 Welders to Work on Ethane Cracker Plant

    Good news if you’re a welder, or interested in a welding career, and you live in southwestern Pennsylvania. Shell needs you. Shell is in the process of building a massive, $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (northwest of Pittsburgh). Cracker plants have lots of pipes that need to be welded as the plant goes up. While these jobs are not long-term, as in “the rest of you career,” they’re long enough, likely lasting several years. Steamfitters Local 449 is right now recruiting new apprentices, offering a free 17-week apprentice training program. Local 449 is holding an open house this Saturday…
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    New Frack Wastewater Well on the Way in Allegheny County, PA

    The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, will hold a hearing next Wednesday in Plum, PA (Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh) on whether or not to approve an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well. Typically when a hearing like this is held, it’s an indicator that the EPA will approve the project. However, just because the EPA approves it doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. After an EPA approval, the application then goes to the PA State Dept. of Environmental Protection where it goes through another round of reviews–and likely more public hearings. The stuff getting disposed of, which we generically call wastewater, is technically called brine, because of it’s salty/mineral-ly composition. Brine is naturally occurring water from the depths that comes out of oil and gas wells for years after they are drilled. Because of the high concentration of minerals in the water, it either must go through a rigorous recycling process, or get disposed of via an injection well. OH has more than a hundred such wells. WV has a few dozen. PA has less than a dozen, due to the geology needed. Every new injection well in PA is a big deal, including this one…
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    PennFuture Tries to Bully Allegheny County re Lease Revenue

    The true colors of PennFuture, a radical anti-drilling group, are now revealed for all to see. In June, MDN warned you that Big Green groups like PennFuture are attempting to “weaponize” a recent PA Supreme Court ruling (see PA Anti Strategy: Weaponize Recent Court Ruling Against Shale Dev). The Supremes, in a sharply divided decision, sided with a virulent anti-drilling group, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, against the state, saying that any revenue generated from leasing and drilling on *state-owned land* must be used solely for conservation and the environment (see PA Supreme Court Hands Antis Partial Victory re State Land Drilling). The decision is based on the Oil and Gas Lease Fund Act, which states any revenue from oil and gas leases (and signing bonuses) generated for the Commonwealth (that is, for the state of Pennsylvania) “shall be placed in a special fund to be known as the ‘Oil and Gas Lease Fund’ which fund shall be exclusively used for conservation, recreation, dams, or flood control or to match any Federal grants which may be made for any of the aforementioned purposes” (see Radical Enviros Now the Tail Wagging the PA DCNR Dog re Funding). Radical groups have wasted no time. PennFuture is now bullying Allegheny County (Pittsburgh area) by saying any revenue raised by leasing county land for drilling, like parks and airports, must be spent on Big Green causes groups like PennFuture approves of, and not anything else. Which is ludicrous. However, they are citing the recent Supreme Court decision and using it as a bludgeon to force a change in the way lease revenues are spent. In other words, those revenues are now a poison pill. If municipalities like counties and local towns can’t spend lease money the way they want, it removes the incentive to lease those properties in the first place…
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    H&H: Seismic Testing Coming to Monroeville, Not to Oakmont

    In June MDN brought you news about a move by the Borough of Oakmont (suburb close to Pittsburgh, northeast side of the city) to regulate seismic testing in the Borough, essentially to prevent it from happening by Huntley & Huntley (see Pittsburgh Suburb Moves to Regulate Seismic Testing by H&H). Not long after that story ran, MDN was contacted by H&H CEO Keith Mangini to set the record straight. H&H never intended to do any seismic testing in Oakmont. According to Mangini, Oakmont “is just too congested and one could not possibly have ever designed a seismic program as such.” H&H’s land agents were making the rounds, and Oakmont was on the list (for full transparency). But the company never had plans to test there. So we found it curious to run across an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stating that Oakmont has adopted seismic testing restrictions, and because of it, H&H has now “dropped its plans” for testing in Oakmont. The Post-Gazette gets it wrong again. There never were plans to test there! However, H&H is beginning to run seismic tests in the nearby town of Monroeville…
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    Pittsburgh Suburb Moves to Regulate Seismic Testing by H&H

    One of the first steps before a company decides to drill for shale gas (or oil), is to conduct a seismic survey–bouncing sound waves through the rock layers a mile or more down–to “see” what the geology looks like. It helps drillers target locations with the best possibility of success, which is a good thing for everyone (no unnecessary “misses” when drilling a well). One of objectives of the original Act 13 law passed in PA in 2012 was to provide uniform zoning ordinances for the oil and gas industry, so drillers don’t have to work with a crazy quilt patchwork of zoning requirements in every new town in which they drill. That failed when seven selfish towns filed a lawsuit that ultimately went to the PA Supreme Court, where the towns won the right to pass their own zoning regulations for oil and gas drilling (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). So now drillers have to face different standards/restrictions/rules in every town where they drill. Thank you seven selfish towns! Huntley and Huntley is one of those drillers. In May MDN told you that H&H is conducting seismic surveys in Westmoreland County (see Huntley & Huntley Targets New Drilling in Westmoreland County, PA). H&H now wants to conduct seismic surveys in neighboring Allegheny County, in the Borough of Oakmont (suburb close to Pittsburgh, northeast side of the city). Because of H&H’s interest, Oakmont has (surprise!) proposed a new seismic survey ordinance. We have a copy of the 9-page ordinance below. Oakmont will hold a special meeting on July 3rd to discuss it…
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    PennEnergy: Core of Marcellus Extends Under & North of Pittsburgh

    Green and Washington counties, south of Pittsburgh (Allegheny County), have long been considered the “core” of Marcellus Shale play in southwestern PA. The wells there get GREAT results–a mix of dry and wet gas (wet gas being natural gas liquids, like ethane, propane and butane). But one company, PennEnergy Resources, says the data shows that the same great Marcellus deposits are located underneath the great City of Pittsburgh itself, and in the towns north of the city (Allegheny County). And PennEnergy can prove it, with their own well results. Does that mean Pittsburgh itself may one day get drilled under?! Don’t hold your breath on drilling under Pittsburgh any time soon. However, according to Greg Muse, chief operating officer for PennEnergy, there’s plenty of gas to be drilled just north of the city–and the deposits are just as good as those south of the city. Muse also said PennEnergy is looking to either take the company public, merge with another company, or sell…
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    Anti 2fer: Nutters Rally & March at 2 Marcellus Events in Pittsburgh

    It’s kind of humorous when a small group of insane anti-fossil fuelers participate in a march that they call “Stop the Madness.” Kind of meta, dontcha think? An anti reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tagged along (who could tell the difference?) to “report” on a group of “about 100 protesters from 11 organizations” who rallied and marched from one Marcellus event to another being held in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The protesters, dressed in clothes made from petrochemicals, wearing sneakers made from petrochemicals, and holding signs made from petrochemicals (after arriving at the “rally” and “march” in fossil fuel-powered transportation), rallied outside of the Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction conference–to protest petrochemicals, and then marched across town to the convention center to protest fracking outside of the DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event. The group was a mish mash of the usual suspects–hard left nutters who pop up again and again to grab a headline bashing fossil fuels, before scarpering home using the fossil fuels they just bashed, going to houses and apartments heated and cooled using fossil fuels. Typical…
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    DUG East Coming to Pittsburgh June 20-22

    If you’re deeply involved, or even peripherally involved, with the Marcellus/Utica, there are two events each year that you should attend. One of those events is DUG East (hosted by Hart Energy), and the other is Shale Insight (hosted by the Marcellus Shale Coalition). DUG East will be held next week in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately MDN will not be able to attend this year (we did last year). But we have reviewed the agenda and we can highly recommend next week’s event. Next week you will find out what’s working, what’s not and what’s next for upstream producers and midstream operators in the Marcellus and Utica–the biggest natural gas-producing region in the United States…
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