Allegheny County

Allegheny County | Pennsylvania

Allegheny, PA Councilman Reveals Why He Voted Yes on Park Lease
November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

Pretty soon drilling will begin under (not on) Deer Lakes Park in Allegheny County, PA. After months and months of anti-drillers showing up at county council meetings to drone on and on about the disaster that awaits us all if drilling takes place a mile below the earth underneath the 1,180-acre park, council members voted to approve the plan (see Allegheny Cty Approves Deer Lakes Park Lease, Antis Throw Tantrum). The deal gives the county a $4.7 million signing bonus and 18% royalties. Sweet. It’s not often you get a full explanation from one of the politicians who faced the droning anti-drillers and then voted in favor of a project like this–but we have such a unique opportunity. Councilman Tom Baker, who cast one of two deciding votes in favor of the project, recently published his thinking and explanation for why he cast a “yes” vote for the Deer Lakes Park deal…
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Allegheny County | Butler County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania

East Allegheny, PA Leases School Property for Marcellus Drilling
November 11, 2014November 11, 2014

Earth to Mars (PA): To the anti-drilling parents in the Mars School District in Butler County, cast your eyes to the south in neighboring Allegheny County. The school district in East Allegheny, PA has just signed a lease with EQT to drill shale wells on district-owned property–in one case 500 feet away from the middle school! Now what was that about a well pad 3/4 of a mile from a Mars school–on non-school property–that has you so enraged? (see Rex Gets Permits to Drill Near Martian School, Antis Apoplectic) Back here on earth, the East Allegheny school board unanimously voted last night to lease 170.28 acres of district-owned land (in 14 parcels) to EQT. The terms are…
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Allegheny County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron Scaling Back in the Marcellus/Utica? Maybe
November 10, 2014November 10, 2014

What a difference just a year or two makes–at least in the plans of a major oil and gas company like Chevron. It wasn’t so long ago that Chevron (2011) that Chevron bought out Atlas Energy and along with it 622,000 acres of Marcellus Shale leases. Chevron then picked up another 228,000 acres of Marcellus leases from Chief Oil & Gas. A little over a year ago Chevron got an initial approval to build a massive new 350,000 square foot headquarters in Moon Twp, PA, near Pittsburgh. Then the first red flag–Chevron put that project on hold in July of this year (see Chevron Puts Moon Twp, PA Office Building Project on Hold). Now a second, big red flag: Chevron is “restructuring” its northeast business unit. When a company throws around words like “become more efficient” and “long-term growth” that, frankly, does not foreshadow good things for some of the 700+ people who work in the Appalachia unit…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Anti-Drillers Protest Steelers Game Over Breast Cancer Donation
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

How small and mean, and frankly stupid, can anti-drillers get? Pretty small and mean and stupid. On Sunday, a handful of anti-drillers protested outside of Heinz Field where the Pittsburgh Steelers were set to play the Indianapolis Colts–there to protest oilfield services company Baker Hughes handing over a check for $100,000 at half-time to the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research (the world’s foremost such organization). We wrote about these nutters previously (see Liberal Group Calls Baker Hughes Breast Cancer Effort “Pink Sh*t”). There is no connection between shale drilling and breast cancer, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good protest, right?…
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Allegheny County | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Wood County

Odebrect Cracker Aims to Attract Chemical/Plastics Manufacturing
October 16, 2014October 16, 2014

David Peebles, Odebrecht’s vice president of business development and the guy working to make the $4 billion ethane cracker and petrochemical plant project in Parkersburg, WV a reality, gave some great insights into just how vast and complex a process building that plant is. Speaking yesterday at the Penn State Natural Gas Utilization Conference in Southpointe, PA, Peebles said…
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Allegheny County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Odebrecht | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wood County

A Present for Attendees of Shale Gas Insight – Peebles Column
September 24, 2014September 24, 2014

Just in time for the attendees of Shale Insight in Pittsburgh to read, a guest commentary was published in today’s edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by David Peebles, the man helping to build a $3 billion ethane cracker plant in Parkersburg, WV. David waxes eloquent on shale, ethane and energy security…
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About MDN | Allegheny County | Meetings | Pennsylvania

MDN to Attend Shale Insight Next Week in Pittsburgh
September 19, 2014September 25, 2014

A shout out to MDN readers who may be attending the always-excellent Shale Insight conference ~~next~~ this week in Pittsburgh. If you’re going, drop MDN editor Jim Willis an email (jim@marcellusdrilling.com). He would like to meet you at the show!

Once again, as in past years, Jim will be hanging out at the NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) booth. If you haven’t considered going, we give Shale Insight our highest recommendation as the premier show of its kind–covering all things Marcellus (and Utica). Give it a look: //shaleinsight.com. See you at the show!
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA | Washington County

SWPA Drillers Seriously Underreport Drill Cuttings at Landfills
September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

We’re not quite sure what to make of this story. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has trended anti-drilling in recent months, has an article that claims both EQT and Range Resources, among the largest of Marcellus drillers, are underreporting the volume of drill cuttings they send to area landfills in southwest Pennsylvania. EQT is by far the biggest “offender” in the PPG article. According to documents filed with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), EQT estimates it sent 21 tons of drill cuttings to landfills in 2013. According to hard copy records from six landfills in SWPA, EQT actually sent 95,000 tons of drill cuttings! Yikes, that’s quite a discrepancy…
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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Venango County | Wastewater

PA Driller Slapped with $250K Fine for Dumping Brine, Erosion
August 27, 2014August 27, 2014

UPDATE: An alert MDN reader from Venango County with industry knowledge contacted MDN to say he very much doubts Henderson has done any Marcellus Shale drilling. Henderson’s history is as a shallow/conventional driller and not a shale driller. Thanks for that clarification!

William Henderson, the president and operator of three companies–Titusville Oil & Gas Associates Inc., Eagle Line Corporation, and Olympia Oil Services Inc.–has been fined $250,000 by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for violations of the Clean Stream Law, Solid Waste Management Act, and Oil and Gas Act. The DEP says Henderson and his companies have caused environmental damage from illegal discharges of production fluids (brine), for causing erosion, and more. The violations occurred from 2010 to 2014. It’s not clear to MDN that any of the violations were from Marcellus Shale drilling activities, but it seems likely. Here’s what the DEP said, along with information not provided by the DEP that MDN has dug up on Henderson from 2011…
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Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Sky is the Limit: CONSOL Begins Drilling at Pittsburgh Airport
August 26, 2014August 26, 2014

Yesterday was a special day at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT). Yesterday CONSOL Energy, winner of the right to drill on airport property, broke ground in a big ceremony that included Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and CONSOL Energy President and CEO Nick DeIuliis. A host of other politicians and business leaders were also present. CONSOL previously paid PIT a $50 million signing bonus, after initially floating a lowball offer of $20.8 million for a signing bonus, plus 18% royalties (see CONSOL Increases Bonus Offer to Pgh Airport by 2.4 Times to $50M). CONSOL later raised their price and won the contract, which will eventually pay out something like $500 million to PIT. Beyond drilling 45 wells in the Marcellus layer, CONSOL has the option to later drill even more wells in the Utica and Upper Devonian layers at PIT. In other words, the sky’s the limit for both CONSOL and PIT…
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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

PA Congressman Rips EPA over “War on Coal” at Pittsburgh Hearing
August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Murphy delivered a sterling statement at a field hearing held by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Pittsburgh last Friday. The EPA is doing a road show to take comments on their new, very restrictive regulations that are part of so-called climate change regulations (how stupid is it that we say the climate changes–of course it does!). Murphy’s comments address the Obama EPA’s war on coal. That what he calls it, that’s what everyone (but Obama and the EPA) calls it. We bring you his testimony before the EPA because (a) it takes aim at an out-of-control EPA, an issue near and dear to our hearts for lo these many years, and (b) because the EPA won’t stop with coal. They’re coming for natural gas next, after they’ve eliminated coal from the picture. You can bank on it…
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Allegheny County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron Puts Moon Twp, PA Office Building Project on Hold
July 30, 2014July 30, 2014

In February 2011 Chevron completed the purchase/buyout of Atlas Energy and with it, some 622,000 acres of Marcellus Shale leases. Atlas was located in Moon Township, PA (Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh). In September 2011, Chevron picked up another 228,000 acres–this time from Chief Oil & Gas (see Chevron Continues Aggressive Expansion into Marcellus Shale in PA – Buys Leases for Additional 228K Acres from Chief Oil & Gas). In May 2013 it was rumored that Chevron would build a new, massive 350,000 square foot headquarters in Moon Twp, a rumor that was confirmed when Chevron gained initial approval for the new facility in September 2013 (see Chevron Wins 1st Approval for New Regional HQ Near Pittsburgh). Chevron has just put those plans on hold…
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Air Quality | Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Attack of the Drones: Using UAVs to Make Marcellus Safer?
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Drones–model airplanes and model helicopters with cameras (or bombs) strapped onto them are all the rage. Even in shale-land! A small start-up company in Pittsburgh is manufacturing quadcopters (a model helicopter with four rotors) that can be used to fly along pipeline routes, carrying equipment to sniff out potential methane leaks. According the the inventor, it’s a lot less expensive than flying a real helicopter along a pipeline or sending people by foot…
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Allegheny County | Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

More Housing for Marcellus/Utica on the Way in Pittsburgh Region
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

A New Jersey-based real estate investment company, UMH Properties, Inc., announced yesterday they’ve purchased four manufactured home communities in the Pittsburgh, PA area for $12.2 million. The reason? To expand in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company plans to build homes for sale and for rent to those who work in the Marcellus and Utica Shale…
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Allegheny County | Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

PTI Welcomes First Class of Welding Associate Degree Students
July 16, 2014July 16, 2014

Responding to the urgent and ongoing need for skilled welders in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, Pittsburgh Technical Institute announced yesterday a new associates degree in welding to train pipe and structural welders. The first class in the new degree program will begin on July 21 and another cohort will begin in October. PTI says they expect both classes to be filled to capacity…
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Allegheny County | Energy Services | Fluid Delivery Solutions (FDS) | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania

3 Investment Cos Buy Fluid Delivery Solutions – Terms Not Disclosed
July 7, 2014July 7, 2014

Three private equity companies (investment firms) announced last week they have acquired a majority interest in Fluid Delivery Solutions (FDS), an oilfield water management company that provides fresh water transfer and storage for drillers in the Marcellus, Utica and other shale plays. Terms of the buyout were not disclosed, however, FDS’ management and staff will remain in place. Essentially FDS has transferred ownership to investors with deep pockets but have kept the keys to the company…
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