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I’ve Been Workin’ on the (Short Line) Railroad, All the Live-Long Day

More feel-good stories of how the Marcellus Shale has almost single-handedly revived the short line railroad business. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has an excellent roundup piece that covers a number of short line railroads that have gotten a second chance because of the Marcellus. The article begins with this story about the Allegheny Valley Railroad company, located in a Pittsburgh suburb:

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Why the Blood Feud Between Jesse White & Range Resources?

It’s evident to anyone who follows the news out of Pittsburgh that there is a blood feud, or grudge match—choose your metaphor—between Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White (from western PA) and Range Resources. It wasn’t always that way. Just a few short years ago Rep. White and folks at Range were pals. Not anymore.

Range says White is the one who has changed in this relationship and they’ve released a number of emails as “proof.” The friction seemed to start when Range turned down a request by White for a plane ride to the 2011 Super Bowl…

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Duquesne U Anti-Drilling “Study” Based on 14 Interviews

Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) is hosting a conference on the effects of shale gas drilling in a “Boom and Bust” conference being held today and tomorrow at the university. Although the conference flies under the banner of “science” and will share the results of a “scientific study,” it is any but. It’s about the findings of a so-called study that interviewed 14 hand-picked anti-drilling women about their feelings and attitudes toward drilling. They were interviewed twice each.

So much for scientific inquiry at Duquesne.

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South Fayette, PA Thumbs Nose at PUC over Zoning Review

Although parts of the zoning provisions in Pennsylvania’s new Act 13 Marcellus drilling law have been challenged in court and oral arguments were heard in PA Supreme Court earlier this week, there are other parts of the Act 13 law—zoning parts—that were not overturned and are not up for discussion. According to the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with interpreting whether or not a town is in violation of those remaining sections, the town of South Fayette in Allegheny County is in violation and unless they revise their zoning laws, they won’t get impact fee revenue this year.

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MSC Celebrates 2012 Accomplishments, Looks Forward to 2013

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), headquartered in Pittsburgh, is (MDN would argue) the Marcellus Shale’s premier information and advocacy organization. They are top-flight professionals in every sense. MDN editor Jim Willis attended the MSC’s SHALE GAS INSIGHT conference in Philly in September—one of the best industry events of any type he’s ever attended (protesters and all!).

Last night the MSC held its annual membership meeting at Carnegie Music Hall to celebrate and reflect on the accomplishments of 2012 and to look forward to 2013. And what a list of accomplishments it was! The MSC issued this press release about last night’s gathering:

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Pittsburgh City Council Floats New Law to Allow Fracking

It seems since former Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields left that august body the other council members have had a change of heart on fracking. Shields was the ringleader who helped ram through a ban on fracking in the city in 2010. He also tried to get a ban permanently written into the city’s charter, an effort that failed (see this MDN story).

Realizing the ban passed in 2010 is likely illegal and will be overturned, council members are now considering new legislation to allow limited, strictly zoned fracking inside city limits:

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PA Towns Complain about PUC Act 13 Zoning Review

The Pennsylvania townships that sued the state over the newly enacted Act 13 shale drilling law are feeling a little picked on at the moment. The lawsuit brought by seven townships earlier this year is about to go before the PA Supreme Court in a few weeks (see this MDN story). The case revolves around the right of local municipalities to pass and enforce their own zoning laws with respect to oil and gas drilling within their borders. The new Act 13 law provides a consistent set of zoning rules for all townships, replacing and superseding local laws. Some towns in western PA didn’t like it and sued.

Under Act 13, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) is empowered to review and decide whether or not towns are living up to the provisions of Act 13. If they are in violation, the towns won’t receive money from the new impact fee collected under Act 13 (part of a $200 million pot for this year). The current bone of contention is that the PUC is moving forward with reviews of zoning law in select towns, including four of the seven towns that brought the lawsuit. And those towns don’t like it—not one little bit.

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Drilling Inside Pittsburgh City Limits?

Anti-drilling Pittsburgh Councilman Patrick Dowd, one of nine people on City Council that voted to enact a drilling ban in Pittsburgh in 2010, is introducing new legislation that he hopes will make drilling so difficult in the city, drillers won’t bother. But wait, didn’t you just say there’s a ban? Yep. Which means Councilman Dowd is seriously concerned that the ban will be ruled illegal once a case now before PA Supreme Court is ruled on later this year (the “Act 13” case, see this MDN story).

In preparation for a ruling against the Pittsburgh ban, Dowd and City Council want to have Plan B ready to go—restrict any possible drilling to as few locations as possible (not that drillers would want to drill inside city limits anyway). Hence the new legislation from Dowd.

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South Fayette, PA Accuses PUC of Persecuting Them over Act 13

South Fayette in Allegheny County, PA is one of the seven towns that sued the state of PA over the new Act 13 drilling law that stripped away local municipalities’ ability to zone for oil and gas development. The Act 13 law substitutes a new “one size fits all” statewide version of zoning. The Act 13 lawsuit will be heard by the PA State Supreme Court in mid-October.

A South Fayette resident requested the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with reviewing and determining whether or not local municipalities are in compliance with Act 13 with regard to their zoning laws, asked the PUC to investigate, which they are doing (see this MDN story). A resident of Robinson Township also asked the PUC to investigate that town’s ordinances, making Robinson the second case of PUC review (see this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story). Attorneys for South Fayette have responded to the review by accusing the PUC of “professional persecution,” “malicious intent,” and taking an “aggressive stance” against the town.

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Pittsburgh Enviro Services Company Heckmann Merging, Moving

Heckmann Corporation, a publicly traded environmental services company with a major footprint in Pittsburgh and throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, announced on Tuesday they are merging with Power Fuels, a privately held environmental services company based in North Dakota, the largest such firm in the mighty Bakken Shale. The merger puts Heckmann well on the path to their stated goal of becoming the country’s largest environmental services company.

Soon after the announcement, it was disclosed on a conference call to analysts that the new headquarters for Heckmann would be moving from Pittsburgh to Scottsdale, Arizona. That announcement has created a fair amount of angst in Pittsburgh. However, Heckmann says they “anticipate” no layoffs in the Marcellus region:

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Pittsburgh Businesses Rapidly Expand from Marcellus Shale

It’s a story that just keeps repeating: How the Marcellus Shale has led to businesses expanding, adding employees (i.e. jobs), providing more tax revenue to communities and ultimately an improvement in the standard of living for the entire community.

Here’s yet another story from the thousands of similar stories that abound in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. This one is a trucking company in southwestern Pennsylvania:

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South Fayette, PA First Town Challenged Under Act 13

Pennsylvania towns that have ordinances conflicting with the new state drilling law known as Act 13 run the risk of not receiving their portion of a new impact fee being collected by the state—unless they revise their laws to not conflict with Act 13. The first town to be challenged under this provision is South Fayette, in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh area). A resident of South Fayette wrote to the Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with policing compliance with Act 13, to complain that several town ordinances violate Act 13.

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Pittsburgh College – Certificate in Energy Land Administration

The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh has developed a new certificate program in Land Administration in cooperation with drilling company EQT Corp. Land administrators make an average annual salary of $60,000 and work in an energy company’s land records, division orders or contracts area to protect the company’s oil and gas assets (leases, rights-of-way and wells).

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