Juniata County

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    PA DEP Fines ME2 Pipeline Another $86K for Violations in 4 Counties

    Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline is the gift that keeps on giving…for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP keeps assessing fines for alleged construction violations that happened a year or more ago. This time the DEP has fined ME2 for supposed violations happening in early 2020 in four Pennsylvania counties: Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, and Lebanon. The problems were “inadvertent returns” of drilling mud in several swamps (“wetlands”) and creeks. Yes, ME2 is once again up Snitz Creek…
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    Central PA Counties form Co-op to Expand NatGas Service Locally

    Juniata County just became the fifth central Pennsylvania county to join the SEDA-COG Natural Gas Cooperative. SEDA-COG stands for Susquehanna Economic Development Association – Council of Governments. Collectively, SEDA-COG is a group of 11 central PA counties. The other four counties that belong to the Natural Gas Cooperative include Clinton, Centre, Mifflin, and Perry. So what’s the big deal about this group? In 2013 MDN reported that SEDA-COG was working on an initiative to bring natural gas to more residents and businesses in their collective 11-county region (see Central PA Counties Cooperate on Infrastructure for More Gas Use). That cooperative effort eventually, in early 2016, gave birth to the SEDA-COG Natural Gas Cooperative group. Between 2014-2016 SEDA-COG conducted two studies to identify key targeted investment areas for establishment or expansion of natural gas service in its 11 member counties. Earlier this year, they issued a final report (full copy below). The report outlines ways in which the counties can cooperate to bring new gas infrastructure (distribution pipelines) to the region–delivering gas to homes and businesses. It is local government at its best, putting their heads together to benefit the entire region. The great news is that these central PA counties either have local shale wells, or are situated close to abundant shale production in nearby counties. Now it’s just a matter of getting folks hooked up to the gas…
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    Will Shale Drilling Come to…Juniata County, PA?

    Having tracked Marcellus (and Utica) drilling since 2009, MDN is familiar with all of the counties in the northeast that have had or are seeing active shale drilling. Some counties have had just a few wells, but many counties have had a lot of wells. So it’s always interesting when we run across a county that hasn’t had any active drilling but believes, for some reason, they may see it soon. Such is the case with Juniata County, PA. We had to look it up on a map–where the heck is that county?! Juniata is in central PA, more or less. Not too far from Centre County (where Penn State is headquartered). Juniata has to rank as one of (perhaps THE) most rural counties in all of PA, with a population of under 25,000 people. Recently a landowner from Tioga County, PA–where they’ve seen a LOT of Marcellus drilling–was a guest speaker at the Juniata County Association of Township Officials. He had some good advice for Juniata residents with respect to what to expect if shale drilling comes to the county…
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