Lackawanna County

CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania

Trucking Co Building CNG Station in Scranton, PA for New Fleet
December 15, 2014December 15, 2014

C.A.T. Inc. (formerly Canadian American Transportation) is taking the plunge. They’ve decided to convert nearly a third of their tractor trailer fleet (100 out of 325) to compressed natural gas (CNG). C.A.T. is leasing 100 new CNG tractors from Ryder for their national fleet. In order to ensure those trucks can fuel up, they’ve contracted with U.S. Oil to build five new GAIN® Clean Fuel compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. One of those stations will be located in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–in Scranton, PA–using clean, abundant Marcellus Shale gas to keep the big rigs rolling…
Read More “Trucking Co Building CNG Station in Scranton, PA for New Fleet”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

UGI Turns on New Pipeline for Cabot in NEPA
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

In May MDN told you that UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI (a utility company in northeast PA) would build two new pipelines in northeast PA for $80 million that will allow them to transport cheap, abundant, locally mined natural gas from Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County to residents in the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (see UGI Energy Building 2 New Pipelines in NEPA for Cabot O&G). Today UGI announced one of those pipelines is now completed and flowing cheap Marcellus Shale gas to NEPA residents, which will result in lower rates. The other will be completed in the spring of next year. Now what was that about the “lucky few landowners” who are the only ones to benefit from Marcellus Shale gas?…
Read More “UGI Turns on New Pipeline for Cabot in NEPA”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Newspaper Takes Another Swipe at Local Landfill/Cuttings
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

This past summer MDN brought you the story of Keystone Sanitary Landfill and their request to expand the landfill skyward (see DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study). Keystone Landfill, on the outskirts of Scranton, PA, is the state’s third busiest landfill. They accept a lot of Marcellus drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt). A consultant for Keystone, Albert Magnotta, recently told Scranton’s ~~anti-drilling rag~~ the Times-Tribune that residents from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area will run out of places to dump their trash in five years if Keystone is not allowed to expand. So the Times-Tribune found another landfill not too far away, Alliance Sanitary Landfill in Taylor, PA–owned by the country’s largest garbage collection/dumping service (Waste Management)–to dispute Keystone’s claim. The Times-Tribune would love nothing better than to close down Keystone (a privately-owned local company) and their ability to accept drill cuttings, by assisting a nationally-owned competitor…
Read More “Scranton Newspaper Takes Another Swipe at Local Landfill/Cuttings”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant
October 31, 2014October 31, 2014

More than a year ago MDN told you about a new natural gas-powered electric generating plant being planned for Jessup (Lackawanna County, PA (see Marcellus Gas to Power Combined-Cycle Electricity Plant in NE PA). Invenergy, the company that will build the plant (and North America’s largest wind power generator), says the Jessup plant is still “years down the road.” But they’ve just taken the first step on that road by purchasing 80 acres of old coal property…
Read More “Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Scranton Landfill Gets Permission to Process Liquid Frack Waste
July 16, 2014July 16, 2014

MDN has long covered stories about PA’s third busiest landfill, the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, near Scranton. Why? Because they accept drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from shale drilling. In March 2012 the landfill was allowed to increase their daily intake of Marcellus drill cuttings from 600 to 1,000 tons per day (see Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved). Then in October 2012 they filed to double capacity again, from 1,000 to 2,000 tons per day (see Scranton Landfill Wants to Double (Again) Shale Cuttings). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection approved that request as well. In April of this year Keystone filed a request that they be allowed to accept liquid fracking waste–so they can separate and landfill the solids, and return the water to the driller to be reused. That request has just been approved too…
Read More “Scranton Landfill Gets Permission to Process Liquid Frack Waste”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation

DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

The third busiest landfill in Pennsylvania is the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, located on the outskirts of Scranton. The Keystone Landfill accepts a great deal of drill cuttings–leftover dirt and rock from Marcellus drilling. MDN has long chronicled Keystone’s fight to first accept and then expand the landfill (see Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved and Scranton Landfill Wants to Double (Again) Shale Cuttings). Local officials objected to the expansion but eventually gave up (see Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill). The Keystone Landfill is back with another request. But it’s not to expand outward–this time they want to expand skyward…
Read More “DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | UGI Energy Services

Cabot O&G to Supply NatGas for All of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
May 12, 2014May 12, 2014

As we pointed out in January, UGI, a large northeast Pennsylvania utility (and midstream) company persevered against anti-progress, anti-drillers and eventually won and built the Auburn pipeline (see UGI Wins! Auburn Pipeline with Marcellus Gas in NEPA Goes Live). As we pointed out last week, UGI is building two more pipelines that will increase their delivery capacity by another 300 million cubic feet per day–all of it being supplied by Cabot Oil & Gas from Susquehanna County (see UGI Energy Building 2 New Pipelines in NEPA for Cabot O&G).

Now comes word from UGI that by this fall, “most” of the natural gas supplied and used by consumers in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area will be Marcellus Shale gas supplied by those two new pipelines. That means, in essence, that a single company–Cabot Oil & Gas–drilling in a single northeastern PA county–Susquehanna–will be supplying enough gas to meet all of the needs of NEPA’s largest metro area. Very cool. Ever cooler–Cabot has plenty of gas leftover to pipeline to New York, New England and other points in the U.S. and beyond. Behold the miracle of safe, effective and efficient hydraulic fracturing…
Read More “Cabot O&G to Supply NatGas for All of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Oil & Gas Does it Again – $2.5 Million Gift to Lackawanna College
April 11, 2014April 11, 2014

Everyone knows how mercenary and evil those oil and gas companies are. They’re just in it for the buck. Rape and pillage poor Mother Earth–pollute the air, pollute the water, pollute everything! Those shale drillers are actually some of the worst, ya know. That’s what the anti-drilling left would have you believe. That’s the meme constantly drummed by mainstream media. Throw in a “Halliburton loophole” and “Dimock” or maybe a “Pavillion, Wyoming” and you’re good to go with the typical mainstream coverage of our industry. Just a teeny, tiny problem…none of it is true.

MDN previously told you about Cabot Oil & Gas’ largess in helping raise $4.4 million for a rural hospital in Montrose, PA (see Cabot Effort Raises $4.4 Million for PA Physicians Clinic). Of that $4.4 million, Cabot themselves donated $2.2 million to the kitty. That is serious money folks. And now, Cabot has done it again. Today, if you’re reading this on April 11, 2014, Cabot announced a $2.5 million gift to Lackawanna College (Scranton, PA). The gift will directly fund the School of Petroleum & Natural Gas located in New Milford, PA. It marks the largest single private donation in the history of Lackawanna College. Kudos to Cabot! Cabot is a sterling company–one of the backbones of the Marcellus Shale, the biggest (and best) shale play in the United States…
Read More “Cabot Oil & Gas Does it Again – $2.5 Million Gift to Lackawanna College”
Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | UGI Energy Services

NatGas Replaces Coal to Generate Electricity in Steamtown USA
March 18, 2014March 18, 2014

Coal has been a fixture in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area for generations. It is so much a part of the fabric of the community that there is a National Park smack in the middle of downtown Scranton called Steamtown National Historic Site. Railroad engines used to run on coal back in the day–so it figures Scranton was a major nexus for trains–the city was really the coal capital of the northeast. So when natural gas displaced coal at a 50 year-old coal-powered electrical generating plant south of Wilkes-Barre a few years ago, that was interesting and noteworthy. The Hunlock plant was converted to run on natural gas by installing two new turbines. The waste heat from the new turbines now powers the old/original turbine once powered by heat from burning coal. It’s called “combined cycle” electric generation and it’s happening across the United States.

The Obama EPA has demonized coal to the point that electric generating plants are switching (by necessity) to natural gas in large numbers. Hey, *something* has to create electricity–a very small scintilla of electricity comes from so-called alternative sources like wind and solar. Fossil fuels will, for generations to come, bear most of the burden when it comes to creating the electricity that powers your smart phone, lights, and your (*cough*) electric car. That’s the stark reality. The following article is an intriguing look at how utilities convert aging coal-fired electric plants into less-polluting, more efficient natgas-fired plants–in this case plants that run on Marcellus Shale gas…
Read More “NatGas Replaces Coal to Generate Electricity in Steamtown USA”
Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Will Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Ever See Marcellus Drilling? Depends
March 17, 2014March 17, 2014

Both Lackawanna and Luzerne counties in northeastern Pennsylvania have been largely drill-less when it comes to the Marcellus Shale bonanza happening all around them. One reason is that both counties are urban–Lackawanna is home to the city of Scranton, and Luzerne home to Scranton’s twin-joined-at-the-hip Wilkes-Barre. However, the bigger reason why there has been no gas drilling is because of the geology under both counties. A few test wells have been drilled in the past–all of them unsuccessful.

Does that mean that all Marcellus drilling in Lackawanna and Luzerne will be barren forevermore? Not necessarily…
Read More “Will Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Ever See Marcellus Drilling? Depends”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Taxation

Update on Project Using Marcellus $ to Treat PA Acid Mine Water
March 17, 2014March 17, 2014

Late last year MDN brought you the story of how $1 million of Marcellus Shale Act 13 impact fee money (about to dry up thanks to seven PA litigious townships) was awarded as a grant to help fund a project that will clean up one of PA’s biggest ongoing environmental disasters and the single largest source of pollution for the Chesapeake Bay–acid mine drainage from the Old Forge borehole near Scranton, PA (see Specifics on Marcellus $ Helping to Clean Chesapeake Bay Pollution). Susquehanna Mining Solutions plans to build a plant to strip out the minerals from the water that comes from long-abandoned coal mines.

A quick update on the project:
Read More “Update on Project Using Marcellus $ to Treat PA Acid Mine Water”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

More Marcellus Airline Capacity Coming to NEPA from Delta
February 28, 2014February 28, 2014

We recently told you the story of why United Airlines was eliminating a daily flight between Cleveland and Oklahoma City, a move that may have an impact on Utica Shale development (see The Reason United Canceled Daily Flights Between Cleveland & OKC). Here’s a story on the other side of the isle: Delta is increasing the capacity of the jet it runs between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. They’re going from a small regional 50-seater jet to an Airbus A319 which seats up to 156 passengers.

Some (many?) who work in the gas fields of northeast PA use the Atlanta connection to reach Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, so this good news means there’s more development opportunity for the Marcellus because more people can reach it faster from places like Texas and Oklahoma, where many PA drillers have their headquarters…
Read More “More Marcellus Airline Capacity Coming to NEPA from Delta”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Taxation

PA’s “Coddling” of the Marcellus Industry & Economic Illiteracy
February 28, 2014February 28, 2014

It’s now clear that liberals and Democrats (usually the same) in PA are hellbent on imposing an extreme severance tax on the Marcellus drilling industry. Whether the seven townships that sued the state to overturn large portions of the Act 13 law (eventually winning) are part of the tax conspiracy–we don’t know. Whether intentional or not, the lawsuit by the towns has led to the current situation that a wise, circumspect and reasonable impact fee (instead of a tax that redistributes wealth to people who didn’t earn it) is now in jeopardy and likely a goner (see Happy Story Ends Badly Because of 7 PA Towns). So Libs and Dems, or LibDems, are now beating the drums: tax, tax, tax, tax. They’re actually happy that towns will lose out on millions of dollars of impact fee revenue because they want use it as a political issue–as an excuse to tax out the wazoo.

The sycophantic and slavish media has picked up the meme and LibDem editors are writing op-eds calling for a nosebleed severance tax–like the editors of the Scranton Times-Tribune. The TR editors say the PA state legislature, by not imposing a nosebleed severance tax, has been “coddling” the drilling industry. What they’ve been doing, sychophantic, slavish LibDem TR editors, is fostering an economic miracle happening in PA all around you–an economic miracle that’s the envy of the world! You’re now about to pee all over it and ruin it. Try boning up on an economics course sometime…
Read More “PA’s “Coddling” of the Marcellus Industry & Economic Illiteracy”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Taxation

Specifics on Marcellus $ Helping to Clean Chesapeake Bay Pollution
December 13, 2013December 13, 2013

A month ago MDN brought you the good news that money raised as part of the Marcellus Shale impact fee in PA is being used to launch a project that is hoped will clean up the single largest source of pollution for the Chesapeake Bay–the Old Forge borehole near Scranton, PA (see Marcellus Drilling Helps Fix Biggest Polluter of Chesapeake Bay). The initial story outlines the high level plan by Susquehanna Mining Solutions LLC to build a treatment plant that will convert acid mine water coming from the borehole (some 60-100 million gallons per day) into clean water for other uses.

The original article was short on specifics. We now have a few of the specifics for how Susquehanna Mining Solutions will perform this miracle. It’s no small task…
Read More “Specifics on Marcellus $ Helping to Clean Chesapeake Bay Pollution”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Taxation

Marcellus Drilling Helps Fix Biggest Polluter of Chesapeake Bay
November 22, 2013November 22, 2013

Natural gas will help clean up the single largest source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. What is that source? Acid mine drainage that pours out of a single hole called the Old Forge borehole drilled by the federal government (Army Corps of Engineers) in 1962. Some 60-100 million gallons of acid mine water pour out of that hole every day–into the Lackawanna River which dumps into the Susquehanna River which empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

Where does all that water come from (what causes it), and what does natural gas have to do with fixing the problem? Read on…
Read More “Marcellus Drilling Helps Fix Biggest Polluter of Chesapeake Bay”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Scranton Area TU Chapter Hears about New Tactic to End Drilling
November 20, 2013November 20, 2013

As MDN pointed out a few days ago, anti-drilling members of the anti-drilling Trout Unlimited (TU) have changed tactics (see TU: If You Can’t Beat Shale Drillers, Try a New Lie). Instead of calling for an outright ban on Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania, they’ve decided to call for over-regulation–attempting to make their requests sound reasonable and fair. The intent is still the same: stop drilling any way you can.

TU community ~~agitator~~ organizer Paula Piatt traveled from Mifflin County (central PA) to Lackawanna County (northeast PA) to spread the “let’s regulate them to death” message yesterday…
Read More “Scranton Area TU Chapter Hears about New Tactic to End Drilling”