Luzerne County

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

NEPA Anti Group Wins Lawsuit, Dropped from Terrorist Watch List
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

In 2010, activities of the anti-drilling group Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Inc. (GDAC) of Luzerne County, PA (Wilkes-Barre area) caught the attention of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response (ITRR) Foundation, a company contracted by Pennsylvania’s Department of Homeland Security to monitor potential threats in the Keystone State. The ITRR Foundation put GDAC’s name on a list of organizations to keep an eye on–a so-called “terrorist watch list”–which lists potential threats against “critical infrastructure” in the state. The list with GDAC’s name was circulated to law enforcement agencies and to the drilling industry as well. When word of their inclusion on the list leaked, GDAC huffed and puffed and sued. Lo these 4+ years later, it appears they’ve won that lawsuit and the right to be permanently kept off the list…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Hazleton, PA Drill Cuttings Project Opposed by Competitors, Enviros
January 12, 2015January 12, 2015

On Dec. 1, MDN told you about a cool idea: Use non-toxic, non-polluting shale cuttings (leftover rock and dirt that comes out of a borehole when a well is drilled) to reclaim former coal mining land that sits barren now, so the land can host businesses and even a huge outdoor amphitheater (see Shale Cuttings Used to Rehab Site of Future Business, Amphitheater). That’s the idea of Hazleton Creek Properties (HCP) for reclaiming a 270-acre site with abandoned coal mines and an old landfill on the edge of Hazleton, PA. Local “environmentalists” from a nutty-sounding group called SUFFER (Save Us From Future Environmental Risks) used a Philadelphia law firm to oppose the original “demonstration” project, settling in 2012 (see this background the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia). SUFFER is still suffering from FDS (Fracking Derangement Syndrome) and is critical of the new plan, approved last November by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). However, in a strange twist, it’s not SUFFER that’s challenging the plan, but instead it’s competitors that belong to the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association–other landfills that presumably want the cuttings that would go to Hazleton. The Association, on behalf of their members, have filed an appeal of the DEP decision that allows the cuttings to be used in Hazleton. It appears the other landfills are trying to stop the cuttings that presumably now go to their own landfills from slipping away to Hazleton…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Death by Thousand Cuts for Penn East Pipeline? NEPA Town Opposes
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Seems like it’s becoming death by a thousand cuts for the Penn East Pipeline, a 108-mile, 36-inch pipeline from Dallas Township (Luzerne County), PA to Hopewell Township (Mercer County), NJ–essentially Wilkes-Barre to Trenton. The pipeline would connect bountiful supplies of Marcellus Shale gas from northeast PA with the Transco interstate pipeline, so the gas could fuel the enormous demands of places like New Jersey, New York and beyond. Plenty of anti-drillers in southeast PA and NJ have been carping and complaining about the pipeline. This time it’s Dallas Township itself–where the pipeline is supposed to begin–that’s complaining. On Monday, Dallas Township officials passed a resolution formally opposing the Penn East Pipeline…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Remarkable Change in PA Jobs Since Pro-Gas Corbett Lost Gov Race
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Funny how prior to the election on Nov. 4 you couldn’t read, watch or listen to a mainstream media report about employment in Pennsylvania without hearing how the job market under the Satantic Gov. Tom Corbett (Republican) sucked big-time. Ole Tom had sold his soul to Big Gas, ya see, with the promise of jobs jobs jobs. And guess what? No jobs. And if there were more jobs–they all went to foreigners–people from exotic places like Texas and Oklahoma and Louisiana. We can’t count how many such (false) stories we saw. After Nov. 4? Voilà. Something changed. Even though the pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow Angelic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf (Democrat) hasn’t yet taken office–somehow, magically, unemployment is at historic lows and there’s jobs popping up everywhere in the Keystone State. Why? The Marcellus Shale, of course…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

FERC Approves Williams Leidy Southeast Project in PA/NJ
December 22, 2014December 22, 2014

Since January 2013, Williams has been working on a project called Leidy Southeast that will create several new loops in northeast Pennsylvania and in New Jersey (including new compressor stations) to bump up the capacity of the Williams Transco interstate gas pipeline (see Williams Takes Next Step with Transco Leidy Pipeline Expansion). In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said there would be no significant impacts to the environment, a good sign that the project would get the green light (see FERC Says “No Significant Impact” from Leidy Southeast Pipeline). The green light came last Thursday when FERC gave final approval for the project…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Soil

Shale Cuttings Used to Rehab Site of Future Business, Amphitheater
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

A story from Hazelton, PA totally refutes the argument that drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt from shale drilling) are radioactive and will make you glow in the dark–a claim frequently made by anti-drillers. The scars of coal mining dot the landscape in northeastern PA. In one such area, on the edge of Hazelton, sits a 270-acre site with abandoned mines and an old landfill. The location, known as Hazelton Creek Properties, is in the process of reclaiming part of the site by using (yes) drill cuttings. The site will eventually host an amphitheater for concerts and other businesses. People will one day be sitting directly over top of shale cuttings!…
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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?…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Moxie’s NEPA Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Gets 1st Approval
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

MDN previously told you about a project under way by Moxie Energy to build an electric generation plant fired by Marcellus Shale gas in Salem Township (Luzerne County), PA. If the project goes forward, it would be Moxie’s third such power plant project in northeast Pennsylvania (see Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?). The first two such projects begun by Moxie were both later sold to Panda Power–before being built. Moxie gets all of the permits and gets ready to begin construction, then turns around and sells the project to others–at least that’s what they’ve now done twice. Some of the neighbors living close to where the plant will be built, near Wilkes-Barre, have complained and pushed back (see Balancing Act for New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in NEPA). However, Salem Township supervisors voted yesterday to approve the project, the first and perhaps most important step on the way to putting shovel to ground…
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Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Crestwood Announces Successful Open Season for MARC II PA Pipeline
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

Speaking of the PennEast Pipeline, yesterday Crestwood Midstream announced a successful non-binding open season (a yeah, we’ll use your pipeline when you build it) for their MARC II Pipeline in the Marcellus Shale. The MARC II is a new 30-mile pipeline extending the Central New York Oil & Gas Company (owned by Crestwood) to connect with the proposed new PennEast Pipeline along with a connection to the Transco Pipeline and the proposed new Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline–all three connections happening in Luzerne County, PA…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Balancing Act for New Natgas-Fired Electric Plant in NEPA
October 14, 2014October 14, 2014

Something’s gotta give. The Obama EPA has declared war on coal energy. In case you didn’t know, something like half (or more) of the electricity you use in your house comes from electric generation plants powered by coal. Because of much stricter new regulations, many coal generating power plants will close in the coming few years. We either face rolling blackouts from lack of electricity–or something else steps up to the plate to produce that electricity. That something else is most likely natural gas. Either existing coal plants have to change out their technology to be fired by natgas, or new plants built. That’s going to inconvenience some folks. There aren’t enough “isolated” spots to build electric plants that are close to the population centers they serve. We (collectively, as a society) face a balancing act, as Moxie Energy is facing with a planned natgas-fired electric plant near Wilkes-Barre, PA…
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MSC Pushes Back Against NEPA Newspaper Sham Editorial on Exports
October 9, 2014October 9, 2014

Three cheers for Marcellus Shale Coalition president David Spigelmyer for responding to a bone-headed editorial that recently appeared in the Wilkes-Barre, PA Times Leader castigating potential natural gas exports and denigrating the entire Marcellus Shale industry. The “reporters” of the Times Leader, in their sycophantic zeal and eagerness to obsequiously seek favor with their favorite candidate, Tom Wolf, ran an editorial titled, “Our Opinion: Exporting Pennsylvania’s natural gas to the globe defies good sense” in which they take pot shots at the men and women of the Marcellus along with mis-characterizing the issue of Marcellus gas exports. Mr. Spigelmyer had the ~~balls~~ intestinal fortitude to verbally slap them across the face and tell them to grow up…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Update on PennEast Pipeline–Its Physical & Emotional Path
October 9, 2014October 9, 2014

The anti-drilling nutters at the Sierra Club (we call them Sierra Clubbers, you know, people who like to go “clubbing“?) have apparently polled a new phrase that they think is a winner. They’ve found when you say magic words, like “pipeline x will leave a nasty, ugly scar that’s irreversible” on Old Mother Nature, that gets low information people really fired up. So that’s the new phrase they toss around for projects like the recently announced PennEast Pipeline (see 3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ). PennEast will run from Wilkes-Barre, PA all the way to a spot near Trenton, NJ. Communities along the proposed route have been organizing meetings with the express purpose of castigating and ridiculing the proposed $1 billion project. “Not in my back yard!” they yell. The Sierra Clubbers helpfully sprinkle magic words like “scar the earth” which whips them up into even more of frenzy. So UGI and the four other partners in the project have abruptly stopped attending those meetings and will, instead, host their own meetings in an attempt to keep anti-drillers from trying to manipulate people’s emotions. Good for them…
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CNG/LNG | Economic Impact | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Air Products Wins Contract for TX LNG Plant, Marcellus Connection?
September 18, 2014September 18, 2014

This is the kind of story MDN enjoys telling–connecting dots that others haven’t noticed. In broad brush strokes, Air Products announced on Tuesday that they have won the contract to provide two massive liquefied natural gas heat exchangers for Freeport LNG in Freeport, Texas. The heat exchangers will take two years to build and both will be built at their Wilkes-Barre, PA plant. At first blush you may not think there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica, but there is. Here’s how the Air Products announcement all ties together for the Marcellus Shale (and what you won’t find anywhere else)…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Successful Open Season Concludes for Marcellus PennEast Pipeline
September 5, 2014September 5, 2014

Barley three weeks ago a consortium of four companies announced a new pipeline project to carry Marcellus Shale gas from Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania to Transco’s Trenton-Woodbury interconnection in New Jersey. The $1 billion PennEast Pipeline will be built by energy utility giant UGI, along with AGL Resources, NJR Pipeline Company (subsidiary of New Jersey Resources) and South Jersey Industries (see 3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ). The consortium announced yesterday the successful close of a very fast binding open season–a period of time when potential customers sign on the dotted line to take capacity in the new pipeline. Of course it didn’t hurt that the consortium itself had already reserved nearly half of the 1 billion cubic feet per day capacity for themselves! Still, the other half is now sold out too (a total of 965,000 dekatherms, or 936 million cubic feet, or .936 billion cubic feet)…
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Bucks County | Carbon County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | UGI Energy Services

3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ
August 13, 2014September 5, 2014

A third new pipeline has been proposed–seriously proposed and already in the planning stages–to carry Marcellus Shale gas from northeastern Pennsylvania all the way to New Jersey. Yesterday a consortium of four companies, including energy utility giant UGI, along with AGL Resources, NJR Pipeline Company (subsidiary of New Jersey Resources) and South Jersey Industries announced the PennEast Pipeline, a 105-mile long, 30” diameter interstate natural gas pipeline. The new pipeline will cost $1 billion to build (providing 2,000+ jobs for seven months) and when finished, carry 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. Here’s the full details for the new project…
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Columbia County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Lycoming County | Monroe County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

FERC Says “No Significant Impact” from Leidy Southeast Pipeline
August 13, 2014August 13, 2014

Williams is one very important step closer to beginning construction–this fall–on their Transco Leidy Southeast Expansion project. Last fall Williams filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to proceed with the project, a $610 million project designed to increase the Transco pipeline’s capacity by 525,000 decatherms per day–enough natural gas to serve 2 million homes (see Williams Takes Next Step with Transco Leidy Pipeline Expansion). The expansion will pipe cheap, abundant NEPA Marcellus Shale gas to points from New York City to the southeastern U.S. The project includes construction of approximately 30 miles of additional pipe segments, called loops, in PA and NJ, in addition to modifying some existing compressor stations and valve sites. Earlier this week FERC reported the proposed changes would have “no significant impact” on the environment. What does that mean?…
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