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SRBC Approves 233M Gal/Day of Water Use for 38 PA Shale Pads

The difference between the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is stark. The former is well-run and rational, the latter is disorganized and irrational. At least with respect to fracking. Over the weekend, the SRBC published a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin to announce that during the month of January, the agency approved 38 requests for daily water use on shale well pads in the SRBC’s jurisdictional territory in Pennsylvania, totaling some 233.5 million gallons. Put another way, this is a handy list of where drilling will soon happen in northeastern PA.
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PA Sen. Gene Yaw Sounds Off on Tardy Shale Permits, Other Issues

PA Sen. Gene Yaw

Pennsylvania Senator Gene Yaw, who chairs the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, recently had a sit-down with the editors of his hometown newspaper, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Yaw was “agitated,” according to the editors, worked up over the fact PA has an abundance of shale gas but can’t get it to market due to a lack of pipelines. He was also bent out of shape over the continuing issue of permit delays for new shale drilling by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). Yaw says if the DEP can’t get its act together and approve simple permits for things like erosion and sedimentation control, the permits should (after a certain number of days) be automatically issued.
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25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 9-15

New shale permits issued for Jan. 9-15 in the Marcellus/Utica included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was PennEnergy Resources, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Butler County, PA. Right behind PennEnergy was Southwestern Energy with 5 permits total spread across all three states–3 in PA, and 1 each in OH and WV.
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PA Fish & Boat Commission Fines PGE for Muddy Water in Loyalsock

Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and facilities to withdraw fresh water at a site along the Loyalsock Creek, north of Montoursville in Lycoming County, PA. The company’s work resulted in a sediment plume that appeared in Loyalsock Creek for several miles downstream of the construction site, caused by the failure of erosion and sediment controls following a heavy rainstorm. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued notices of violation (NOVs) on three separate occasions from September to November (see PA DEP Dings PGE 3rd Time for Causing Muddy Water in Loyalsock Creek). Yet it was the PA Fish & Boat Commission that just announced a settlement with PGE for creek pollution.
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23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 2-8

New shale permits issued for Jan. 2-8 in the Marcellus/Utica included 14 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and just 1 new permit in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was Apex Energy, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Westmoreland County, PA. Right behind Apex was Coterra Energy with 5 permits to drill on a single pad in Susquehanna County, PA. Opposite sides of the state.
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SRBC Approves 2M Gallons/Day of Water Withdrawals for PA Fracking

Unlike the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which gets the creepy crawlies at the mere mention of the word “fracking,” the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has been dealing with fracking and water requests for use in fracking for more than a decade. Somehow the SRBC, a quasi-governmental agency (as is the DRBC), manages to allow fracking, and there are NO negative impacts on local water and NO negative impact on the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. Must be the people who run the SRBC are just more talented than those who run the DRBC.
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PA DEP Dings PGE 3rd Time for Causing Muddy Water in Loyalsock Creek

Mud plume in Loyalsock Creek (click for larger version)

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has, for a THIRD time, served a notice of violation (NOV) of the PA Clean Streams Law to Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) for causing sediment pollution in the Loyalsock Creek north of Montoursville (Lycoming County). PGE is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and withdrawals of fresh water for Marcellus Shale-related activities at the site. A November 28 inspection by the DEP noted new violations.
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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 7-13

Permits issued to drill new Marcellus/Utica wells slipped last week, for the week of Nov. 7-13. Last week saw a total of 26 new permits issued, falling from 43 permits the week before. Pennsylvania received the most permits, just barely, with 13 new permits. Ohio received 12 new permits, and West Virginia a single new permit.
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HEP Gathering Pipeline in NE Pa. Gets a New Canadian Owner

Howard Energy Partners (HEP) is a midstream/pipeline company that owns and operates natural gas and crude oil pipelines, natural gas processing plants, refined products storage terminals, deep-water dock and rail facilities, fractionation facilities, hydrogen production facilities, renewable diesel logistics facilities, and other related midstream assets in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Mexico. The company owns more than 600 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines with some 100+ of those miles located in the PA Marcellus. Yesterday, Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) announced it has purchased a controlling interest (87%) in HEP. AIMCo is the new owner.
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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 24-30

Something of an improvement from last week’s new permits report when there were only 11 new permits. For the week of October 24-30, there were 28 new permits. But not because of the return of new permits in Pennsylvania. Instead, Ohio was the shining light. PA reported 11 new permits, all of them in Lycoming County, with seven going to Repsol and four going to Inflection Energy. Ohio issued 16 new permits, with Encino Energy grabbing six, Southwestern Energy getting five, and Ascent Energy receiving four. Finally, WV had a single new permit, for Tug Hill Operating (soon to be EQT), in Wetzel County.
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PA DEP Dings PGE (Again) for Causing Muddy Water in Loyalsock Creek

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has, for a second time, served a notice of violation (NOV) of the PA Clean Streams Law to Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) for causing sediment pollution in the Loyalsock Creek north of Montoursville (Lycoming County). PGE is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and it withdraws fresh water for Marcellus Shale-related activities at the site.
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11 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 17-23

Another weak and pathetic number of new shale drilling permits were issued for the week of Oct. 17-23 in the Marcellus/Utica. Pennsylvania had only 10 new permits, with six of them going to Range Resources in Beaver County. Ohio had just one new permit, for Southwestern Energy in Monroe County. And West Virginia had a big, fat, goose egg. No new permits. Bummer.
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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 10-16

Permits issued for new shale wells last week got a bit better from their pathetically low numbers. From Oct. 10-16 there were eight new permits issued in Pennsylvania, and four each issued in Ohio and West Virginia. All of the PA permits were issued in northeastern PA, with four going to BKV Operating (i.e. Banpu) in Wyoming County, two to Chesapeake in Bradford County, and two to Beech Resources in Lycoming County. Encino Energy scored all four permits for Ohio, all of them in Harrison County. In WV, Tug Hill (soon to be EQT) received three permits, and Southwestern Energy received one permit, all four in Marshall County.
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PA DEP Dings PGE for Causing Muddy Water in Loyalsock Creek

Sediment leaves a PGE dewatering structure into the Loyalsock Creek. This discharge is in violation of the Clean Streams Law, according to the DEP. (click for larger version)

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has served a notice of violation of the PA Clean Streams Law to Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) for causing sediment pollution in the Loyalsock Creek north of Montoursville (Lycoming County). PGE is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and withdraws fresh water for Marcellus Shale-related activities at the site. On September 5 (Labor Day), a heavy rainstorm caused the failure of erosion and sedimentation controls. A sediment plume appeared in Loyalsock Creek for several miles downstream of the construction site.
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19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 22-28

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 19 new drilling permits, down from 30 the week before. The top receiver of permits in PA was EQT (i.e. Rice Drilling), with five permits issued for the same well pad in Greene County. Range Resources and Inflection Energy each received two new permits.
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45 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 15-21

After several weeks of anemic permit numbers for Pennsylvania, last week PA came roaring back by issuing 30 permits to drill new shale wells. Some 12 of those permits went to Coterra Energy for two pads in Susquehanna County. EQT (aka Rice Drilling) received six permits for a single pad in Greene County, and Chesapeake Energy also received six permits split between two pads–one pad in Bradford County and the other in Lycoming County.
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