Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams
PA Fines Atlantic Sunrise Pipe $836K for Years-Old Violations
Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, a 200-mile greenfield pipeline from northeastern to southeastern PA where it joins the Transco Pipeline, went online in October 2018 (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise for Startup! Pipe Opens Sat. Oct. 6). Shippers on Atlantic Sunrise include Cabot Oil & Gas, Seneca Resources, and Range Resources. Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it is (two years after it went online) assessing fines for violations that happened during construction of the pipeline 2-3 years ago.
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Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued modified permits for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in three southeast PA locations (Delaware and Chester counties). Each location has faced problems with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The modifications allow a different type of installation method to be used–open trench.
Last year MDN shared with you the rumor that Exxon Mobil was sniffing around Pennsylvania, investigating the prospect of building a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker like the Shell cracker being built near Pittsburgh. Those rumors went on for a while and even included evaluation of the Philadelphia area, not just Pittsburgh. Last week Exxon said unequivocally they have no active plans for such a facility in the Keystone State. Bummer.
We don’t know if PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania “reporters” are just sloppy in their reporting, or if they intentionally lie. Either way, it doesn’t look good for StateImpact. PBS reporter Jon Hurdle’s latest Big Green hit piece, published yesterday on StateImpact, is wholly manufactured out of nothing. He claims there are continuing problems with drilling for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project at Snitz Creek in Lebanon County, PA. There are not.
We love U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. He’s smart, articulate, and a supporter of all forms of energy, including fossil fuels. He also doesn’t suffer climate change fools well. Brouillette visited the Shell ethane cracker plant under construction in southwestern PA yesterday. He had some great things to say about petrochemicals, fracking, and (yes) even about so-called climate change.
The results of a new “push poll” aimed at brainwashing people (as opposed to an honest poll reflecting people’s actual opinions) have just been released claiming most Pennsylvania voters think a $2.36 billion tax they will pay over the next 10 years after joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is just lovely.
Antis continue their public relations push to try and block a northeastern PA LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA planned by New Fortress Energy (NFE), by claiming the LNG that will be shipped from the plant to the Philadelphia area, via trucks and rail, will be rolling “bombs on wheels.” However, an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer debunks those lies.
As we told you on Monday, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a powerful committee operating under the larger umbrella of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), held a hearing and cast a vote yesterday on whether or not PA should join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon for power generators (see 
For the third week in a row, both Pennsylvania and West Virginia issued permits to drill new shale wells last week, and Ohio did not. What’s up with Ohio? PA issued 13 new permits for wells on five well pads. WV issued 2 new permits on two different pads. PA’s new permits skewed toward the southwestern part of the state with 11 of the 13 permits issued (two in Bradford County in the northeast). The WV permits were both issued in Marshall County, located in the northern panhandle of the state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just published its 2019 Oil and Gas Annual Report. This is the fourth year in a row the DEP has published the report in an interactive, electronic (i.e.online) format ONLY. What does the 2019 report show? While permits issued and number of new wells drilled have both gone down (again), gas production has gone up (again)–to a new record high.
Sounding downright nasty and mean, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Pat McDonnell has ordered Sunoco Logistics Partners (Energy Transfer) to reroute part of the Mariner East 2X pipeline around Marsh Creek Lake State Park, following a spill of nontoxic drilling mud that ended up in Marsh Creek Lake in Chester County. McDonnell uses combative and incendiary words like Sunoco “blatantly disregarded the citizens” of Chester County, has been “careless” and is guilty of “unlawful actions.” In a rather uppity tone, McDonnell says he will “not stand for more of the same” and he is “demanding a proper cleanup” of the site. Sunoco has been working diligently to clean up the spill since it happened.
Pin Oak Midstream, a subsidiary of Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH, has purchased most of the pipeline assets of Laurel Mountain Midstream for an undisclosed amount. The assets include 1,050 miles of natural gas-gathering pipelines and five compressor stations located in three Pennsylvania counties.
Most political analysts believe this year’s presidential election may come down to one or two states–namely Pennsylvania and Ohio. If Biden can win in those two states, he stands a good chance of winning the election (an absolute nightmare!). But here’s what you don’t hear from mainstream media: the election may well turn on the issue of shale fracking. Counties in PA and OH, like Washington County in southwestern PA, are likely where the race will be won or lost. It’s not looking good for old ban-fracking Joe.