Pennsylvania

Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Statewide PA

EQT Settles 2 Class Action Lawsuits for $5.7M re Employee Issues
December 20, 2018December 20, 2018

Two separate cases before U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone (in Pennsylvania) were settled yesterday by EQT. One of class action cases, brought against EQT, alleged the company had intentionally misclassified employees as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime. The settlement awards “more than 100” workers back wages totaling $2.8 million. The other class action case is similar, except it was filed against Rice Energy before Rice was bought out by EQT. Now that Rice is part of EQT, it is EQT paying the bills. In the Rice Energy lawsuit, some 90 workers are being paid $2.9 million for unpaid overtime. Wednesday was an expensive day for EQT.
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chester County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Chester County DA Goes Rogue, Targets ME2 Pipe w/Criminal Probe
December 20, 2018December 20, 2018

Chester County DA Tom Hogan

Another abuse of power and bastardization of our judicial system–this time by RINO (Democrat wannabe) Tom Hogan, the District Attorney for Chester County, PA. Hogan has launched a criminal probe into the Mariner East Pipeline projects (1 and 2). The probe smacks not of justice but of politics–as in Hogan seeking higher office. It also smacks of a diversion–attempting to focus attention away from a recent lawsuit filed against Hogan by PA State Troopers because Hogan maintains a blacklist with troopers’ names that he refuses to call to testify in court cases (see Chesco D.A. Hogan sued by state police troopers over ‘do not call’ list). What better way to divert attention away from your own sleazy practices than to focus on someone else’s alleged wrongdoing?
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Allegheny County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation

SW PA Farmer Challenges Reg Preventing Shale Well on Her Land
December 19, 2018December 19, 2018

Jefferson Hills, PA

Seven selfish Pennsylvania towns sued PA in 2012 over the zoning provisions in the then-new Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). The Act 13 victory gave townships and municipalities across the Commonwealth the right to pass local zoning ordinances that restrict, but don’t outright ban, Marcellus/Utica drilling. Towns with a majority of antis in charge got pretty creative and effectively banned drilling in many towns–like Jefferson Hills in Allegheny County. Now, a brave farmer, Carol Ann Bucar, is pushing back against overly restrictive zoning ordinances that prevent shale drilling on her 197-acre farm. Her property rights have been stripped away, and she’s seeking to overturn the zoning regulations that do it.
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Bucks County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation

SE PA Republicans Ask Adelphia Pipe to Move Compressor Station
December 18, 2018December 18, 2018

Click for larger version

Two weeks ago the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection held a public hearing for the Adelphia Gateway project, a plan to convert an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, to instead pump natural gas (see PA Residents Sound Off Against Adelphia Pipe at DEP Hearing). It was pretty easy to predict that the hearing would elicit negative feedback, based on previous stories of residents unhappy with the location of a planned compressor station in Bucks County. And it did. The public reaction did not escape the attention of local Republican politicians. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and state Rep. Craig Staats, both representing Bucks County, wrote a joint letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking that the location of a planned compressor station in Bucks be moved.
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP’s New Air Regs Would Exempt 80% of Conventional Wells
December 17, 2018December 17, 2018

Last week MDN told you about onerous new regulations being proposed by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to cut down on supposed methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions coming from *existing* oil and gas wells and pipelines (see Pa. DEP Jumps the Gun with Proposed New Emissions Regs). In our initial reporting on the proposed new regulations, one bit of information escaped our attention: Most of PA’s conventional wells (80% or more) will be exempted from these new rules. And PA’s conventional wells reportedly account for more than 50% of supposed methane emissions. There are approximately 80,000 active conventional oil and gas wells in PA, and about 10,600 active shale gas wells in PA.
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Raining on Gov. Wolf’s Parade – No Scientific Basis for Cap & Trade
December 17, 2018December 17, 2018

Last week MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, liberal Democrat, is seriously considering a bizarre cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emission reduction program to eliminate carbon emissions from major sources by 2052 (see PA Gov. Wolf Seriously Considers Marcellus-Killing Cap & Trade). The program is meant to eliminate fossil fuel production and use, including Marcellus Shale production. A couple of authors, one a 35+ year geologist, the other a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, took note and co-authored a devastating article appearing on The Daily Caller that punctures cap-and-trade in general, and Wolf’s dalliance with it in particular. Wolf invoked the argument that this year has been far rainier than normal in PA, which must, of course, be due to man-made global warming. The co-authors use actual, real data on rain conditions and amounts to completely obliterate Wolf’s arguments–making him look like the fool he is.
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Petroleum | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County

MarkWest Plant Explosion in Washington Co. Injures 4; 1 Critical
December 14, 2018December 14, 2018

An explosion and fire last night around 6 pm at the MarkWest Energy natural gas processing plant in Chartiers (Washington County), PA sent four people to the hospital–carried there by helicopter. All of them remain hospitalized, and one of them is, sadly, in critical condition. The explosion happened near “two temporary tanks that were onsite for routine maintenance,” according to a MarkWest statement. The tanks hold, “liquid ethylene glycol plus hydrocarbons”–used to clean incoming raw natural gas. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection is on location today to determine what happened and why–and to ensure there have been no negative impacts to the environment.
Read More “MarkWest Plant Explosion in Washington Co. Injures 4; 1 Critical”
Accidents | Berks County | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Fined $225K for Small Leak on ME1 Pipeline in 2017
December 14, 2018December 14, 2018

The Mariner East 1 pipeline sprung a small leak and spilled 20 barrels (~840 gallons) of ethane and propane in Berks County, near Philadelphia, on April 1 (see Mariner East 1 Sprang a Small NGL Leak Near Philly, on Apr 1). Sunoco Logistics Partners (i.e. Energy Transfer), builder and maintainer of the pipeline, shut it down and fixed it over the next several days. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), which oversees regulation of the pipeline, has just (a year and a half later) “requested” Sunoco pay $225,000 for violating various state and federal regulations. It was an $11,250 per barrel spill.
Read More “Sunoco Fined $225K for Small Leak on ME1 Pipeline in 2017”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Pa. DEP Jumps the Gun with Proposed New Emissions Regs
December 14, 2018December 14, 2018

We told you that yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) was meeting to unveil proposed new regulations to cut down on so-called fugitive methane emissions from existing well pads and pipelines (see Proposed New O&G Emissions Regs Will Disadvantage PA Drillers). They met and released a draft of onerous new regulations that focus more on reducing volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions than they do fugitive methane–but the result is still the same: Force drillers and pipeline companies to spend bazillions of dollars to produce a teeny tiny improvement in emissions. The Marcellus Shale Coalition said, “Rather than creating more regulatory uncertainty [with these new regs at this time], it would be prudent for DEP to delay any regulatory proposals until federal rules are finalized,” pointing out the fact that federal rules are not yet finalized. In other words, Wolf’s DEP is jumping the gun.
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Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

New Shale Permits Down in PA & OH as Winter Begins
December 13, 2018December 13, 2018

An analysis by Argus Media shows the number of new permits issued to drill in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale was down 42% in November 2018 over the same time a year ago. Drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale was down 26% in November vs. a year ago. Yet one overpowering fact remains: Production in both states is UP over a year ago! How do you explain it? Each year drillers get better at what they do–they get more gas from drilling fewer wells. Longer laterals, more sand, improved fracking techniques–it all adds up to more production with less drilling. Our region is also still working down our DUC (drilled but uncompleted) wells inventory, which means less drilling. And winter cold has set in, early. Yeah, less drilling means fewer jobs and fewer opportunities to sell goods and services to drilling companies. But watch for the permit numbers to start going up again (our prediction). Why? Because with pipelines which recently went online and new pipes due to go online, the price our gas is fetching has dramatically increased–and that means the willingness of M-U drillers to drill new wells will increase too.
Read More “New Shale Permits Down in PA & OH as Winter Begins”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Pipelines

Meeting Reveals Details re PGE’s Loyalsock Creek Pipe Project
December 13, 2018December 13, 2018

Pennsylvania General Energy drills in several PA counties, including Lycoming County in the north central of the state. According to the Marcellus & Utica Shale Upstream Almanac 2018, PA General Energy is the fourth-largest driller in Lycoming County, with 103 producing wells and 42.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas production in 2017. PA General Energy wants to drill more wells in Lycoming. Those wells will need a gathering pipeline connected to them, and a water pipeline to provide water for drilling and fracking. Even though a water pipeline would save an estimated 126,000 truck trips on local roads, some residents are opposed (see Lycoming County Residents Oppose Loyalsock Creek Gathering Pipe). Last night residents got to hear more details about the project at a meeting organized by PA State Rep. Garth Everett.
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Proposed New O&G Emissions Regs Will Disadvantage PA Drillers
December 13, 2018December 13, 2018

The liberal PA Gov. Tom Wolf administration continues to tinker with (i.e. destroy) the Marcellus miracle in the Keystone State. In August the Wolf Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally, after years of work, implemented onerous new regulations to cut down on so-called fugitive methane emissions from new drilling and pipelines (see PA Harms Drillers, Pipelines with Over-Strict Methane Rules). Existing well pads and pipelines are now in Wolf’s crosshairs. The DEP has, for some time, considered requiring new regulations to further reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions at existing oil and gas sites. The DEP recently released a draft of those regs, and is meeting TODAY to discuss the new proposed regulations (see PA DEP Releasing Expensive New O&G Emissions Reg). The question is, since the federal EPA is “relaxing” the standards on which these onerous new PA standards are based, will PA, by adopting these new standards, make itself uncompetitive against other shale drilling states? PA DEP Sec. Pat McDonnell seems to think so.
Read More “Proposed New O&G Emissions Regs Will Disadvantage PA Drillers”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research

Pitt Researchers Discover Cheaper Way to Convert NGLs to Plastics
December 13, 2018December 13, 2018

Pitt research appears on cover of journal

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh may have just discovered a way to turn “light alkanes” (i.e. propane, butane) into raw plastics that is cheaper than cracking ethane. At least, that’s what we think they’ve discovered. It’s hard to tell. In a research paper recently published titled, “Structure–Activity Relationships in Alkane Dehydrogenation on ?-Al2O3: Site-Dependent Reactions,” Pitt researchers say they’ve discovered a way to produce olefins using “the nonoxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes on metal oxides, taking advantage of the Lewis acid?base surface functionalities of the oxides.” Er, right. What we do know is that the Pitt researchers are excited about their discovery, and say, “We now have a better tool to develop active catalysts for alkane-olefin conversion, which could be a game-changer in the petrochemical and polymer industries.” Below is a write-up from Pitt about the new research, in lay language, along with an abstract from the paper.
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Berks County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Approves Birdsboro Pipe Near Philly to Begin Service
December 12, 2018December 12, 2018

Birdsboro Pipeline route (click for larger version)

That was fast! Construction began on a new 14-mile pipeline from the Texas Eastern Transmission (Tetco) mainline in Rockland Township, to a natural gas-fired power plant under construction in Birdsboro in Berks County, near Philadelphia, in June (see Construction Begins for 14-Mile Pipe to Feed Berks Gas-Fired Plant). DTE Midstream is building the pipeline to feed Marcellus gas to the new, under-construction gas-fired Birdsboro Power plant being built by EmberClear. The pipeline itself was done in November and DTE asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to start it up on Nov. 19. That permission was finally granted on Monday, Dec. 10. But wait! The power plant won’t be done and online until the middle of 2019…so why start up the pipeline now?
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Big Loss for Big Green – PUC Judge Won’t Shut Down ME1 & 2 Pipes
December 12, 2018December 12, 2018

Big Green forces who pinned their hopes of stopping the Mariner East 1 and 2 pipelines on a rogue PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) administrative law judge had those hopes dashed yesterday. In May of this year, Elizabeth Barnes, PUC administration law judge, unilaterally ordered Sunoco Logistics Partners to “cease and desist all current operation, construction, including drilling activities on the Mariner East 1, 2 and Mariner East 2X pipeline” in West Whiteland Township in Chester County, PA (see Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). The judge also shut down all operations of the currently operating Mariner East 1 across the entire state. Barnes’ closure of ME1 and ME2 was later overturned by the full PUC (see PA PUC Overrules Lib Judge – Mariner East 1 Returns to Service and PA PUC Allows ME2 Pipeline Work to Restart Near Philly). In early December, a ginned up “emergency relief petition” was aired before Barnes. Same deal. Antis want to shut down ALL of the Mariner East projects–permanently. Barnes was the judge hearing the “testimony” of the antis, along with a vigorous defense by Sunoco. Apparently she learned her lesson. Yesterday Barnes rejected the emergency petition.
Read More “Big Loss for Big Green – PUC Judge Won’t Shut Down ME1 & 2 Pipes”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Wolf Seriously Considers Marcellus-Killing Cap & Trade
December 12, 2018December 12, 2018

On November 27, a variety of Big Green groups including the Clean Air Council, Widener University Environmental Law and Sustainability Center, eco(n)law LLC and 61 others submitted a “rulemaking petition” (407-page plan) to the Pennsylvania Environment Quality Board requesting the Board and PA Gov. Tom Wolf establish a cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emission reduction program to eliminate carbon emissions from major sources by 2052. It’s a bizarre plan, meant to eliminate fossil fuel production and use, including Marcellus Shale production. The kicker is that Wolf is actually thinking about doing it. Hey PA residents–still glad you reelected Wolf?
Read More “PA Gov. Wolf Seriously Considers Marcellus-Killing Cap & Trade”