Pennsylvania

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    Shell Cracker to the Rescue – Saving the Erie, PA Plastics Industry

    The benefits of the mighty Shell ethane cracker now under construction in Beaver County, PA just keep multiplying. In April MDN brought you news that Penn State Behrend (in Erie County) had been tapped by the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to be the “lead partner” with a $250,000 grant for developing business and market opportunities for the state related to the cracker (see Penn State to Help Create New Biz Opportunities from Shell Cracker). Erie County, where Behrend is located, is certainly not next door to the cracker. It’s two hours away! There are several other Penn State campuses closer to the cracker. So why was Behrend selected? In a word, plastics. “The strength of Erie’s plastics industry and the success of Penn State Behrend’s School of Engineering, which offers one of only six accredited U.S. plastics undergraduate programs, makes Erie of particular interest to DCED.” A new article says that the cracker will not only preserve the 4,300 plastics-related jobs in and around Erie, there’s reason to believe the plastics industry in Erie will “grow larger and stronger” because of the two-hours-away cracker. Again we ask the question, Why? Answer: Because buying plastics pellets from the Shell cracker two hours away is a whole lot cheaper (due to shipping costs) than buying plastics pellets from the Gulf Coast, as happens now. One would be justified in saying, Shell cracker to the rescue!…
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    Southwestern Appeals “Briggs” Trespass Case to PA Supreme Court

    Southwestern Energy has taken the next step of appealing the “Briggs” trespass case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court–a case of tremendous importance. In April, MDN brought you the news that Pennsylvania Superior Court had handed down a decision (known as the “Briggs” case) that has the power to greatly restrict, perhaps even stop, Marcellus drilling in PA (see PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well and PA “Rule of Capture” Case has Power to Limit Marcellus Drilling). The issue, in brief, is that the Superior Court decision disallows using an age-old principle called the “rule of capture” when it comes to shale drilling and fracking. It opens the door to a myriad of frivolous lawsuits claiming that a fracture, a crack created during fracking, is draining gas from a neighbor’s property without justly compensating the neighbor for the gas. Southwestern successfully argued in a lower court that the odd crack here and there that may slip under a neighbor’s property is permissible. The landowner appealed to Superior Court and three judges heard the case. Two of the three overturned the lower court and sided with the landowner. Southwestern, following the decision, petitioned the Superior Court to have all of the sitting justices (called en banc) hear the case. Sadly, in June the Superiors proved they aren’t so superior after all, declining to rehear the case (see PA Superior Court Rejects Southwestern “Briggs” Trespass Appeal). Southwestern promised to appeal this critically important case to the PA Supreme Court, and yesterday they did just that. We have a comment from Southwestern below, along with a copy of the brief they filed, and our own thoughts on where this may go after the Supreme Court…
    Read More “Southwestern Appeals “Briggs” Trespass Case to PA Supreme Court”

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    PA DEP Appoints New Director of So-Called “Environmental Justice”

    Allison Acevedo

    The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a department within its department called Environmental Justice. In March 2017, then-Acting (now full) Secretary of the DEP Patrick McDonnell went on an environmental justice “listening tour” (see PA DEP Conducting “Listening Tour” for “Environmental Justice”). So what is so-called environmental justice? As near as we can tell, “environmental justice” means asking poor people or minorities (African Americans and Hispanics) if they feel like they’ve been abused by the oil and gas industry in any way–and if they have a beef, the DEP will “do” something about it. The reason we bring all this up is because the DEP has just appointed a new Director of Environmental Justice–Allison Acevedo. She’s a former tax and labor attorney from Philadelphia. We hope her appointment is largely ceremonial–a do-nothing job. We fear the opposite…
    Read More “PA DEP Appoints New Director of So-Called “Environmental Justice””

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    PA State Sen. Wants to Drill on State Land to Fund School Safety

    Since taking office nearly four years ago, Pennsylvania’s left-leaning Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf has rigidly blocked any new shale leasing of state forest land. Leases and drilling prior to Wolf brought a bountiful harvest of revenue to state coffers. But Wolf, bowing to pressure from radical environmentalists, refuses any new drilling. In February the state Senate, controlled by Republicans, passed a resolution calling on Wolf to restart drilling in state parks (see PA Senate Ctte Passes Resolution to Restore Drilling in State Parks). No dice. Resolutions aren’t laws and can’t be enforced. At the end of February, Republican Sen. Gene Yaw (Williamsport) told Cindy Dunn, Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources at a hearing, that if the state were to open up another 25,000 acres of state forest land for Marcellus drilling, it would generate $100 million that could be used for the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund (see PA DCNR Secretary Chilly to Suggestion of More State Forest Drilling). Dunn brushed Yaw off with a chilly response. However, PA Senate Republicans are persistent. State Sen. Dan Laughlin has just announced he will introduce a bill to restart leasing and drilling under state-owned land, and that the revenue will be used for “school safety.” Laughlin figures the new leasing could raise $250-$400 million. Question: Will Dems vote to oppose school safety?…
    Read More “PA State Sen. Wants to Drill on State Land to Fund School Safety”

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    Major Federal Court Decision Opens Door to Stop DRBC Frack Ban

    A lawsuit that began in 2016 is finally bearing fruit, and may lead to blocking efforts by the rogue Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to block fracking in Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania. In May 2016, a landowner in Wayne County filed a lawsuit against the DRBC asking a judge to declare that the DRBC does not have jurisdiction to prevent construction of a natural gas well (see Wayne County, PA Landowner Sues DRBC Over Fracking Ban). The Wayne landowner argued in U.S. District Court that oil and gas wells, under the DRBC’s charter, do not constitute a “project” that is regulated by the DRBC and therefore are exempt from oversight from the DRBC. The way the DRBC so broadly reinterprets the word “project” in the original charter, it allows them to regulate anything and everything. In March 2016, MDN reported that U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani ruled against the landowner (see Judge Tosses Wayne County, PA Landowner Lawsuit Against DRBC). At first blush it seemed like a setback for landowners in Wayne and Pike counties. But looks can be deceiving. As we pointed out, when you read the judge’s decision, he harpoons all of the DRBC’s legal arguments, but in the end rules against the landowner. Why? Because the judge wanted to send the case to a higher court for an ultimate decision–the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Which is precisely where the case ended up. Last November oral arguments were heard in the appealed case. The DRBC’s lawyer conveniently had a couple of fainting spells that delayed the proceedings when tough questioning didn’t go his way (see DRBC Lawyer Nearly Faints 2nd Time When Questioned by Fed Judges). On Tuesday, July 3rd, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, sending the case back down to U.S. District Court with orders to more fully consider what is, and what is not, meant by the word “project” in the original DRBC charter. Interpretation: This is a MAJOR victory for the landowner, and a MAJOR defeat of the DRBC. No, the case isn’t over yet, but now the full case will get heard. The legal arguments in the case clearly support the landowner. The rogue DRBC is very nervous, as evidenced by reaction from their proxy mouthpiece, THE Delaware Riverkeeper…
    Read More “Major Federal Court Decision Opens Door to Stop DRBC Frack Ban”

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    Sunoco Seeks to Use Alternate Pipe Near Philly to Get ME2 Flowing

    Years ago when Sunoco Logistics Partners (aka Energy Transfer Partners) originally proposed and planned the Mariner East 2 twin pipelines from the edge of eastern Ohio through the entire length of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, the completion date promised was the end of 2016. Little could Sunoco foresee the multiple lawsuits, regulatory hearings and illegal protest actions that would conspire to throw the project off schedule for more than a year and half. When pipeline companies plan such multi-billion dollar projects, they first get customers (drillers) to sign on the dotted line, guaranteeing there will be enough product (and revenue) to make the project worthwhile. Drillers *did* sign on the dotted line, and they’re still waiting. Waiting and now pressuring Sunoco to get the darned thing up and running. The pipeline itself is 98% complete–in the ground and connected. But an all-important 2% is still not complete, most of it in the Philly suburbs–Delaware and Chester counties. Sunoco continues to have problems with underground horizontal directional drilling and with ongoing litigation by towns in the Philly area. What to do, with customers breathing down your back? Sunoco has come up with an ingenious solution that is sure to send the crazies into orbit. Sunoco is asking the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for permission to use part of an existing 12-inch pipeline in that area that previously carried refined petroleum products (things like gasoline, heating oil, and jet fuel), repurposing the pipeline to carry NGLs (ethane, propane, butane, etc.). This is only a short-term fix until the last bits of the full ME2 is up and running…
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    2 Lancaster Radicals Arrested Stopping Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Work

    The married couple who started Lancaster Against Pipelines (LAP), Mark and Malinda Clatterbuck, are far-left radicals who pretend to be mom and pop, salt-of-the-earth, neighbor-next-door, aw-shucks common folks who would never engage in “violent” protests. Mark Clatterbuck admits to traveling to North Dakota to participate in the mass action against the Dakota Access Pipeline–a “protest” that turned quite violent and destroyed millions of dollars of property. No, we’re not saying nor implying that Clatterbuck himself engaged in illegal actions while there. We are saying the Clatterbucks’ sympathies lie with protest movements that sometimes result in such actions. The Clatterbucks made some big boasts–that some 1,000 people had pledged to protest and get themselves arrested to stop Atlantic Sunrise, a $3 billion, 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. Something under 50 people have actually been arrested for illegal actions in trying to stop construction. As the Atlantic Sunrise project nears completion in all locations, including Lancaster County, apparently LAP is feeling neglected. Nobody talks about them anymore. They didn’t/couldn’t stop the pipeline, as they had boasted they would. So in an attempt to grab one more headline, Mark and another LAP protester, Elliot Martin, connected themselves together at a pipeline construction site using a “sleeping dragon”…
    Read More “2 Lancaster Radicals Arrested Stopping Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Work”

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    PennFuture Tries to Bully Pittsburgh Airport re Gas Royalties

    As is so often the case, radical Big Green groups, like PennFuture, attempt to intimidate (i.e. bully) by using threats of legal action, those who dare to use and (gasp) enjoy the monetary benefits of shale drilling. In early 2013 the Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County, PA signed a deal with CONSOL Energy (now CNX Resources) to lease 9,000 acres surrounding the airport for natural gas drilling (see $50M Check in the Mail: Pittsburgh Airport Lease a Done Deal). The airport received a $50 million signing bonus and the promise of 18% royalties on anything produced and sold. The first wells began to flow natural gas for the first time exactly two years ago, in July 2016 (see CONSOL’s First Pittsburgh Airport Wells Begin to Flow NatGas). So far, for 2016 and 2017, the airport has received a grand total of just over $16 million in royalty payments and another $857,000 from other fees. Yikes! The airport uses the revenue “to reduce airline rates and charges and for capital expenditures…at the Airport.” So along comes the Big Green bullies from PennFuture, threatening to sue the airport if it doesn’t use the money for what PennFuture wants it used for. Yeah, the money does not belong to PennFuture, but that doesn’t stop this rogue “nonprofit” from throwing its weight around and making demands. PennFuture is telling the airport the money MUST be used to “further the interests of citizens under the environmental rights amendment.” Whatever that means. PennFuture told the airport, in a nasty letter, that the airport is in violation of Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Our advice to the airport: Tell PennFuture to take a hike in the vast PA outdoors…
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    PA DEP Grants Williams NE Supply Enhancement Pipe Key Permit

    NESE map – click for larger version

    The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) is a Williams Transco Pipeline project meant to increase pipeline capacity and flows heading into northeastern markets (see Time to Support Transco’s Northeast Supply Enhancement Project). Transco wants to provide more Marcellus natural gas to utility giant National Grid beginning with the 2019-2020 heating season. National Grid operates in New York City, Long Island, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There are a number of components to the project, but the key component, the heart of the project, is a new 23-mile pipeline from the shore of New Jersey into (on the bottom of) the Raritan Bay–running parallel to the existing Transco pipeline–before connecting to the Transco offshore. After an initial rejection by the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Williams refiled an application for the project in May with the DEC (see Williams Refiles Application with NY DEC for Transco NESE Project). Meanwhile, there are portions of the project in Pennsylvania that have already been approved by the PA’s Dept. of Environmental Protection. In a notice published in the June 16 Pennsylvania Bulletin, the DEP issued the project a Section 401 Water Quality Certification for work being done in Lancaster and Chester counties. According to the PA Environment Digest Blog: “The Project facilities consist of approximately 10.17 miles of new 42-inch diameter natural gas pipeline in Drumore, East Drumore, and Eden Townships, Lancaster County and the addition of one 21,902 horsepower motor-driven compressor at the existing Compressor Station 200 in East Whiteland Twp., Chester County.” Too bad the dysfunctional NY DEC couldn’t be more like the mostly-functional PA DEP…
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    New Kid on the Block Gives THE Dela. Riverkeeper Some Competition

    Sandra Meola

    Looks like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, now has some competition. We’ve written about the radical Riverkeeper for years–an anti-fossil fuel organization hellbent to stop the use of fossil fuels by opposing fracking and pipelines anywhere and everywhere throughout the Marcellus/Utica region. Fruitcakes. Funded by the William Penn Foundation and Heinz Endowments, among other politically-active-yet-tax-exempt Big Green funders. But what’s this? There’s a relatively new organization (formed in 2012) called the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed (CDRW). Beginning this month, Sandra Meola becomes director of the organization. By all accounts the CDRW is just as far-left as Riverkeeper, although CDRW seems to be more about raising money for particular projects rather than suing fossil fuel companies. According to the CDRW website, “The Coalition is made up of numerous organizations working throughout the four-state Delaware River Watershed to protect and restore one of America’s great river basins. Members range in size and reach from local groups on the front lines of Watershed protection, to organizations that work on regional, state, and national levels.” In looking through the Members page (the list of organizations that belong to the CDRW), we spot the usual suspects. PennFuture, Trout Unlimited, Pennsylvania Environmental Council–radical green groups all, vehemently opposed to shale energy. Noticeably absent from the CDRW Members list is THE Delaware Riverkeeper. We wonder, why is that?…
    Read More “New Kid on the Block Gives THE Dela. Riverkeeper Some Competition”

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    60-Mile Pipeline from NW PA to NE OH Gets Favorable FERC Review

    Click for larger version

    Last October MDN brought you details about the proposed $86 million Risberg Line pipeline project (see New 60-Mile Pipeline Proposed from NW Pa. to NE Ohio). The project will use approximately 32 miles of existing pipeline in an established Right of Way originating in the Meadville, PA area. Approximately 16 miles of new pipeline will be installed in Pennsylvania and approximately 12 miles of new pipeline will be installed in Ohio–meaning 28 miles of brand new “greenfield” pipeline needs to get built. Both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission are “cooperating agencies” and part of the environmental assessment (EA) review process, along with the lead agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Good news: FERC issued the EA on Friday (full copy below), and the project passes with flying colors. While this is not a final stamp of approval (which is due by Sept. 27th), when FERC issues a favorable EA, it’s almost certain they will approve the project…
    Read More “60-Mile Pipeline from NW PA to NE OH Gets Favorable FERC Review”

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    Another ME2 Mud Spill at Snitz Creek, Another Hysterical Reaction

    Sunoco Logistics Partners was drilling horizontally underneath Snitz Creek in Lebanon County, PA for its Mariner East 2 Pipeline project when it experienced yet another “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud leaking out of a place where it shouldn’t. Sunoco spilled five gallons of nontoxic drilling mud. This is the third time it’s happened in June, and the sixth time it’s happened at the Snitz Creek location in total. Predictably, antis were hysterical. Hysterical, not as in funny, but hysterical as an insane, out-of-control overreaction. Theatrics. Drama. That kind of hysterical. The reaction from antis is organized by “green” groups–in particular by one person from a local green group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Lebanon County. Five gallons of nontoxic drilling mud (the same stuff used to make kitty litter and lipstick) is, quite literally, NOTHING. We’ve seen 5 gallon spills of very toxic gasoline at the local gas station that went unnoticed. Gasoline is far more “toxic” to the environment than what’s happening at Snitz Creek. Why do drilling mud spills keep happening at the Snitz Creek location? Obviously the ground in that area is porous. Every time Sunoco drills under the creek another few feet, drilling mud pops out and drilling activity gets shut down, yet again. This is a recurring situation. We don’t know what the solution is, but not building the pipeline (which is 99% done) is not one of the options. Hopefully Sunoco can find a solution quickly so we can put this ongoing, manufactured, and tiresome drama queen theatrics behind us…
    Read More “Another ME2 Mud Spill at Snitz Creek, Another Hysterical Reaction”

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    PA IFO Predicts 2018 Impact Tax Will Raise Record High $224 Million

    The PA Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) does a pretty good job of guesstimating how much impact fee revenue will get generated in the coming year, based on permit and producing wells activity this year. How good? Last year the IFO predicted that impact fee (equivalent of a severance tax) revenue would be $222 million for 2017 (see IFO Predicts PA Impact Fees for 2017 Will Soar, Near Record High). They weren’t too far off. The state Public Utility Commission, charged with collecting the fee, just disbursed impact fee revenue raised in 2017. The grand total was $210 million (see PA Impact Fee/Tax Hauls in $210M in 2017 – Third Highest Ever). There was $6 million “missing” from that number due to a dispute over what is, and what is not, considered a “stripper well.” If you were to include the $6 million (as the IFO does in their estimates), then 2017 revenue would have been $217 million–not far from IFO’s $222 million estimate. The IFO just released an impact fee update (full copy below) with an outlook for 2018. The IFO predicts next year’s impact fee will generate $224 million in revenue. If that estimate bears out, it would be the highest amount of revenue generated by the fee since its beginning in 2011…
    Read More “PA IFO Predicts 2018 Impact Tax Will Raise Record High $224 Million”

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    Rover Pressuring FERC to Approve Final 2 Laterals ASAP

    Click for larger version

    In a respectful, but strongly worded letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Energy Transfer Partners’ Rover Pipeline asks FERC to (our words) get off its rear-end and approve the Burgettstown and Majorsville laterals. The two laterals, or off-shoots of the pipeline system, both reach into western Pennsylvania and are (from what we can tell) the final two pieces of the Rover pipeline that are not yet online. Rover asked FERC to approve the two laterals, along with other portions of the pipeline, by June 1st, in a letter dated May 24th. FERC did approve some items on the list, but not the two laterals (see M-U Gas Now Travels to Dawn Hub in Canada via Rover Pipeline). In a June 21 letter (read it below) Rover then asked FERC to approve the two laterals by June 25, this past Monday. That date came and went with no approvals. Rover said in its letter: “significant volumes of natural gas have been unable to flow on pipeline facilities that have been completed for nearly a month.” You can feel the frustration when reading the letter. So what, exactly, is the holdup anyway?…
    Read More “Rover Pressuring FERC to Approve Final 2 Laterals ASAP”

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    Handy List of 48 New/Planned Gas-Fired Plants in PA, Courtesy FWW

    The radicals of Food & Water Watch (FWW), a disgusting organization, have done us all a huge favor! FWW is composed of some of the worst of the worst when it comes to anti-fossil fuel nuttery. They oppose everything, including low-carbon natural gas, if it’s called a fossil fuel. FWW issued a new “report” last week taking aim at the growing number of Marcellus gas-fired electric plants sprouting up around the state, replacing dirtier coal-fired plants. Only in the mind of a demented liberal is coal better for the environment than natgas. But we digress. FWW’s report is called “Pernicious Placement of Pennsylvania Power Plants: Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Boom Reinforces Environmental Injustice.” Those alliterations are just ingenious, aren’t they? As part of the report, FWW published a comprehensive list of 48 planned, under construction, or recently commissioned gas-fired power plant projects in the Keystone State. Wow! What a great list! We’ve extracted the list itself and shared it below (so you don’t have to endure the full report). The focus of the report is the baseless charge FWW (and others) make that new power plant projects are built in poor, black areas–where the downtrodden can’t fight back against the machine that is Big Oil/Gas. FWW includes a map (see it below) that charts where “communities of color” (meaning concentrations of black people) live in the state, along with dots that show where existing and planned gas-fired plants are located. Take a look at the dots for planned plants. Almost none of them are near “communities of color!” Whoops. Some intern wasn’t paying attention when she drafted the report…
    Read More “Handy List of 48 New/Planned Gas-Fired Plants in PA, Courtesy FWW”

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    PA DEP Notifies Shell of “Technical Deficiencies” with Ethane Pipe

    Shell delivered some good news at last week’s Northeast U.S. Petrochemical conference in Pittsburgh: The Falcon ethane pipeline will get built next year (see Shell Says Falcon Ethane Pipeline to Get Built in 2019). The pipeline won’t actually flow ethane to the Shell cracker in Monaca until 2020 at the earliest, because the cracker plant itself won’t go online until 2020 at the earliest. The 97-mile consists of “two legs,” with about half of the pipeline located in PA, the other half in OH. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducted three public hearings on the project earlier this year, in preparation for issuing permits. Antis came out in force and behaved badly, as they typically do (see More of the Same at Final DEP Hearing for Shell Ethane Pipeline). No matter. The pipeline will get built. But not without jumping some hurdles first. On June 1, the DEP issued three letters identifying what it calls “serious technical deficiencies” in Shell’s pipeline plan, for townships in three different counties along the pipeline’s PA route. Shell maintains this type of notification is “common” in the permitting process, and is committed to working with the DEP to address any issues of concern…
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