Pennsylvania

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    PA DEP Caves to Pressure, Extends Comment Period for Shell Pipeline

    Once again, in what appears to be a pattern, the Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is caving to pressure from virulent anti-fossil fuelers. This time in regard to Shell’s proposed Falcon Ethane Pipeline project. Shell is working on an ethane “pipeline system” with two “legs” to feed the mighty cracker plant being built in Monaca, Beaver County (see Shell Working on 94-Mile Ethane Pipeline to Feed PA Cracker). Last October Shell filed an application with the PA DEP for the PA portions of the pipeline, some 60 miles of the total system (see Shell Files PA Application for Ethane Pipe to Feed Cracker Plant). The DEP advertised an official comment period for the project on Jan. 20, giving interested parties until Feb. 20 to file their comments–an entire month (see PA DEP Invites Public Comment on Shell 60-Mile Ethane Pipeline). However, one month isn’t enough time for anti-drillers to marshal the faithful to try and sink the project. FracTracker Alliance, an anti-fossil fuel organization, colluded with other groups to put the word out to flood the DEP with demands to keep the comment period open. The DEP folded, like a flimsy house of cards, and has now extended the comment period to April 17th along with three public hearings (circus freak shows), which will give the FracTracker faithful time to mount publicity and legal offensives to try and stop the project. If the pipeline doesn’t happen, work at the cracker plant stops. Which, of course, isn’t going to happen. But it illustrates the true aim of FracTracker and other virulent (way, way, WAY outside the mainstream) anti-fossil fuel groups…
    Read More “PA DEP Caves to Pressure, Extends Comment Period for Shell Pipeline”

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    PA Town Sues Sunoco for ME2 Pipe Construction “Too Close” to Homes

    We understand why folks in Uwchlan Township (Chester County, PA) may be upset with Sunoco Logistics and the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline that’s crossing through their area. Last summer drilling work for the pipeline in Uwchlan created cloudy well water for some residents (see ME2 Pipe Work in Chester County Creates Water Well Issue for Some). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently allowed Sunoco to resume work in the township (and elsewhere)–after Sunoco paid a $12.6 million fine (see PA DEP Allows ME2 Underground Drilling to Resume in Chester County). So yeah, residents have some concerns. However, they’re going about venting their frustration in the wrong way. Last week supervisors in Uwchlan Township voted unanimously to enforce an ordinance that requires pipelines like ME2 to be set back 1,000 feet from buildings. In some cases, ME2 is being built within 100 feet of buildings. While we appreciate Uwchlan’s concerns, the simple fact is, local municipal ordinances DO NOT override state regulations. In this case, it is the state DEP and Public Utility Commission that regulate the project. It is state law that trumps local ordinances–as it should be. By all means, wheel and deal and pressure and try to get Sunoco to change the route–but you cannot take the law into your own hands, which is exactly what Uwchlan is attempting to do…
    Read More “PA Town Sues Sunoco for ME2 Pipe Construction “Too Close” to Homes”

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    Williams 17/18 Update: Full Atlantic Sunrise Startup Slightly Delayed

    Last week Williams, the largest pipeline/midstream company operating in the Marcellus/Utica region, released its fourth quarter and full year 2017 update. While the company lost $342 million in 4Q17 due to “non-cash charges related to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” the company made a profit of $871 million for the year, up 100% from making $431 million in 2016. The company brought five big projects online in 2017–Gulf Trace, Hillabee Phase 1, Dalton, New York Bay and Virginia Southside II–which added an extra 2.8 billion cubic feet per day of capacity and led to record-breaking volumes of gas flowing along the Transco pipeline (see Williams Marcellus Buildout Leads to Record Transco Pipe Volumes). However, it was the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project that stole most of the limelight in last week’s update. Atlantic Sunrise is 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, PA. The pipeline will be ready in July, on schedule. However, an associated compressor station will take “a few months longer” than July, meaning the pipeline won’t be online until early fall sometime (not on schedule). Below is last week’s Williams update, a copy of the latest PowerPoint presentation, and excerpts from the analyst phone call…

    2/22/18 Update: Our original thought was that with a delay in the compressor station starting up, the entire pipeline would be delayed in starting up. Not true! We reached out to Williams for an explanation for how the pipeline could stay on schedule without the compressor going online initially. We got this statement back: “The gas that is placed into the system by producers enters the pipeline at very high pressures. In addition, we have existing Transco compression near the terminus of the line that is pulling the gas through the line. This push/pull dynamic is what allows gas to flow through the pipe prior to the full commissioning of the project’s compression.” So there you have it. While the full startup will be slightly delayed, the pipeline will still flow much of the volume intended–on schedule in July.
    Read More “Williams 17/18 Update: Full Atlantic Sunrise Startup Slightly Delayed”

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    Frac Sand Barge Facility Near Pittsburgh Gets $638K Grant to Expand

    McKees Rocks barge facility

    While we don’t (yet) have hard numbers for how many shale wells were drilled in the Marcellus/Utica in 2017 versus 2016 and 2015, we’re pretty sure the 2017 number went up–a lot. Why do we think so? Because frac sand use went through the roof in 2017. Yes, drillers are using more sand to frack each well, so the numbers could reflect drilling the same number of wells using more sand–but we don’t think that explains it all. Not this much sand. McKees Rocks Industrial Enterprises operates a barge/transloading facility on the Ohio River in McKees Rocks (Allegheny County), PA. Jim Lind, operator of the facility, says sand shipments soared 200% in 2017 over previous years. Put another way, sand shipments doubled–at just this one facility! Sand is barged in to the facility from the Midwest, then loaded onto trucks and rail cars for delivery to Marcellus/Utica well sites throughout the region. Business is good. The barge facility needs to expand. Pennsylvania recognizes the facility’s value to the shale industry, so the state has just made a $638,015 grant to allow McKees Rocks to handle more barges at the same time at the 100-acre facility. That’s good for the Marcellus/Utica, and it’s good for the regional Pittsburgh economy…
    Read More “Frac Sand Barge Facility Near Pittsburgh Gets $638K Grant to Expand”

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    York, PA Electric Plant to Drop Coal, Burn Only Marcellus Gas

    Something momentous has just happened. The loons at the Sierra Club, who once loved natural gas until they began irrationally hating it, have just admitted to the world that burning natural gas to produce electricity is A.O.K. with them. Brunner Island Power Plant is located in York County, PA, straddling Lancaster County. It is a huge, 1,490 megawatt coal-fired electric generating plant, and has been the target of environmentalists for years. In February 2017, MDN told you that the new owner of the plant is investing $100 million to retrofit the plant so it can, at least part of the time, burn Marcellus Shale gas (see York County, PA Electric Plant Begins Using NatGas as Fuel). Talen Energy (the new owner) said it “plans to burn little or no coal until 2019 as part of a ‘site evaluation.’” Meaning almost all (perhaps all) of the fuel powering the plant at this point is Marcellus Shale gas. Which is why we’re interested in the plant and what happens to it. However, it appears they still burn coal from time to time. Talen has just signed to settle a lawsuit brought by the odious Sierra Club. The terms of the settlement say they will burn only Marcellus gas during “peak ozone season”–from May 1 through Sept. 30–starting in 2023. Talen will phase out coal completely by 2028. In other words, the Sierra Club, contrary to its own “end natural gas” campaign, has just signed a settlement admitting they think natural gas is far better for the environment than coal. Actions speak louder than words…
    Read More “York, PA Electric Plant to Drop Coal, Burn Only Marcellus Gas”

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    PA DEP Allows ME2 Underground Drilling to Resume in Chester County

    In what can only be considered a government shakedown, Sunoco Logistics Partners agreed last week to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). So we’re not surprised to learn that a few days later the DEP has magnanimously allowed Sunoco Logistics Partners to resume drilling work in Chester County for ME2–work that had been on hold since last summer (see ME2 Pipe Work in Chester County Creates Water Well Issue for Some). As we reported last year, the water wells for a dozen households in Chester County became cloudy–or lost pressure–after underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) by Sunoco attempting to install pipes underground in places where digging trenches will not work. Sunoco paid for five families to temporarily stay in local hotels for several nights. Sunoco also provided bottled water for all of the affected families. The working theory is that bentonite clay (i.e. drilling mud) is the source of the cloudiness. Fortunately, bentonite is non-toxic and used to manufacture many products, including toothpaste and kitty litter. Because of the episode in Chester and several locations, the DEP stopped HDD work for the project. Sunoco later cut a deal to continue the work (see Sunoco Strikes Deal with Devil, “Settles” with Anti Groups re ME2). Then, all work everywhere for the ME2 project was stopped by the DEP in early January. That is, it was stopped until Sunoco paid the DEP $12.6 million for permission to restart construction. So yes, $12.6 million ought to buy the right to restart HDD drilling in Chester County, as it just has, although the DEP is still holding the threat of “further penalties” over Sunoco’s head as a way of encouraging them to avoid any further drilling mud spills…
    Read More “PA DEP Allows ME2 Underground Drilling to Resume in Chester County”

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    Rover Pipeline’s SWPA Burgettstown Lateral Ready for Startup

    Click map for larger version

    On Tuesday, Rover Pipeline (Energy Transfer Partners) sent an official request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for permission to begin service on one of the remaining legs of the pipeline not yet up and running as part of Phase 1 development. Rover wants to begin service on the Burgettstown Lateral by Feb. 26. The Burgettstown Lateral (see the map below) extends from Burgettstown (Washington County), PA through Hancock County, WV and into eastern Ohio, connecting to the main Rover Pipeline in Carroll County. The Burgettstown Lateral is 51.3 miles long and includes a compressor station in/near Burgettstown to push the gas along the entire length of the lateral. Rover still maintains they will have the entire Rover Pipeline network up and running by the end of March. There are still some areas in Ohio where they are working (drilling for a second pipeline under the Tuscarawas River), however, most of the work remaining to be done is in Michigan–Phase 2 of the project. When it’s all done, up and running, Rover will flow 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus/Utica gas to the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada. Below is Rover’s request to “start me up” for the Burgettstown Lateral, along with a map of the lateral…
    Read More “Rover Pipeline’s SWPA Burgettstown Lateral Ready for Startup”

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    PA DEP Wants to Boost Shale Fees 250% to Help Fund Non-Shale Work

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, “blindsided” the shale industry last week with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well (see PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%). The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times (250%) higher. The DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) met yesterday to discuss the permit fee increase. It was DEP Deputy Sec. Scott Perry’s job to be the point guy, the spear catcher to stick up for this insane hike in fees. We understand…The DEP has fewer people working there than it once did and needs to hire more. (Although the DEP somehow found half a million bucks lying around to hire 92 interns to help out. See PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns). PA Gov. Tom Wolf wants to slap a new severance tax on shale drillers to give their money away to Philadelphia teacher’s unions. The DEP (an executive agency, part of the Wolf administration) is taking a page from Wolf’s playbook. The DEP wants to slap this insanely high fee on shale drillers to (in part) cover the expenses associated with non-shale activities. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Mr. Perry said they [shale permit fees] fund the broad scope of the [DEP] office’s operations, including its oversight of traditional [i.e. conventional] oil and gas wells, gas storage wells, abandoned wells and earthmoving activities.” How is it, in any sense, fair to hike the fees of shale drillers so DEP agents can better keep an eye on non-shale wells? Kind of like robbing Peter to pay Paul…
    Read More “PA DEP Wants to Boost Shale Fees 250% to Help Fund Non-Shale Work”

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    ME2 Pipeline’s $12.6M Shakedown Money Won’t Pay for Cleanup

    Last week MDN brought you the news that Sunoco Logistics Partners had agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). Supposedly Sunoco’s ME2 construction activities have caused a few erosion issues here and some drilling mud leaks there–so-called “harms” to the environment. Surely some of the massive, historically high $12.6 million fine Sunoco is paying will be used to “fix” those problems, right? Wrong. Every single penny is going to other pockets (black holes) within the DEP, proving our contention that this was nothing more than a shakedown by a government agency. Essentially Sunoco had to pay DEP mobsters a “bribe” in order to restart work on the ME2 project. The DEP had Sunoco by the short hairs, blocking any new work until the money was paid. So what about “cleaning up” the problems created by ME2 construction? “[I]t’s highly likely that Sunoco will be required to clean up the damage caused by its botched construction, in addition to paying the penalty,” according to a former DEP Secretary. If that doesn’t beat all. Fine them AND make them pay even more for the cleanup. Welcome to doing business in Pennsylvania…
    Read More “ME2 Pipeline’s $12.6M Shakedown Money Won’t Pay for Cleanup”

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    Big Green Targets PA Marcellus via DEP Water Quality Review

    The efforts by radical environmental groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and PennFuture to try and shut down the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania never stop. Like ocean waves that continue to crash into the shoreline, Riverkeeper and PennFuture constantly, regularly, launch new initiatives aimed at hassling, slowing, stopping and reversing the Marcellus industry. Sometimes (often) their efforts are focused on filing frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes it’s a publicity stunt/protest. And sometimes they take aim at regulatory bodies, like the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). It is that last one that is the focus of a new campaign to stifle the Marcellus industry. Every three years the DEP conducts a review of water quality standards. Riverkeeper and PennFuture have put the call out to their radical faithful to inundate the DEP with public comments (due by Feb. 16) to create new regulations that will “protect” PA streams “from impacts like brine gas drilling wastewater” and “road salt applications in the winter”–perfectly safe salt that comes from processed wastewater. In other words, this is yet another attempt to shut down the drilling industry by neutering its ability to properly dispose of brine wastewater…
    Read More “Big Green Targets PA Marcellus via DEP Water Quality Review”

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    PA Auditor General Goes After SRBC, DRBC with “First-Ever” Audits

    2/14/18 Update: Shortly after this post went live, MDN received a tip from a reliable source that sheds more light on the audit and why DePasquale is moving forward with it. (Hint: He’s being forced to.) See our note below.

    This should be interesting to watch. Democrat partisan hack PA Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is about to conduct an in-depth (very invasive and painful) “audit” of the finances for both the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) AND the out-of-control Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). That is, we have a Democrat turning on some of his own. DePasquale previously audited the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection during the administration of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. DePasquale’s “audit” highlighted problems that had already been fixed, for years (see DEP to DePasquale: Problems Fixed Years Ago, Where Have You Been?). It was a political stunt, meant to embarrass Tom Corbett and shame the Marcellus industry. When that didn’t work, DePasquale ran a sham audit two years later looking at the impact tax–the money raised by shale drilling–that looks and acts and walks and quacks like a severance tax in PA (see PA Anti-Drilling Auditor General Bashes Impact Fee Spending). His audit found the system needs better paperwork. Yeah, that’ll fix things. More paperwork. DePasquale’s targets have been Republicans and the things they like, as in drilling. So it surprised us to learn that DePasquale will now go after (at least in the case of the DRBC) some of his own. Perhaps DePasquale will “discover” all sorts of nasty problems with the SRBC, but the DRBC will be clean and pure as the wind-driven snow. That’s what we expect from a partisan hack like DePasquale…
    Read More “PA Auditor General Goes After SRBC, DRBC with “First-Ever” Audits”

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    Local Officials Praise Atlantic Sunrise Construction in Lancaster

    Here’s something you don’t read every day with respect to pipeline construction: “Some township officials have praised the care of contractors in minimizing and reacting to disturbances and nuisance issues such as muddy roads and traffic backups.” Those comments come from officials in (yes), Lancaster County, PA, referring to the stellar job Williams is doing in building the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline–a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas 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. What happened to the “over 1,000 protesters” willing to get themselves arrested as they stand in front of heavy equipment to block construction in Lancaster County? Where are the Clattberbucks and their Lancaster Against Pipelines gang? Nowhere to be found, apparently. The opposition to Atlantic Sunrise appears to have run out of steam. Meanwhile, Williams is full of steam–going full steam ahead with the project–and local officials could not be happier as Williams drills under 70 roads, 67 streams and 17 wetlands in Lancaster County…
    Read More “Local Officials Praise Atlantic Sunrise Construction in Lancaster”

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    Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines

    Limiting fracking to an impossibly small 150 acres (out of 12,620 acres) that make up Monroeville–a mere 1% of the acreage–is not enough of a ban for radical antis in the municipality of Monroeville (suburb of Pittsburgh). They want it all banned–every single centimeter. The only problem with that is the Act 13 law, passed in 2012, requires each municipality to allow drilling in at least one zoned area. But hey, disobeying the law isn’t a problem for antis–they do it all the time. They are anarchists by nature. Last October, Monroeville Council passed a temporary ban on oil and gas well drilling everywhere except for those areas marked M-2 industrial zoning–a big change (see Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places). Previously, drilling permits were “conditional use” in Monroeville, meaning each permit was evaluated on its own merits, regardless of which zoning district it was located in. By limiting drilling to M-2, Council effectively banned drilling in the municipality. They passed the temporary ban until they could pass a new zoning ordinance that would set the frack ban policy in concrete. In January, Monroeville Council advertised their new zoning ordinance to FURTHER RESTRICT any kind of oil and gas activity–not just drilling, but pipelines, compressor plants, etc.–to a 150-acre parcel located next to the city dump (see Monroeville Pushes Ban on NatGas Activity, Incl. Drilling & Plants). Fantastically, unbelievably, antis in Monroeville aren’t happy with that 150-acre parcel exception–an old dump! They want drilling at the dump banned too…
    Read More “Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines”

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    PennEast Pipeline Cuts $1.7M Deal with Bethlehem Water Authority

    In a sure sign that the $1.1 billion, 120-mile PennEast Pipeline will get built, the Bethlehem Authority, which manages watershed land in the Pocono Mountains that supplies drinking water for the City of Bethlehem, has signed a $1.7 million deal to allow PennEast to traverse four miles of Authority land. Rather than challenge PennEast and potentially lose an eminent domain case, Bethlehem Authority officials said they brokered the deal–not only for the money it will bring in, but also to ensure there are certain protections in place during construction. The State of New Jersey is trying its best to stop the PennEast project (see NJ Continues to Hassle PennEast Pipe with Refusals & Rejections). However, this deal with Bethlehem Authority is yet another sign of the inevitability of the project. NJ is fighting an uphill battle they will lose. Wiser heads in Bethlehem realize that fact and took the right action to get the best deal possible…
    Read More “PennEast Pipeline Cuts $1.7M Deal with Bethlehem Water Authority”

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    Severance Tax Battle in PA Heats Up One More (Last?) Time

    As MDN reported last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, an extremely partisan Democrat, is once again beating the drum for a Marcellus Shale-killing severance tax in the last of his annual budgets (see PA Gov. Wolf Broken Record: Proposes Budget with Severance Tax). At least, we hope it’s Wolf’s last budget and that Pennsylvanians won’t be foolish enough to re-elect him for another four years (fool me once…). Wolf’s plan, in a nutshell, is to tax drillers (and by extension, landowners) to the tune of $250 million a year, and give that money away to teachers and their unions in the Philadelphia region–the people who elected him to office. We spotted dueling newspaper editorials from last week–one from the (sometimes) conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the other from the (always) liberal Democrat-owned Scranton Times-Tribune. Below are those editorials illustrating clear-headed thinking, and muddled thinking (respectively), along with a January column co-written by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry laying out the case against a severance tax in the Keystone State. Unfortunately this is an ongoing battle we must fight every single year. But fight it we must…
    Read More “Severance Tax Battle in PA Heats Up One More (Last?) Time”

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    Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum

    In October 2017, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling). Plum’s leaders got blowback from some residents (antis) over the decision to conditionally approve H&H’s request. In Plum, fracking is (or rather was) allowed in any zone if a conditional use is granted. That’s what happened in October–the Plum Council issued a conditional use exception for H&H to drill on 92 acres near Coxcomb Hill Road in Plum. To avoid dealing with more such conditional cases, Plum Council drafted proposed changes to their zoning ordinances (ordinances which haven’t been updated since 1993) that will only allow fracking in rural residential and industrial zones (see Plum, PA Officials Hold Hearing on New Restrictions for Fracking). H&H originally said the changes would be too restrictive. However, they later adopted a “half a loaf is better than no loaf” philosophy, opting to support the new rules. A compromise. In December, Plum Council moved ahead and adopted the new rules, and antis predictably blew a gasket (see Plum, PA Passes Ordinance to Allow Fracking – Antis Livid). How and why did Plum adopt such an ordinance? Especially given so many surrounding towns in Allegheny Township are outright hostile to drilling? Let’s pull the curtain back and probe the thought process Plum used to arrive at a compromise that appears to work for both sides…
    Read More “Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum”