PA PUC Votes Thursday to “Ratify” Shutdown of ME1 Following Sinkholes
Last week MDN reported that due to underground horizontal direction drilling (HDD) in Chester County, PA for the Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline project, a third sinkhole had developed. ME2 is being built close to the existing Mariner East 1 (ME1) pipeline. The sinkhole exposed a portion of the ME1 pipeline to the open air, which is why the head of the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) temporarily shut down the propane and ethane flowing through ME1 (see PA PUC Shuts Down Mariner 1 Pipeline Due to Mariner 2 Sinkhole). The shutdown is for 10-14 days, which sent ME1 customers Range Resources an CNX Resources scrambling to find alternate ways to ship their ethane and propane (see Range, CNX Look for Alternatives to ME1 Pipe Following Shutdown). Tomorrow the PUC will meet and as part of that meeting, they will vote to ratify the action of PUC Chairwoman Gladys Brown in issuing last week’s emergency shutdown order…
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We bet you didn’t know that a bloated, inefficient government bureaucracy like the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) can cut down on the amount of time it takes them to review permits necessary in the drilling process (like erosion and stream crossing permits)–just by changing the paperwork. That’s the claim the DEP is making. Yesterday the DEP released new paperwork–new forms to fill out–for Chapter 105 General Permit Registrations relating to water obstructions and encroachments. These new forms “will improve the quality of General Permit registration requests, eliminate unnecessary redundancies, and reduce review time frames.” Yeah, and we have a bridge in Brooklyn we’d like to sell ya…
As we reported last week, this week the PA House of Representatives was due to host a hearing on a slate of bills aimed at fixing not only the slowmo way the state Dept. of Environmental Protection approves permits, but also roll back some of the egregious regulatory overreach in PA (see 
We’re in a position we don’t typically find ourselves in–defending a member of liberal Democrat PA Gov. Wolf’s staff. We don’t have much respect for Wolf and his administration, but sometimes there’s an injustice that simply can’t be ignored. We find this injustice particularly loathsome. A Big Green supporter and far-left radical environmentalist who lives in Chester County, PA, Caroline Hughes, filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission against PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s deputy chief of staff, Yesenia Bane, late last year (see 
Seems like we increasingly see the word “microgrid” popping up. What, exactly, is a microgrid? Microgrids are small electric generating plants, most often powered by natural gas. They usually produce a few megawatts of electricity and are often used for “peaking”–which means they are used during times of high electricity demand. During times of high demand these small microgrids kick on and produce electricity to help meet the demand (see 
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from the so-called “more than 1,000” protesters willing to get themselves arrested in Lancaster County in their holy mission to stop the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline. As of last November, the unofficial tally we could determine is that 45 people who belong to Lancaster Against Pipelines (LAP) have gotten themselves arrested for illegal actions in attempting to stop the pipeline (see 
A third sinkhole related to Mariner East 2 pipeline work and the uncovering (and subsequent shutdown) of the Mariner East 1 pipeline has some folks in Chester County, PA stirred up and rather grumpy (see 
MDN reported yesterday that due to underground horizontal direction drilling (HDD) in Chester County, PA (near Philadelphia) for the Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline project, a third sinkhole had developed (see 
We spoke too soon. In a story MDN published yesterday, we said that Big Green propagandist mouthpiece PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania was the only “news” outlet reporting on “yellow smoke” released as part of the commissioning process for the Lackawanna Energy Center, a Marcellus gas-fired electric plant being built near Scranton (see 
Last December MDN told you about the bastardization of our justice system. The New York University (NYU) School of Law is paying to hire radical (Democrat) attorneys to work inside the offices of the Attorneys General in 10 different states–Pennsylvania being the latest (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) needs fixing. That fact is acknowledged by everyone. The question (or rather disagreement) is in how to fix it. The DEP can’t seem to get its act together with respect to approving simple erosion permits. Turnaround from the time a permit is requested until it is supposed to be approved is, by DEP’s own statutory standards, 14 days. Last year it was taking over 250 days in some areas of the state (see 