Pennsylvania

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    NEPA Republican Lawmaker Intros Marcellus Health Registry Bill

    In 2011, then-Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission filed a final report with 96 recommendations (see PA Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Final Report with 96 Recommendations). One of those recommendations is to establish a population-based health registry. The aim would be to collect and evaluate clinical data from health care providers and monitor citizens living near drilling sites. Sounded good to us then, still sounds good now. One of the early attempts at this came from the private sector. Geisinger Health Systems proposed to use data already in the files to begin tracking potential issues related to shale drilling (see PA Marcellus Health Study by Geisinger Turns into Data Warehouse). But as we later learned, Geisinger was in it for the money (can’t blame them). They wanted $24 million and didn’t get it, so that effort flopped. A Republican State legislator from Scranton, PA, Rep. Karen Boback, is attempting to reignite interest in the health registry issue. On Monday, Rep. Boback introduced House Bill (HB) 2055 (full copy below) that would establish a health registry to collect health-related data from those living near shale drilling. The PA Dept. of Health would be the agency tasked with the data collection. Rep. Boback figures it will take $1 million per year to fund the initiative, far less than what Geisinger wanted…
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    PennEast Files Eminent Domain Against 44 Landowners, Wants Marshals

    As we told you last week, Monday (Feb. 5) was the final day for landowners who live along the path of the PennEast Pipeline to accept an offer from PennEast to lease their land for the pipeline (see PennEast Pipe Gives Holdout Landowners Feb 5 Deadline to Sign). The landowners have had nearly three years to deal in good faith negotiations with PennEast, and their time has now run out. On Tuesday PennEast regrettably was forced to file eminent domain lawsuits against 44 holdout landowners. PennEast also asked the court to approve the use of federal marshals to protect workers due to threats the company has received from landowners and radical antis who say they will hassle workers and block construction. A prudent request given the sometimes violent nature of the Big Green movement (e.g. Dakota Access Pipeline violence). Here’s the latest on PennEast, as they get ready to begin construction…
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    PA Gov. Wolf Broken Record: Proposes Budget with Severance Tax

    Here we go again. Supposedly striking a more “cooperative tone,” Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf’s sympathetic media buddies are trying to spin, as best they can, Wolf’s state budget proposal delivered yesterday. Wolf is a hyper-partisan who, in this latest budget, continues to demand a $250 million/year Marcellus-killing severance tax–on top of the existing impact tax. It is the only new tax in the budget, a budget that increases the already wildly overspent state budget by an additional $1 billion! Spending in Harrisburg is completely out of control–a disaster. The last governor (frankly the only governor in a generation) who tried to correct Harrisburg’s voracious appetite to spend more, Tom Corbett, got voted out of office after one term. Wolf is hoping to score a second term by continuing his Santa Claus routine–by pulling money from the pockets of those who earn it (landowners and drillers) to give away to those who don’t (teacher’s unions in Philadelphia). We are not exaggerating–this is fact. In his proposed $32.9 million budget, Wolf claims a “modest” severance tax will generate $248.7 million this year, and ALL OF IT will go to “education”–meaning teachers and their unions in the Philadelphia region. It’s political payback for their ongoing support and for their efforts to get Wolf elected in the first place. Why is this FACT not discussed openly in the media? It is repugnant to use the gun barrel of the state to steal the wealth of one group and transfer it to another as political patronage. Yet that is Wolf’s mission. Republican legislators reacted negatively to Wolf’s wildly overspent budget (and severance tax), as did the Marcellus industry…
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    PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” Slow DEP Permits

    This is what passes for “action” in the swamp of Harrisburg. Over the past couple of years the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has gotten slower and slower in issuing permits for shale drilling–for simple things, like erosion permits a driller needs to push dirt around to create a well pad. The DEP has a policy of issuing erosion and sedimentation permits 14 days from the date of application. As of last summer it was taking the DEP over 250 days to issue those permits (see More Pushback on PA Senate Plan to Fix Slow DEP Permit Reviews). The drilling industry has been loudly pushing for a change. The DEP says it has fewer people on staff and that’s the reason for the slowdown. The thing is, the number of requests for permits has gone down too–so that particular argument doesn’t hold a lot of water. PA House Republicans have introduced a number of bills to “fix” the DEP, not least of which is a bill introduced that allows certified third parties to assist the DEP in reviewing permit applications (see Bill Introduced to Fix PA DEP’s Extreme Delays Issuing Permits). The PA Senate wants in on the “fix DEP” action too. A Senate Democrat, John Yudichak from Wilkes-Barre, proposed a resolution to study the problem (see PA Senate Ctte Sends “Study Slow DEP” Resolution for Full Vote). A resolution to study something is swamp code for “don’t do a darned thing about it.” Yudichak’s meaningless resolution passed the full Senate yesterday. PA Senators can now all pat themselves on the back, pretending they’ve actually done something to address this critical problem when in fact, they’ve done nothing at all…
    Read More “PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” Slow DEP Permits”

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    M-U Gathering Pipelines Blamed for Killing “Ancient” Salamanders

    The Eastern hellbender is the largest salamander in North America, reaching lengths of up to 24 inches. It’s also the official amphibian of Pennsylvania. Photo: Dave Herasimtschuk / Freshwaters Illustrated

    (Sigh.) Here we go again. An in-depth news story appearing on the PBS website Allegheny Front theorizes that the presence of natural gas gathering pipelines–run to individual shale wells–are causing a decrease in the population of hellbenders. The theory is that as more and more pipelines are installed under creeks and streams throughout the region (in western PA and easter OH), the construction process muddies the streams and kills aquatic life, including the hellbender. The hellbender is a giant salamander–growing to an average of 15 inches long. Ugly suckers–so ugly they’re cute! OK, so a pipeline gets installed and the water is muddy for a day or two and maybe it kills a hellbender or two, what’s the big deal? Are they an endangered species? No, they are not. They are, however, considered to be “near-threatened”–meaning any decade now they *may* get added to the “threatened” list (but still not endangered). The idea is, of course, to avoid killing enough of a species like the hellbender so that it ends up on a threatened or endangered list. So are pipelines having a negative impact on hellbender populations? The article wants you think so, but actually, there’s zero evidence of any kind of impact by pipelines on hellbender populations. Instead of scientific steak to show a connection between pipelines and hellbender populations, the article serves up anecdotal Cheetos of scary pictures of pipelines being installed. There is no connection between pipeline construction and hellbender populations–that’s the bottom line when you read the following story…
    Read More “M-U Gathering Pipelines Blamed for Killing “Ancient” Salamanders”

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    PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns

    Everybody has a “fix” for the chronically slow Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP has a policy of issuing erosion and sedimentation permits for shale drilling 14 days from the date of application. At last check, it was taking the agency over 250 days to issue those permits. The Marcellus industry has been pressuring the PA legislature for a fix. As we noted in a companion story today, the PA Senate’s “fix” is to study it (see PA Senate Passes Meaningless Resolution to “Study” DEP Slow Permits). The PA House is more proactive, with a series of 5 bills that would, among other things, enlist the help of independent third parties to take up the slack (see PA House Advances “Fix DEP & Other Agencies” Plan with 5 Bills). Even PA Gov. Tom Wolf got in the act, offering his own solution, which involves hiking fees and hiring more people (see PA Gov Wolf Floats Plan to Fix DEP Slow Drilling Permits: Hike Fees). Perhaps the DEP has found a way to fix itself. The DEP recently posted 92 openings for paid internships. Many of the openings are for “Engineering and Scientific Technical Interns” for which the intern will earn $13.23/hour. While some of the openings are in the coal program, or the water resources program, many of positions (we’d say most, judging by a random check) are in the oil and gas program. But wait, the DEP is on a tight budget, right? They don’t have an extra two nickels to rub together. That’s what we always hear. That’s why fees need to go up, right? Somehow the DEP has been able to find money for an intern program. If 92 interns work for a 3-month period earning $13.23 per hour (40 hour weeks), that’s more than $580,000. Maybe the DEP will pull the money from one of the slush funds Republicans wanted to empty as part of balancing the budget? At any rate, here’s the deets on becoming an intern for the PA DEP…
    Read More “PA DEP’s Short-Term Solution to Get More Help – Hire 92 Interns”

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    PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, has “blindsided” the shale industry with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well. The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times greater (i.e. 250% higher). The DEP Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) is scheduled to meet next week, on Feb. 14, to discuss the permit fee increase. The fee funds the oil and gas program within the DEP. Wells must be visited and inspected throughout their life–decades after they are initially drilled. The permit fee is a one-time, up-front fee. Over the past couple of years the number of new wells getting drilled has decreased (although in 2017 it went back up, see PA Shale Wells Drilled Soars 56% in 2017; Impact Fee Up $5,400/Well). Because there have been fewer wells drilled in recent years, there’s a lot less money in the DEP’s budget for well inspectors. Hence the plan to hike the fee. The industry does not object to a measured increase–but going up 250% is “excessive” and not called for, according to the Marcellus Shale Coalition. In addition to the permit fee hike, the TAB meeting will also hold a discussion on finalizing new GP-5 and GP-5A General Permits to control methane emissions from oil and gas operations. Buckle up, the next TAB meeting looks like it may get heated…
    Read More “PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%”

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    Sunoco Appeals DEP’s ME2 Pipe Suspension to Enviro Hearing Board

    PA State Sen. Andy Dinniman

    In early January, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an order shutting down all construction for the Sunoco Logistics Partners Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project (see PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). The DEP claims Sunoco had violated the conditions of the permits that allow it to drill and trench for the project. In particular, the DEP is hot and bothered about drilling mud spills associated with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD). The DEP said Suonco can restart work when/if certain conditions are met. So far the DEP has not allowed Sunoco to restart work. In the meantime, thousands of workers are in the unemployment line, and have been since Jan. 3rd. Sunoco has just appealed the DEP’s cease and desist order to the PA Environmental Hearing Board–a special court set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions. Sunoco lays out their case in a filing (below) for why the DEP is incorrect in issuing their stop work order…
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    XTO Plans 5 Shale Wells at Former Golf Course in Armstrong County

    You don’t hear much about XTO Energy drilling in the Marcellus these days. That’s not to say they aren’t busy. They certainly are/have been. In PA’s Butler County, XTO had spud (begun to drill or completed drilling) some 145 shale wells as of 2016. In neighboring Armstrong County, XTO had spud/drilled 4 shale wells as of 2016. The number in Armstrong will more than double if XTO wins approval for a series of wells they plan to drill on a single well pad. Last night XTO presented a plan to build a drill pad on what used to the seventh green at the former Phoenix at Buffalo Valley Golf Course in Freeport, PA. The plan calls for drilling 4 Marcellus wells and 1 Utica well on the pad. Some 20 residents showed up for the meeting. Not a single one spoke out against the plan. Nor did any of the Freeport officials. Here’s the details on XTO’s plans to sink a hole (in one!) on the seventh green in Armstrong County…
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    PA Shale Wells Drilled Soars 56% in 2017; Impact Fee Up $5,400/Well

    In early 2012, Pennsylvania enacted the most sweeping rework of oil and gas laws in the state in decades (see Gov. Corbett Signs New Marcellus Drilling Law). Called Act 13, one of the provisions of the law is an “impact fee” collected on each horizontal shale well drilled. The fee is intended to offset the impacts of drilling in places where drilling happens, hence the name. However, in order to get enough support to pass Act 13, politics were played and 40% of the “fee” got re-allocated to non-impact uses–i.e., 40% of the fee became a tax (see PA’s New Tax on Drilling (er Sorry, Impact Fee)). In reality, PA’s impact “fee” is the equivalent of a severance tax. The main difference is that the fee is calculated according to a sliding schedule based on how long a well has been around. Beginning with the first year a shale well is drilled, and every year thereafter, drillers pay a set fee, regardless of how much gas is produced. If a driller drills a well but doesn’t complete it in year one, that driller still pays the same (very steep) fee, regardless of no production. In that way, an impact fee is superior to a severance tax as a revenue generator for the state. Impact fees are paid for 15 years. In setting up the somewhat complicated schedule for how much a driller will pay, it depends on how old the well is. The PA Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency in charge of assessing and collecting the fee, periodically adjusts the fee schedule up to account for inflation. The fee assessed depends on how much the price of natural gas is selling for at the benchmark Henry Hub trading point (in Louisiana). In 2017 (which collected fees from drilling in 2016), if the price of natgas at Henry Hub averaged between $2.26 – $2.99 for the year (which it did, at $2.46/Mcf), the impact fee for a newly drilled well during the year of 2016 was $45,300. In 2018 (collecting fees from 2017), the price of natgas at Henry Hub was in the next higher bracket, averaging between $3.00 – $4.99 (2017 averaged $3.11/Mcf). So the fee for first year wells drilled last year will be $50,700–which is $5,400 higher than a driller would have paid the previous year. Our point: Drillers in PA pay big bucks in “fees” (i.e. taxes) to drill in the state. Slapping a severance tax on top of the impact fee would be a disaster, virtually shutting down any new Marcellus drilling. Yet that’s what Gov. Wolf and his Democrat comrades insist on doing. Below is the newly released impact fee schedule for 2018 (covering wells drilled in 2017), along with details on the whopping increase in the number of wells drilled in 2017 vs. 2016…
    Read More “PA Shale Wells Drilled Soars 56% in 2017; Impact Fee Up $5,400/Well”

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    PennEast Pipe Forced to Do It Hard Way – Using Eminent Domain

    As we told you last week, today (Monday, Feb. 5) is the final day for landowners who live along the path of the PennEast Pipeline to accept an offer from PennEast to lease their land for the pipeline (see PennEast Pipe Gives Holdout Landowners Feb 5 Deadline to Sign). The landowners have had near three years to deal in good faith negotiations with PennEast, and now time has run out. On Friday, a group of holdout landowners symbolically tore up their PennEast lease offers in a vain media stunt. Starting later this week they will receive something via certified mail they better not tear up–a court summons for an eminent domain proceeding. It’s a shame when it has to come to that, but denial is a strong emotion. Now it’s off to court they go where they’ll get a splash of reality…
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    Atlantic Sunrise Pipe’s Positive Impact in Lancaster Already Felt

    Money–a lot of money–is flowing into Lancaster County because of construction work now being done on Williams’ $3 billion, 198-mile Atlantic Sunrise 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. Local media pitches the revenue and jobs created by the project as “temporary.” MDN once heard a union pipeline worker respond to that very argument at a FERC hearing (for the Constitution Pipeline) by saying he’s had an entire career of “temporary” pipeline jobs that last a few months or a year–making enough money to put his kids through college and make a nice living for himself and his family. Lancaster residents should jump for joy at their “temporary” blessing of this pipeline’s construction. Among the beneficiaries of these “temporary benefits” are “dozens of local businesses” and “more than 100 workers” who are employed full-time working on the project. An estimated $75 million (!) is now flooding into the Lancaster County economy, thanks to Atlantic Sunrise…
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    Ambridge Water Authority Strongly Opposes Shell Ethane Pipe Route

    Shell has had pretty smooth sailing with their proposed 97-mile Falcon ethane pipeline project–a pipeline that will feed the mighty $6 billion cracker plant Shell is building in Beaver County, PA. Shell did not use eminent domain but instead negotiated with (paid big bucks for) rights of way along the pipeline’s path. That process continues. There have been some grumblings here and there, particularly from Big Green groups. But all in all, there has been remarkably little opposition–that is, until now. Shell filed an application to build the Falcon project back in October (see Shell Files PA Application for Ethane Pipe to Feed Cracker Plant). On Jan. 20, Shell filed an application for federal stream crossing permits–something the PA State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issues (see PA DEP Invites Public Comment on Shell 60-Mile Ethane Pipeline). Because of the stream crossing application, the Ambridge Water Authority (in Beaver County), an organization that oversees a reservoir that provides drinking water for ~30,000 people, is expressing “strong opposition” to the route of the Falcon pipeline. Wait a minute. Didn’t Ambridge know the route back in October, when Shell first filed? Yes. However, the stream crossing permit application reveals details either not in, or not obvious, in the original application–details that the pipeline will go under three streams that feed the Ambridge reservoir. That’s got the board up in arms. In a statement, the Water Authority said, “we will do everything in our power to try and have the pipeline relocated outside of our watershed and away from our main, and only, raw water line.” Whether or not there’s any legitimacy to their concerns, Shell now has a PR situation on its hands–the old “it’s going to poison our drinking water” canard that’s a favorite of those who oppose drilling and pipelines. It will be interesting to see how Shell handle’s this situation…
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    Locals Opposed to Jessup Power Plant Question Emissions “Credits”

    Invenergy is currently building the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,480 megawatt plant in Jessup, PA (near Scranton) that will cost “well over $1 billion” according to an exclusive MDN source working on the project. When the plant is done (first phase ready sometime this month), and when it goes online (to be determined), it will be Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant. Unfortunately, a group of Democrats got themselves elected to the Jessup Borough Council specifically to try and block the completion of the project (see Jessup Town Board Continues Effort to Stop Gas-Fired Elec Plant). They just took office in January and already have thrown up roadblocks. Wednesday the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection held a hearing about the facility’s potential impacts on local (and regional) air quality. Some three dozen folks showed up to trash talk the project. They’re questioning the plant’s Emission Reduction Credits (ERC). This plant will put some bad stuff in the air (small quantities), as all electric generating plants do. In order to “offset” the negatives of putting those small quantities of bad stuff in the air, the plant must purchase ERCs. That is, someone somewhere else will sell their “right” to emit the same bad stuff (i.e. pollute) in return for cash. That’s a grossly oversimplified and perhaps not totally accurate way to say it–but it serves the purpose of understanding the complex issue of ERCs. At the DEP hearing, those who oppose the plant were questioning the ERCs for this facility. Their argument is, maybe the air quality in the entire region will benefit from having a clean-burning natgas-fired plant, but will that benefit for the region (and country) be at the expense of making the air worse for the neighbors who live near the plant? As much as we disagree with those who oppose this project, their question is valid and important…
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    UGI Energy Tweaks LNG Peak Shaver for Bethlehem, PA

    UGI LNG’s Temple I peak shaver near Reading, Pa. with 3-million-gallon storage tank

    It’s time to learn something new (there’s always something new to learn in this industry). Ever hear of a peak shaver? No, nothing to do with that thing guys use in the morning to shave off the stubble. An LNG peak shaver is a unit used for storing surplus natural gas, to have extra natgas on hand and ready during times of peak consumption during really hot summers or really cold winters. Sometimes your local gas utility will build and use a peak shaver (small LNG storage facility), so they don’t run out of natgas at a critical time, and to help with keeping prices lower by drawing down from storage if prices spike. Low prices make for happy customers. UGI, a diversified energy company with both midstream (pipeline) operations and one of PA’s largest utility companies, uses peak shavers. We’ve written about their use of peak shavers in the past (see UGI Building LNG Plant in NEPA, Local Marcellus Gas to Feed It). We’re interested in such facilities because of their potential as a new demand source for our plentiful gas supplies. UGI is proposing a new peak shaver for Bethlehem, PA. The project hit some early opposition, so UGI has tweaked the design, meaning they can proceed…
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    Penn State Students Brainwashed by “Fossil Free” Campaign

    Crazy Bernie Sanders (yes THAT Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont) along with ultra-radical 350.org and its leader Bill McKibben, have launched a new campaign called Fossil Free. It’s actually “thinking free” (as in the absence of all thinking), but we’ll leave that for another post. The new campaign is the ultimate outcome of global warming belief metastasized. Bernie, who is a political rock star for naive young Millennials, appeared with several other speakers at an event in Washington, D.C. that was live streamed to more than 300 “watch parties” across the country. The theme of the campaign is to end the use of all fossil fuels. One of the watch parties was a group of students at Penn State. By all accounts, the young skulls full of mush sat there bedazzled by Crazy Bernie–mouths open, drool trickling down the corner of their mouths. They were brainwashed. They worship this almost-octogenarian for who knows why? The problem is, these kids have not been taught to think critically. They accept, at face value, the lies spread by people like Sanders and McKibben. The kids just automatically believe it–like a blind faith–because Bernie says it. Penn State is (or was) a good school. What’s going on that they’re turning out kids who don’t, and won’t, think for themselves? Here’s recap of the Penn State Crazy Bernie “watch party”…
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