CELDF Continues to Agitate Against Indiana, PA Injection Well
We previously reported on the story of two Pennsylvania towns that were either hoodwinked, or perhaps willing led astray, by the radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) into passing (now overturned) bans on fracking and injection wells in their towns–Highland Twp (Elk County) and Grant Twp (Indiana County). The two townships thought they would do an end-run around the state’s authority to issue permits for two injection wells, one in each township, by re-incorporating under so-called home rule charters. The towns essentially declared themselves independent of the state for a variety of matters, including oil and gas permits, which the PA state constitution clearly says is a function of ONLY the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. In March, the DEP issued final permits to each town, and at the same time sued each town to get those portions of their home rule charters, dealing with oil and gas, overturned (see PA DEP Issues 2 Wastewater Injection Well Permits, Sues 2 Towns). The towns agreed to “stand down” and, during their lawsuits, not oppose the DEP’s permits for the injection wells (see 2 PA Townships Won’t Enforce “Home Rule” Against Injection Wells). We thought that would be the end of it. But no, it seems in Grant Township the so-called leaders of the town continue to be brainwashed by the CELDF. In May, Grant’s attorneys filed a counter-claim against PA asking Commonwealth Court to recognize a sort-of extra-judicial set of rights the town can exercise over top of, or in addition to, state laws (instead of their previous position of trying to replace state laws). Unfortunately the judge is willing to give them some rope. Here’s an update on the CELDF anarchist-backed challenge happening in Grant–a threat to our very Constitutional form of self-government…
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Although we consider Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to be a failure, every now and again (rare as hen’s teeth), he swerves into doing something good. Or perhaps we should say he takes credit for doing something good, whether or not he actually had anything to do with it at all. Yesterday Gov. Wolf’s office issued a press release to announce that the state will spend $2.35 million via the Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE) to install natural gas lines in Tunkhannock Township (Wyoming County), which will provide clean-burning, locally extracted Marcellus Shale gas to 102 residential homes, 13 businesses and several civic buildings. The project will create something like 200 temporary construction jobs. Kudos to Wolf for not screwing this one up…
When did little old ladies become climate jihadists? That’s what happened yesterday in Lancaster County when three old ladies, obviously radicalized at some point (maybe they’re old hippies who have always been radicalized?), tied themselves together with a plastic pipe device that needed to be cut away so they could be removed from the spot where they were blocking Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline construction equipment. The entire episode took three hours. When asked nicely by the police to remove the plastic device and unhook themselves, the old ladies refused. So the police had to carefully operate to cut them apart. We figure their stunt easily cost $3,000 in delays–so we sincerely hope Williams sends each of them a bill of $1K to cover the downtime. Plus the old ladies will need to compensate the police and court system for handling their unnecessary case. These three added to the 29 previously arrested in two other episodes now make 32 arrested opposing Atlantic Sunrise–out the “thousands” the clattering Clatterbucks (Mark and Malinda, the radicals spearheading these actions) claim said would rise up to illegally block construction. So much for the big boasts of radical antis…
A group of ninny nannies calling themselves Protect PT (Penn Township, Westmoreland County), backed with money and legal help from Big Green group PennFuture, filed a lawsuit to try and stop Apex Energy and Huntley & Huntley (H&H) from drilling wells in the township. We first alerted you to the lawsuit in October, when we were only aware of Apex being in the group’s sights (see 
A group of so-called “health experts” pontificated at an event yesterday hosted by the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters in Pittsburgh. They were supposedly there to discuss shale and public health. One of the gripe sessions took aim against Shell’s now-under construction ethane cracker facility. Speakers tried hard not to come right out and curse shale and the cracker–but they couldn’t help themselves. In the end they made untrue statements that imply the cracker will poison the community and make it unlivable. One speaker’s solution? “Don’t build it.” Typical. All you need to know about yesterday’s meeting is that one of the panelists is the staff attorney for the radical enviro organization Earthjustice. Truth was the main casualty at yesterday’s meeting…
HydroEdge Solutions is on the grow. The company designs and operates temporary water lines for Marcellus/Utica drillers. The company started in 2013 in Pittsburgh with three employees, and today they have 92 employees! HydroEdge is looking to add another 20 employees using $8 million of debt financing they just received from an unnamed “independent, third party lender.” That money breaks down as a $5 million one-year loan and a $3 million line of credit. Some of HydroEdge’s A-list customers include EQT, CNX/CONSOL, Rice Energy, Statoil, and EdgeMarc Energy. Impressive list. Here’s the lowdown on an up-and-coming service provider in the Marcellus/Utica, flush with cash and ready to hire…
We have long admired Pennsylvania State Rep. Garth Everett, Republican from Muncy (Lycoming County), PA. Everett has been in the forefront of trying to get “minimum royalty” legislation passed that would guarantee PA landowners would get minimum royalty payments of 12.5%–regardless of any kind of post-production expenses. He’s been introducing a bill to do just that for the past three sessions (six years), the most recent attempt this year in February (see 
An organic farmer in Lancaster County, PA is accusing Williams and their Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project of violating the conditions they agreed to. What kinds of violations? “Heavy equipment was stored on the property.” Ooooookay. Uh, we don’t think they dig pipeline trenches with hand shovels any more. What about his horrific violation: “Nonorganic bags of mulch have continued to be stored on the property.” Have you ever seen a bag of “organic” mulch at Lowes or Home Depot? No, neither have we. Here’s another one: “For weeks, trucks traveled between the organic farm and a neighboring nonorganic property.” Apparently the organic farmer doesn’t like his neighbor. We suppose he’s afraid the tires will pick up some non-organic dirt (whatever that is) and track it onto his property. Does he drive a car? Does he visit “nonorganic” locations around the county? You see the hypocrisy. Here’s one we really liked: “Soil from an adjacent nonorganic property blew onto the organic farm.” What the heck is that? Now Williams is supposed to control the wind?? The last person we know of who walked Mom Earth and was able to control the wind was J.C. (Mark 4:39). And perhaps worst of all, a complete tragedy: “Signs warning construction workers of an organic farm were not posted.” You get the drift. This is all nonsense–either minor violations or outright fabrications. Williams pushed back and said so. Just one more anti, grumbling and grabbing a headline…
Yesterday was quite a roller coaster ride for Williams with regard to a work stoppage in building the $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline. It was just two days ago that the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued an emergency stop work order for Atlantic Sunrise, idling some 2,500 workers in PA and costing the company $8 million a day in downtime (see 
A major milestone has been reached in the mighty Shell $6 billion ethane cracker facility project. Over the past year or so site preparation has been vigorous. Work at the site in Monaca (Beaver County), PA has included building bridges, relocating a state highway, improving existing interchanges, repositioning a rail line, and preparing foundations for the new complex. The prep work is now largely done–and this week begins construction of the buildings that will house four processing units–the ethane cracker itself and three polyethylene units. Also part of this next (final) phase of construction: a 900-foot long cooling tower, rail and truck loading facilities, a water treatment plant, an office building and a laboratory. Oh! And let’s not forget that Shell will also build a 250 megawatt electric generating plant that will provide all of the electricity needed at the facility–powered by Marcellus Shale gas, of course! Here’s an update from Shell, with a picture of the site as it is now…
Energy Transfer’s top brass delivered some bad news and some good news on yesterday’s analyst phone call to discuss third quarter 2017 performance. Two projects vital to the Marcellus/Utica are being built by ET–Mariner East 2 (ME2) and Rover Pipeline. The bad news is that ME2, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline project that stretches from eastern Ohio across the state of PA to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, will be delayed an extra nine months. ME2 has a new in-service target date of “second quarter 2018.” Progress on ME2 is not as fast as it could be primarily due to an ongoing onslaught of lawsuits by Big Green organizations, coupled with delays from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. The good news for ME2 is that by Dec. 31st, 99% of the pipeline will be in the ground and buried. The news for Rover is all good. Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. Rover had been dogged by problems with horizontal directional drilling (HDD), but those problems are now behind it. Yes, head of the Ohio EPA, Craig Butler, continues his Captain Ahab routine to try and stop the project (see 
Four local candidates in two townships in Chester County, PA (near Philadelphia) won seats on the town boards of Uwchlan and West Goshen in Tuesday’s election. They ran on a platform of using town resources to agitate and try to prevent the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline through their towns. All four candidates are the pocket of Big Green group Food & Water Watch, which contributed to their campaigns. Yes, Big Green has just bought themselves (another) four politicians in the Philly area. What’s new? The four will now embark on actions that will threaten their respective towns with potentially bankrupting lawsuits, should they follow through with their threats. We hope the residents in those towns will appreciate their taxes doubling or tripling to cover legal fees. The four “winners” were: Mayme Baumann and Bill Miller in Uwchlan, and Mary LaSota and Robin Stuntebeck in West Goshen (all Democrats). The losers were all the residents living in those two towns…
Just before the holidays, thousands of workers who were working on the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project have been escorted to the unemployment office–courtesy the odious Sierra Club. Yesterday we brought you the sad news that the Sierra Club’s lawsuit has stopped work on the $3 billion pipeline project (see 
Some true courtroom drama from yesterday to report regarding a lawsuit brought by Wayne Land and Mineral Group against the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) arbitrary and illegal frack ban. Yesterday we told you Wayne landowners would finally get their day in federal court (see