Pennsylvania

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    Energy Transfer 3Q17: ME2 Startup Slips, Rover Complete in 1Q18

    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 OH EPA Director Manipulates Atty General to Sue Rover Pipeline). So far he’s been unsuccessful. At any rate, construction in Ohio and elsewhere is full speed ahead. On yesterday’s call ET CFO Tom Long said Rover Phase 1 (both A and B) will be done by Dec. 31st. That’s very good. Long said the company is “very confident” Phase 2 of Rover will be online no later than March 31, 2018. Also very good. Below we’ve grabbed excerpts of yesterday’s analyst call to share, covering both ME2 and Rover…
    Read More “Energy Transfer 3Q17: ME2 Startup Slips, Rover Complete in 1Q18”

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    4 Antis in Chester County, PA Win Election Using Big Green $

    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…
    Read More “4 Antis in Chester County, PA Win Election Using Big Green $”

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    Sierra Club Pipeline Lawsuit Throws 2,500 in PA Out of Work

    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 DC Court Forces “Emergency Stop” of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work). Companies building closely-vetted and highly regulated projects like Atlantic Sunrise project are jobs creators. The Sierra Club is a jobs destroyer. We asked Williams how many workers have been idled because of the work stoppage from the “temporary” order from the court. Williams spokesman Chris Stockton replied: “The exact number is 2,500.” He also said this: “It is costing about $8 million per day in idle construction costs.” The Clubbers’ frivolous lawsuit is causing real pain and real suffering for thousands of workers…and their families…and their children. Williams issued a press release yesterday to say they have filed a “Motion for Clarification” to determine what the emergency stop work order affects–just construction work in PA? Or the work they’ve already done (and are doing) outside of PA, which would stop new quantities of Marcellus gas already flowing south? Williams says they expect the court will conduct their review “expeditiously” and end this charade (our word) very soon. Antis rejoiced in the news of the stop work order, including one of the “leaders” of the airheaded opposition, who sounded like an 80s Valley Girl when she said: “I can’t believe it, like, does this mean they can’t continue with construction? Like, seriously?” Meanwhile, like some 2,500 people are like tragically out of work–including like 370 in Schuylkill County alone. Merry Christmas from the Sierra Club and from a small group of radicals called Lancaster Against Pipelines…
    Read More “Sierra Club Pipeline Lawsuit Throws 2,500 in PA Out of Work”

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    DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning

    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 Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today). And so they did. Or at least, began to. The attorney for the Wayne landowner (plaintiff) was questioned by the 3rd Circuit judges about their case. However, when the lead attorney for the DRBC (defendant) took his turn at the podium to be questioned, at one point during what was intense question, the attorney, Kenneth Warren, fainted! In the only account reporting on the incident we could find, Warren was attended to by medics and quickly revived–however both sides agreed to postpone the rest of the session in light of the episode. There was no word on why Warren fainted–his office did not respond to requests from a reporter for an explanation. Perhaps he’s been ill? Perhaps the pressure was too much? We simply don’t know. So here we are again in limbo–with PA landowners having been shafted by the DRBC for 10+ years, now shafted again until the lawyers and the judges can agree on a new date for the rest of oral arguments…
    Read More “DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning”

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    Plum, PA Officials Hold Hearing on New Restrictions for Fracking

    Nearly a month ago, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells in their municipality (see Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling). At that time, we told you about H&H plans to begin constructing a well pad in Plum in November (see Huntley & Huntley Starts Shale Drilling in Plum, PA Next Month). Plum’s leaders faced stiff opposition from some residents over their decision to conditionally approve H&H’s request. In Plum, fracking is allowed in any zone if a conditional use is granted. That’s what happened last month–the Plum Council issued a conditional use exception for H&H to drill on 92 acres near Coxcomb Hill Road in Plum. Fearing more requests will come from H&H, Plum officials have floated a proposed change to zoning ordinances (ordinances which haven’t been updated since 1993). The new change would only allow fracking in rural residential and industrial zones. H&H says the change is too restrictive. Some antis think it doesn’t go far enough. Last night Plum held a hearing about the proposed changes, with some 100 people showing up. According to press accounts, the crowd was about evenly split, for and against the proposed zoning changes. Here’s how it went down…
    Read More “Plum, PA Officials Hold Hearing on New Restrictions for Fracking”

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    Baker Hughes Oct Rig Count – US Slides by 18, PA Drops 1 Rig

    The International (non-U.S.) Baker Hughes rig count for October 2017 was 951, up 20 from the 931 counted in September 2017, and up 31 from the 920 counted in October 2016. The U.S. rig count for October 2017 was 922, down 18 from the 940 counted in September 2017, but up 378 from the 544 counted in October 2016. Notice that we have almost as many rigs operating in the U.S. as the entire rest of the world (minus Canada). Canada’s rig count has improved a lot since earlier this year. However, Canada’s October rig count drooped a bit–204 in October (down 4 from September) but up 48 from October 2016. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Pennsylvania lost one rig and ran an average of 32 rigs during October, versus Ohio running 29 rigs and West Virginia running 15 rigs, the same as September…
    Read More “Baker Hughes Oct Rig Count – US Slides by 18, PA Drops 1 Rig”

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    Shell Taps Brit to Run the $6B Ethane Cracker Project in Monaca

    Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant facility in Monaca (Beaver County), PA is about to ramp up construction of the numerous buildings that will house the equipment. Since 2014, Ate Visser, vice president of Appalachia petrochemicals at Shell Chemical, has been the guy in charge of the project (see Shell Exec Shares Inside Story of Why They Chose PA for Cracker). However, beginning now, Hilary Mercer, a native of Manchester, England (has worked at Shell for the past 30 years) is now the woman in charge of the project. Mercer is the new vice president of the cracker plant project. She has an interesting, globe-trotting history. Mercer says she likes to build “big projects.” Prior to landing in her role in PA, Mercer was in South Korea overseeing construction of the largest floating structure ever built. But building the huge cracker facility isn’t the only thing that jazzes Mercer about the project. She’s pumped at the prospect of building the commercial side–building a business from the ground up. Finding customers, branding, everything that comes with creating demand for the output from the mighty cracker facility. Here’s a look at the new leader of the Shell cracker plant project…
    Read More “Shell Taps Brit to Run the $6B Ethane Cracker Project in Monaca”

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    Siemens Providing Turbines, $$ for 1 GW Hickory Run Power Plant

    The picture shows the assembly of the SGT5-8000H at the gas turbine plant in Berlin.

    In February 2013 MDN first told you about a plan to build the Hickory Run Energy Center–a $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site along the Mahoning River in Lawrence County, PA (see NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant). The initial design called for a 900 megawatt facility, powered by Marcellus gas. More recent plans indicate the facility will be 1,000 megawatts (or 1 gigawatt)–enough electricity to power 1 million homes! In August we shared the exciting news that one publication was reporting ground has been broken for the facility (see Ground Broken for Lawrence County, PA NatGas-Fired Electric Plant?). Whether bulldozers are pushing dirt or not, activity around the project continues at a brisk pace. German engineering giant Siemens announced on Monday that they have been awarded a contract to provide the guts for the plant–two H-class gas turbines, one steam turbine and three generators–along with a long-term service contract. Siemens also revealed they’ve made an unspecified (large) investment in the project and will own 20% of it. Here’s the good news that the Hickory Run Energy Center will get some Siemens love…
    Read More “Siemens Providing Turbines, $$ for 1 GW Hickory Run Power Plant”

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    DC Court Forces “Emergency Stop” of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work

    The arrogance of Big Green was on full display yesterday as they rushed to stop the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project project and silence lawfully permitted work. In response to a lawsuit filed by the worst of the worst (the Sierra Club) on Oct. 30th, a liberal court in the District of Columbia yesterday slapped the Atlantic Sunrise project with an emergency stop work order–for the entire project. Work had already begun to lay pipe on the property of Catholic nuns in Lancaster County, PA. The nuns call themselves Adorers of the Blood of Christ. We call them Sisters of the Corn (you can read why here). The Sisters have allowed themselves to be used to oppose the Atlantic Sunrise project by a radical professor from Lancaster County, Mark Clatterbuck, someone who engaged in the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests (protests that turned violent). Clatterbuck enlisted the help of his Big Green buddies in the Sierra Club to try and litigate to stop the federally and legally approved project last week (see Sierra Club Asks Fed Court to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Construction). Yesterday we told you that Williams, the builder, was building at the site of the Sisters first because of the involvement of Clattberbuck and Big Green interference–get the hard part done first (see First Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Gets Buried on Nun Property). We were grinning that pipeline on the Sisters’ property would be the first to be laid and buried in the ground, likely done this week. Today the grin is wiped off our face, we must confess. It’s so sad to see egregious abuses of our legal system like this. We expect the stop work order for the project will be temporary–perhaps a few weeks. But one never knows. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at the question of whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was correct in approving the project in the first place last February…
    Read More “DC Court Forces “Emergency Stop” of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work”

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    Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today

    The lawsuit filed by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the egregious overreach by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to stall/delay/block any shale drilling within the Basin takes a very important step forward today. It’s a step feared by the DRBC and radical groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper–because this case has the real potential to neuter the DRBC’s claim it can block shale drilling in the watershed. In March, MDN reported that U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani ruled against the Wayne Land and Mineral Group in a lawsuit that challenged the right of the DRBC to stop fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see Judge Tosses Wayne County, PA Landowner Lawsuit Against DRBC). At first blush it may seem like a setback for landowners in Wayne and Pike Counties (in PA) who have been denied the right to lease and allow drilling under their land for the past 10+ years. But looks can be deceiving. As we pointed out in our article, if 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. In June, the Wayne Land and Mineral Group filed their brief with the 3rd Circuit (see Wayne County Landowner Files Brief in Case Against DRBC Frack Ban). Today, oral arguments will be heard in what we sincerely hope is the beginning of the end of the DRBC’s illegal frack ban…
    Read More “Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today”

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    PA’s Inept Government is Holding Back the Marcellus Shale

    MDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is MDN editor Jim Willis’ right arm when it comes to scanning for stories, something Jim is profoundly grateful for. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see www.PianoGrands.com). A few years ago, it was found that Chris’ property in Susquehanna County sits atop one of the Marcellus shale’s most prolific areas. He leased with Cabot Oil & Gas and has a well sitting off his front porch not more than 200 yards away. Chris is now happily engaged once again in energy economics, with an emphasis, naturally, on gas. He splits his time between Montrose, PA and Savannah, GA. Chris’ two “home states” of Pennsylvania and Georgia recently got him thinking–comparing and contrasting what he sees in both locations–which led him to pen the following guest post that takes aim at PA’s inept (Chris’ word) state government and how it is mismanaging the biggest gift it has received in generations: the Marcellus Shale…
    Read More “PA’s Inept Government is Holding Back the Marcellus Shale”

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    CEA Launches Non-partisan “Campaign for America’s Energy” in PA

    Today is election day across the U.S. It is an “off-year” election, meaning no national elections on the ticket–only state and local elections. Last week, in advance of today, the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) launched a non-partisan “Campaign for America’s Energy” across 12 key states, including Pennsylvania. The campaign aims to educate families, businesses, and state and local lawmakers about the benefits of energy production and delivery, without getting bogged down in contentious politics–IF that’s even possible! CEA is making a good-faith effort at it. MDN editor Jim Willis interviewed CEA’s president, David Holt, back in 2014. You can listen to that interview here. As part of the the CEA campaign, the organization reached out to every single PA state legislator, sending them a letter (below). CEA is an “all of the above” energy organization–interested in fossil fuels AND renewables. We find their approach refreshing, and their willingness to reach across the isle and at least attempt to have a dialog with antis, admirable…
    Read More “CEA Launches Non-partisan “Campaign for America’s Energy” in PA”

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    First Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Gets Buried on Nun Property

    We find this story amusing. A group of left-leaning Catholic nuns in Lancaster County, PA, whipped up by radical environmentalists with ties to Big Green organizations, got it into their heads to try and block a very-safe natural gas pipeline from crossing their property–the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline being built by Williams. The Sisters call themselves Adorers of the Blood of Christ. We call them Sisters of the Corn, because they put a couple of wooden park benches in a cornfield on their property (leased to a local farmer), christening it a “chapel” and claiming because the pipeline would run through the middle of their so-called chapel, building a pipeline is a violation of freedom of religion. In September a federal judge tossed the lawsuit (see Fed Judge Tosses Lancaster Nuns’ Freedom of Religion Lawsuit re ASP). However, the Sisters and their bought-and-paid-for-by-Big-Green lawyers have appealed it. The Sisters are hypocrites. They heat an old folks home they operate on the very same property–with natural gas! Talk about chutzpah. Over the past few weeks, mostly non-local Big Green protesters have showed up at the property as work began. So far 29 of the wackier protesters have been arrested trying to block work on the pipeline (see Lancaster Pipeline Protesters ‘Do the Hokey Pokey’ & Get Arrested and 6 More Arrested for Blocking Pipe Work at Lancaster Nun Property). Williams wisely chose the cornfield site owned by the Sisters as the first place to dig and lay pipeline. Within a few days (perhaps already), that very location will be the first portion of Atlantic Sunrise to be laid in the ground and covered up. Williams isn’t stupid. Get the location with the most resistance done first and the rest is a piece of cake. Meanwhile, Big Green lawyers are screaming for court intervention, even as the pipes are lowered into the trench (we just can’t wipe the smile off our face)…
    Read More “First Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Gets Buried on Nun Property”

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    PA Landowners “Furious” Over Royalties, Backdoor Lease Changes

    An off-hand comment by a Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf staffer has landowners in northeast PA hopping mad–and with good reason. Speaking on the topic of PA landowners getting screwed out of royalty payments by drillers deducting inflated post-production costs (sometimes sending royalty statements where landowners OWE the drillers money!), Wolf deputy policy director Sam Robinson said this: “I think there was a crescendo of that kind of claim in 2015 to 2016…There’s been real movement in a positive direction on that issue.” Really? Not according to Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko and National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) PA president Jackie Root. Not only is the issue not resolved, but the industry, under the prompting of EQT, snuck through an “environmental rider” in the recently passed-and-signed-into-law Fiscal Code bill (called Section 1610) that gives drillers a back door to reactivate old, non-producing wells after they have not been producing (and the lease considered terminated) under certain conditions (see PA Republican Senate Changes Lease Terms for Landowners). Far from moving in a “positive direction” as Robinson stated, landowners in PA are “furious” according to McLinko, and feel as if they have been “thrown under the bus” according to Root…
    Read More “PA Landowners “Furious” Over Royalties, Backdoor Lease Changes”

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    Still Lots of Marcellus/Utica Jobs to Fill in Southwest PA

    Although there is still quite a bit less drilling than there was in 2014-2015, for a number of reasons, there are plenty of jobs to be had in the Marcellus/Utica Shale–especially in southwest PA. Companies that do work in the industry held a job fair last Thursday night at the Deer Lakes High School, looking for truck drivers, roustabouts and construction workers. Seems like a week doesn’t go by now that we don’t read about a job fair somewhere in the Pittsburgh region. Yes, there may be less drilling, but there’s still plenty of jobs to be filled, especially with Shell’s cracker plant construction ramping up. Below is news about last week’s job fair–who was looking, and what they’re willing to pay…
    Read More “Still Lots of Marcellus/Utica Jobs to Fill in Southwest PA”

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    Scranton Antis Get Political Revenge for Gas-Fired Power Plant

    Recently the profoundly biased mouthpiece for Big Green groups, PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania, ran an article about the political fallout around the construction of what will be Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant, located near Scranton. Invenergy is currently building the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,480 megawatt plant in Jessup, PA that will cost “well over $1 billion” according to an exclusive MDN source working on the project. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the plant in December 2015 (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). The locals in Jessup approved the project in March 2016 (see Jessup Borough Final Approval for PA’s Largest NatGas Power Plant). The plant will use up to 240 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas per day–provided by nearby Cabot Oil & Gas operations (see Cabot Cuts Deal to Supply PA’s Largest NatGas-Fired Electric Plant). It’s a win/win all the way around–except for NIMBY’s who live in Jessup and don’t want the plant in their “backyard.” The NIMBY’s couldn’t stop it, so they’ve done the next best thing. They mounted aggressive political campaigns to oust local town officials who approved the project. Unfortunately they were successful. What it means is that when the project is done, sometime in 2018, it will have to contend with local officials who are hostile to natural gas and toward the project–they can’t stop it, but they can hassle it. Such is the messy nature of our democracy…
    Read More “Scranton Antis Get Political Revenge for Gas-Fired Power Plant”