Pennsylvania

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    New Gas-Fired Power Plant Announced for Tioga County, PA

    Energy Solutions Consortium, based in Buffalo, NY, has been trying to build a number of gas-fired electric plant projects in West Virginia for years (see Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV and WV Builder Tells PSC Power Plant Can Burn Methane AND Ethane). However, the regulatory environment in WV creeps along, like molasses, and none of the projects are even under construction–yet. WV’s own Secretary of Commerce, Woody Thrasher, recently said WV is downright unfriendly to electric plant projects (see WV Sec Commerce Says State Unfriendly to Gas-Fired Power Plants). Meanwhile, Pennsylvania is building new Marcellus-fired electric plants left and right. Perhaps noticing the difference in regulatory climates, Energy Solutions has decided to try a project in PA–in Tioga County (about 2.5 hours from Buffalo). The $500 million project will be called Tioga County Power–a 680 megawatt plant capable of powering 430,000 homes, fed by yummy Marcellus Shale gas produced in PA…
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    Tenaska Westmoreland Power Stn Construction Milestone: 1M Hours

    Artist’s rendering of what Tenaska Westmoreland will look like

    In August 2016, energy giant Tenaska (headquartered in Omaha, NE) broke ground to build a 925-megawatt natural gas-fueled power plant in Westmoreland County, PA (see Groundbreaking for Tenaska Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in SWPA). The Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station is costing $780 million to build. Some of that money, $22 million so far, is being spent to upgrade the local Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County water treatment plant (see Tenaska Spends $22M in Water Plant Upgrades Ahead of Elec Project). The plant is on track to be completed by late 2018 when it will go online, providing power for 925,000 homes. Some 600 workers are active on the project. Tenaska recently announced a major milestone in the construction of the plant: Those 600 workers have now logged 1 million hours of work in building the plant, and there’s still plenty of hours to go. That’s 600 workers being paid with private money–money that circulates and recirculates in the local and regional economy, into the pockets of other businesses, into the pockets of labor unions (via dues), and into the pockets of local municipalities (and the state) via tax revenue. Westmoreland County and PA owe Tenaska a huge “thank you” for building the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station…
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    Converted Oil Pipeline Near Philly Extends Open Season for NatGas

    Earlier this month we shared the exciting news that an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook had been purchased by a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources will get converted to flow more Marcellus natural gas to the greater Philadelphia region (see Oil Pipeline Near Philly to be Converted to Flow Fracked NatGas). The project/pipeline has been named the Adelphia Gateway. On Nov. 2nd the project began an “open season”–a period of time when shippers can reserve capacity along the pipeline. Such contracts typically run for 10-20 years and guarantee the pipeline (which will invest millions) can recoup its investment and make a profit. The open season was scheduled to expire on Nov. 20th, but Adelphia has extended the open season to Dec. 8th. Adelphia says the extension was to allow for the Thanksgiving holiday. Typically such an extension means the project hasn’t secured enough business to be profitable. We don’t have a feel one way or the other for this project. Perhaps a number of people did take off for the Thanksgiving holiday and this will give Adelphia a chance to button up previously expressed interest. Signing on the dotted line means an office full of lawyers will need to review it first–and lawyers like their vacations…
    Read More “Converted Oil Pipeline Near Philly Extends Open Season for NatGas”

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    Final Push to Tax PA Drillers & Give Money to Philly Teachers

    The tax-and-spend liberals in Pennsylvania and those who oppose fossil fuels (almost always one-and-the-same) are still pushing a dreadful, devastating severance tax bill proffered by RINOsaur (i.e. ancient RINO) State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo known as House Bill (HB) 1401. The bill, if passed into law, would tack a 3.2% severance tax on top of the existing ~5% impact tax (called a “fee”) already levied on Marcellus drillers, thereby effectively killing any new Marcellus drilling in the state (see PA Frankenstein House Bill Merges Severance Tax & Minimum Royalty). Last week, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the House debated the bill for two days–then left town “abruptly” without taking any further action (see Update on PA Severance Tax Bill – More Progress, House Leaves Town). What happens now? The House doesn’t return for voting work until next Monday, Dec. 4th. In the meantime, the bill’s lib supporters in mainstream media are trying to create the impression the bill will get adopted when the House returns from break…
    Read More “Final Push to Tax PA Drillers & Give Money to Philly Teachers”

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    “Environmental Justice” Lunacy in Allegheny County, PA

    In Pennsylvania, the “Office of Environmental Justice” (sounds like a comic book thing) is nothing more than a way for po’ folk and minorities to sue the Marcellus industry over non-existent transgressions. In 2015, then-Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, “reactivated” the Office of Environmental Justice (see Environmental “Justice” for Some, Not for All, Courtesy PA DEP). If you live in a PA community where at least 20% of the people are below the poverty line, or if the community is composed of at least 30% minorities (defined as “non-whites”), the so-called Office of Environmental Justice will give you special treatment if you claim to have been harmed somehow by the Marcellus industry. Everyone else gets ordinary/regular environmental “justice”–no special treatment if you’re white or middle class. In Allegheny County local officials are miffed that the municipality of McCandless got labeled as an environmental justice community, but Etna didn’t. McCandless is too white and too rich, whereas Etna is not. We would find it all rather comical–if the Environmental Justice Leaguers didn’t have such a potent weapon to oppose the shale industry…
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    Update on PA Severance Tax Bill – More Progress, House Leaves Town

    We have a brief respite, but are still in a dangerous position. The Pennsylvania House continued to debate and vote on amendments to House Bill (HB) 1401 yesterday–the Frankenstein bill introduced by RINOsaur Gene DiGirolamo (“Republican” from the Philadelphia area) that would tack a 3.2% severance tax on top of the existing ~5% impact tax (called a “fee”) already levied on Marcellus drillers, thereby effectively killing any new Marcellus drilling in the state (see PA Frankenstein House Bill Merges Severance Tax & Minimum Royalty). Debate on the bill began Monday, making quick progress (see Disastrous PA Severance Tax Bill Debated in House, Makes Progress). More progress was made yesterday. Some amendments to the bill passed, some failed–and then the House “abruptly adjourned” late last night without voting on the full bill itself. They got outta Dodge. The House returns to Harrisburg for more voting on Dec. 4th, so we have nearly two weeks of a reprieve before the battle begins again. It is vital this bill NOT PASS–for the future of Marcellus drilling in PA. Below is a list of the amendments that have, so far, passed and not passed, and how they tweak and change the overall Marcellus-killing HB 1401 bill…
    Read More “Update on PA Severance Tax Bill – More Progress, House Leaves Town”

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    DRBC Lawyer Nearly Faints 2nd Time When Questioned by Fed Judges

    This is getting pretty old, fast. Two weeks ago MDN told you about a lawsuit that finally got it’s day in court–a case brought by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) over its ongoing, 10+ year ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning). Under “heaving questioning” the attorney for the DRBC fainted in the court room, ending the session that day. Both sides were back in court yesterday to finish what began two weeks ago, and the judges once again turned up the heat on the DRBC attorney–and he almost fainted again, having to sit down (delaying proceedings for a time). Every time this lawyer gets tough questions that he doesn’t like, he pulls this fainting routine. Is it legitimate? Does he have a “condition?” Frankly, we don’t care. His “condition”–if that’s what it is–keeps blocking justice. If he’s not up to the job, remove him. Get someone who can handle the pressure. At least the session yesterday finished. Oral arguments are now done. MDN friend Tom Shepstone listened to a recording of the session and filed a fantastic report, recounting the back and forth–and how the DRBC’s defense collapsed (metaphorically) under the sharp eye of the judges doing the questioning. The DRBC and its shill leader Steve Tambini (a MAJOR disappointment since he was appointed in 2014) were exposed yesterday as the obstructionists they are…
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    Disastrous PA Severance Tax Bill Debated in House, Makes Progress

    Warning: Pennsylvania House Republicans are about to kill Marcellus drilling in PA by adopting a severance tax on top of the existing impact tax–creating the highest taxation of the oil and gas industry in the United States. Is PA ready to trade away an entire industry propping up its sorry finances–just to give money to Philly teacher’s unions? This is a TRAGEDY in the making. RINOsaur Gene DiGirolamo (“Republican” from the Philadelphia area) introduced a Frankenstein bill earlier this year called House Bill (HB) 1401 (see PA Frankenstein House Bill Merges Severance Tax & Minimum Royalty). The bill would tack a 3.2% severance tax on top of the existing ~5% impact tax (called a “fee”) already levied on Marcellus drillers. As soon as the bill made its way out of committee to the full House for consideration, over one hundred amendments were attached to it. Most of those amendments have been ruled “out of order” and removed from the bill, reviving the bill which is now under active consideration. A number of important amendments still remain and some of those were voted on yesterday. What you need to know front and center is that this bill is about a massive transference of wealth from those who produce wealth by working hard (drilling companies and landowners) to those who don’t (teacher’s unions). One of the amendments to HB 1401 passed yesterday reserves the first $150 million of the new severance tax solely for Big Education. The entire amount of revenue raised from a new severance tax, according to RINOsaur DiGirolamo, is expected to be $150 million. That is, ALL of the severance tax will go to Big Education, as payback. And you thought MDN was just spouting off, using hyperbole, ignorant or just plain mistaken all these years we’ve been screaming at the top of our lungs that the severance tax is nothing more than payback to Philly teachers for voting Tom Wolf into office. We (don’t) hate to say it: we were right. And now traitorous Republicans are making it possible for this to happen–for Wolf to get his way and corruptly funnel money back to the unions that elected him. Is any one else outraged at this? Are House Republicans asleep at the wheel???…
    Read More “Disastrous PA Severance Tax Bill Debated in House, Makes Progress”

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    Sunoco Continues to Rack Up ME2 Drilling Mud Spill Violations

    Sunoco Logistics Partners (part of and owned by Energy Transfer Partners) has had its fair share of “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks of drilling mud) while drilling underground for the Mariner East 2 pipeline project that stretches across the width of Pennsylvania. Some would say Sunoco has had more than its fair share of mud spills. Bear in mind that drilling mud is otherwise known as bentonite–the nontoxic clay mixture used to cool the drill bit as it chews away underground. Bentonite is the same chemical compound used to make kitty litter, toothpaste and all sorts of cosmetics. It’s totally safe for the environment–unless you spill a lot of it and smother little critters like salamanders and fishies. When installing a pipeline, you don’t just dig a trench across a roadway or dam up a creek or river. Instead, you use horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to dig under it. ME2 is some 350 miles long, so there are a number of places where HDD must be used. There are always small drilling mud spills, or inadvertent returns, associated with HDD work. However, Sunoco has had, at last count, 96 such instances (see the list below). Antis seek to make the most of each and everyone spill episode. The most recent such spill is associated with a sink hole believe caused by HDD drilling in Delaware County last week (see ME2 Drilling in Delaware Co. Creates Small Sinkhole, Antis Swarm). The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent a notice of violation for last week’s mud spill (see it below). DEP officials admit they are somewhat overwhelmed with trying to keep an eye on the project and are considering “additional enforcement” actions against Sunoco LP for ME2…
    Read More “Sunoco Continues to Rack Up ME2 Drilling Mud Spill Violations”

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    Paid Agitators Shut Down Traffic at Energy Co Offices Near Pittsburgh

    One of the crazies protesting in front of Southpointe

    Hey, it’s Thanksgiving break, woo hoo! Time for brainwashed college kids to break the law and claim they’re doing their civic duty by shutting down traffic in front of “evil” companies that are part of the Marcellus industry. A lawless mob of perhaps two dozen maleducated young people along with some old hippies (most of whom were from out-of-state, i.e. paid agitators) set up roadblocks and other elaborate structures in front of the Southpointe business park in Washington County, PA, near Pittsburgh. A variety of Marcellus-related companies have offices in Southpointe, including Range Resources, CONSOL Energy, Halliburton, and Chesapeake Energy. The malcontents’ complaint? They have a psychological disorder in which they irrationally hate fossil fuels, and by extension, those who extract and sell them. Even though the clothes on their bodies and the sneakers on their feet come from fossil fuels. And even though they woke up in homes and apartments heated by fossil fuels. And even though they arrived at the protest in vehicles powered by fossil fuels. And even though the signs they made and carried were made from fossil fuels. Yeah, totally nutso. The lawlessness went on for about four hours before local police finally ejected the last of the nutters. They had a chance to make their statement and disrupt legitimate, salary-paying and valued businesses for a while, all in the name of anarchy and mob rule–driven by abject hatred. We often wonder if this is how it felt during the rise of the Nazi Party in the 1920s…
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    PA Class Action Royalty Lawsuit Against XTO Settles for $11M

    A journey which began for Pennsylvania landowners in Butler County, PA in July 2015 is nearing an end. Two Butler County, PA landowners with a combined 245.7 acres of land leased to XTO Energy sued XTO in 2015 claiming that XTO is breaking the lease agreement by paying royalties below 1/8 of what XTO receives in revenue for the gas (see PA Landowners Sue XTO Energy for Shorting Them on Royalties). The case, known as Marburger et al V. XTO Energy Inc., asserted the lease signed with landowners did not include language that would allow XTO to deduct post-production charges (that they had been deducting). The two landowning families that launched the lawsuit, the Marburgers and the Thieles, sought to turn the lawsuit into a class action, involving potentially hundreds or thousands of others. It didn’t take long for XTO to oppose the lawsuit and its certification as a class action (see XTO Files Motion to Dismiss Royalty Lawsuit in Butler County, PA). Since that time we’ve not heard much of anything about the lawsuit. And then out the blue comes word that via arbitration, XTO has agreed to settle the lawsuit. The settlement includes turning it into a class action, and paying out a total of $11,010,000. As part of the settlement, XTO admits to nothing. That is, they do not concede the plantiffs have a valid case against them. It’s simply cheaper to settle it and move on rather than to keep fighting. Below we have the relevant court documents with the details of the settlement…
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    Smith Twp Votes Down Plan to Expand MAX Bulger Marcellus Landfill

    In a disappointing development, the supervisors of Smith Township (Washington County), PA have voted to turn down MAX Environmental’s request to expand the Bulger landfill they operate in the town (see Marcellus Landfill in Washington Co. Seeks to Expand, Add TENORM). One of the primary customers for the landfill over the past 10 years has been the Marcellus industry–dumping drill cuttings (leftover dirt and rock from drilling) at the landfill. MAX intends to ask the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection for a permit to expand the Bulger facility by 21 acres. They also want to begin accepting technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials, or TENORM, from shale drillers. The first stop is, however, is to get local approval. The DEP wants to see local approval before they consider a state approval. Until now, the word coming from the supervisors is that they were duty-bound to approve the request, as long as “reasonable conditions” were made in the request. The town held several public hearings about the project. Apparently some local loudmouths got to the supervisors and spooked them. At a meeting last Thursday night the supervisors voted 3-0 against approving the request. MAX said they will wait to get the official document, expected today, before deciding on whether or not to litigate (an almost certainty)…
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    Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Begins Work in Northumberland County, PA

    Good news for Northumberland County: Atlantic Sunrise is rising in your neighborhood. Work on the $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project that will run through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County has begun in Northumberland County. Last week a Williams subcontractor working on that portion of the project gave a tour to a local newspaper. Atlantic Sunrise will pass through approximately 10 miles of Northumberland County, entering from Columbia County and exiting to Schuylkill County. So far, “Everything seems to be going really well” according to the contractor in charge of that portion of the project. They expect to begin welding pipes together by the end of this month…
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    5 More Protesters Arrested in Lancaster Co. Blocking Pipeline Work

    Five more members of the nutty Lancaster Against Pipelines group have been arrested, including a minor. It’s bad enough putting your own life at risk. We consider it child abuse to put your child’s life in danger by sitting the kid down in front of heavy equipment–in a deluded attempt to stop construction. Just last week we told you about three old ladies who did the same thing (see 3 Old Ladies Cause 3 Hr Delay in Atlantic Sunrise Construction). The latest five were arrested in the same general vicinity as the three old ladies–Martic Township. The five were arrested for sitting down in front of a working backhoe. No doubt they were imagining old Captain Planet episodes in their minds as they did so. You know, the Saturday morning cartoon from decades ago where defenseless kids go up against evil big corporations whose only goal is to destroy Mom Earth? All’s lost until the kids combine their “powers” and magically transform into Captain Planet (Planet…Planet…Planet). Did you hear that echo? At any rate, this latest small group didn’t hold up the works as long as the old ladies did, which is good. The grand total of protesters arrested now stands at 45–quite a few less than the “over a thousand” who supposedly had signed up to sacrifice themselves in front of pipeline construction equipment, according to the leaders of Lancaster Against Pipelines…
    Read More “5 More Protesters Arrested in Lancaster Co. Blocking Pipeline Work”

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    Out with the Old – Part 2: EQT Sign Replaces Rice at HQ Building

    On Monday, Rice Energy was merged into EQT, creating the largest onshore natural gas producing company in these United States (see Out with the Old: Rice Energy Sign Comes Down Day of EQT Merger). In that post we shared with you a short video taken by an MDN friend that showed a pair of cranes taking down the Rice Energy name from Rice’s (now former) headquarters building in Canonsburg, PA (just outside Pittsburgh). Another MDN friend sent us a pair of pictures (below), taken the following day, which show an EQT sign now fixed over top of where the Rice Energy sign once stood. Our second MDN friend also told us that all the parking lot signs at the facility have EQT stickers on them, covering over the Rice Energy name. As we said in our Tuesday post, EQT isn’t wasting any time making a statement: Out with the old, in with the new. EQT is firmly large and in charge. A few days after the merger and Rice is already a memory, starting to fade away…
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    FERC Issues Favorable EA for Power Plant Pipeline Near Philly

    In October the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection held a hearing on a proposed 488-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Birdsboro, in Berks County, near Philadelphia (see PA DEP Public Hearing on Japanese Gas-Fired Elec Plant in SEPA). The project, first proposed in 2015 by Canadian-based EmberClear Corp., is making progress, as evidenced by the DEP hearing. In April of this year, two different Japanese companies, Sojitz Corporation and Tokyo Gas, each purchased a one-third share ownership of the project (see Japanese Now Own 2/3 of Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant in SEPA). You can’t have a Marcellus-fired electric plant without a pipeline to feed it. On May 1st of this year, DTE Midstream filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build 13.2-mile, 12-inch diameter pipeline from the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (TETCO) pipeline in Berks County to the Birdsboro site. On Wednesday, FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA)–telegraphing that a final approval for the pipeline project is on the way soon…
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