Anti on HuffPo Agrees w/MDN: Wolf Dangled $1M Carrot for Severance Tax
Last week MDN told you about a visit by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to Wyoming and Susquehanna counties in northeastern PA (see PA Gov. Wolf Visits NEPA to Barter for Marcellus Severance Tax). As we said at the time, the point Wolf was making on his visit to Tunkhannock is that $1 million promised to the village as part of the PIPE (Pipeline Investment Program) is being held up because the state budget is late. The budget is late because (according to Wolf) those dunderheads in the House won’t approve a severance tax. And if the hicks in Tunkhannock and elsewhere in rural NEPA would just pressure their House members to pass the severance tax, voila, that $1M check is in the mail. Sleazy. So imagine our surprise to read a column by a hardened anti-fossil fuelers in the Huffington Post–that essentially says the same thing. She even used our analogy–that Wolf is holding out a $1M carrot to elicit support for the severance tax. While you have to put up with the anti-drilling snark, the article/column is actually pretty good, giving a history of the PIPE program and its successes (which the author considers failures)…
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The good news is that any number of severance tax proposals in Pennsylvania are still “stalled” and going nowhere fast. The bad news is that there still is not a finalized budget. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves. They passed an unbalanced, whopping $32 billion state budget plan months ago–without a way to pay for it all. Which has set up extreme pressure to adopt new taxes, including a severance tax and gross receipts tax. It appears that the GRT is dead, but the severance tax is not yet totally dead. Why? Because House Speaker Mike Turzai continues to hold the line–preventing a floor vote on the severance tax. Pin a medal on that man! Elect him as your next governor! He knows how to lead. However, since the severance tax is not totally dead (yet), we feel it’s necessary to keep talking about it. We’ve heard from some MDN readers who ask, “Why not adopt a small severance tax? It’s not all that bad, is it?” Yes! It is bad! And the Commonwealth Foundation (of PA) tells us why…
Last week MDN told you that Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) is operating a program in process technology that leads to an associate’s degree as preparation for a job at Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant, being built now in Beaver County (see 
Every now and again it’s fun to take a look at a “Top 10” list. Here’s one for you. How about a Top 10 List for drillers in southwestern PA, in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. This Top 10 list ranks drillers by how many shale well permits they’ve been granted. The list is extracted from a Top 40 list prepared by the (must read) Pittsburgh Business Times. Can you guess which 10 drillers are in the Top 10? How about the Top 1? It may come as no surprise that Range Resources, the very first company to drill a Marcellus Shale well (in 2004), has received the most permits to drill in SWPA. Here’s the full Top 10 list, with some interesting extra details…
“Loss of circulation” sounds like a terminal condition–and perhaps it is, in a human body. But that phrase applied to drilling underground to install pipelines holds a different meaning. Loss of circulation is the technical term used when drilling fluid migrates out of the hole being drilled, and into (eeks) groundwater. Thing is, drilling fluid used to drill for pipelines is non-toxic–the primary component being bentonite clay. Bentonite is the same thing used to make kitty litter, cosmetics and toothpaste. So a little bentonite clay escaping into a water supply is not a big deal–unless it’s a LOT of bentonite escaping. Then it can foul a water supply, at least until the clay settles and the water clears again. A former geologist working for the Texas Railroad Commission (the government body in charge of regulating oil and gas in Texas) has written a thoughtful column in the Harrisburg Patriot-News to talk about loss of circulation that has happened in several locations while drilling for the Mariner East 2 pipeline in PA. The former geologist knows a thing or two about drilling, about benonite, and about spilling a little mud here and there. He provides some much needed perspective on the issue–a counterbalance to the wild speculations and false claims made by anti-fossil fuelers…
PennEast Pipeline has just achieved yet another milestone on its way to getting built. At a meeting last Thursday, the Board of Supervisors for Kidder Township (Carbon County, PA) voted 5-0 in favor of issuing a permit to PennEast to site the one-and-only compressor station the 120-mile pipeline will need. Proving yet again that most Pennsylvanians are in favor of this project, contrary to the mainstream/leftist media drumbeat against it. PennEast is a $1 billion primarily 36-inch pipeline from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. The company expects final Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval any week now. There are still a few hurdles left–mostly in New Jersey. But those hurdles are certainly surmountable. The radical Sierra Club and THE Delaware Riverkeeper are adamantly opposed and continue to try and throw up legal (and regulatory) roadblocks. No matter. This important pipeline will get built–and this compressor station approval is one more bit of evidence that it will get built…
Terry Pegula is an interesting guy. He’s a billionaire who owns both the Buffalo Sabres (NHL hockey team) and the Buffalo Bills (NFL football team). Pegula is the owner of East Resources, once a big driller (and holder of acreage) in the Marcellus Shale. Pegula sold off East’s Marcellus assets and used the money, in part, to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014, which gave rise to MDN calling the team “the Marcellus Bills”–since it was Marcellus money that kept the team in Buffalo, instead of moving to another market (see 
The Marcellus industry is closely watching three pieces of legislation sitting in the Pennsylvania legislature, bills that the industry fervently hopes do not pass. One of the bills is House Bill (HB) 557, introduced by Rep. Garth Everett, which would amend/fix the Oil and Gas Lease Act to ensure landowners get a minimum royalty of 12.5%, regardless of post-production deductions (see 
MAX Environmental has operated the Bulger hazardous waste landfill in Smith Township (Washington County), PA since 1958. 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. Earlier this year, MAX sold itself to Altus Capital Partners–a private equity investment firm–for an undisclosed amount (see 
District 5 Investments, an energy-focused private equity firm based in Texas, has formed a new subsidiary called Pathfinder Resources in order to invest in the Marcellus/Utica region. According to an announcement yesterday, Pathfinder will focus on acquiring “producing and non-producing oil and gas mineral interests, royalty interests and non-operated working interested” across the U.S., but starting first in the Marcellus/Utica. Investment sizes range from $5 million to $35 million. Here’s the latest investor to grab a piece of the Marcellus/Utica pie…
As MDN reported in July, the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the agency in charge of approving oil and gas wastewater injection wells, is currently reviewing an application and plan from Penneco Environmental Solutions (division of Penneco Oil Co.) to convert a plugged gas well into a brine (wastewater) injection well in Plum, PA–near Pittsburgh (see 
The Andrew Cuomo-corrupted New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), run by NRDC gang member Basil Seggos, has just slammed the door on New York towns using brine from the Pennsylvania Marcellus. Earlier this week the DEC posted new final regulations as part of “strengthening” the state’s solid waste regulations, referred to as Part 360. Brine is another name for produced water. When you drill a hole deep in the ground, well below the water table (which sits at maybe 200 feet down), over time water from the depths (a mile or more down) will come to the surface. This is not wastewater used in fracking (called flowback), but naturally occurring water (brine). It’s called brine because it contains a lot of minerals–far “saltier” than ocean water. There are a number of ways to dispose of all that water coming out of drilled wells for years after they are drilled–dispose of it via an injection wells, recycle it, or in some cases, treat it and use it as a deicer on roadways. Many towns use brine for that purpose. The DEC’s new regulations stipulate that if a town wants to use brine from conventional oil and gas wells, that’s fine (with certain restrictions). But if the brine comes from a Marcellus Shale well–it’s banned. Keep in mind there is virtually no chemical difference between the two. Which leads us to the conclusion that this is one more very intentional swipe at the shale industry by a state that is closed for business…
Looking to land a job at Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker plant when it’s up and running in a few years? A new program set up by Shell with the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) may give you a leg up. CCBC offers a program in process technology that leads to an associate’s degree. As of this spring, 45 people were enrolled. CCBC expects 70 people to enroll this fall. CCBC’s process technology degree is just one part of their effort to train people for advanced manufacturing careers with Shell and other petrochemical companies. CCBC is partnering with businesses, nonprofits, other colleges to form the Tri-State Advanced Manufacturing Consortium which will help prepare students and retrain workers to meet the needs of energy and manufacturing companies throughout the region. More deets on getting trained for a future cracker job…
It’s always sad when we have to report that a Marcellus/Utica-focused company goes out of existence. Northeast Energy Management, which operated under the name Northeast Energy with headquarters in Indiana, PA, claimed to be “a leader in tophole drilling in the Marcellus/Utica shale” and “a preferred contractor for many of the largest oil and natural gas exploration and production companies.” Perhaps it was, but it is no more. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court – Western District of Pennsylvania back in January of this year. As of yesterday the court ordered the company’s assets to be liquidated at auction. A live and online auction will take place next week, on Sept. 27, featuring two Schramm drilling rigs, Detroit Diesel engines with pipe handlers, trailer mounted and skid mounted air compressors, boosters, generators, accumulators, trailers and a variety of tractors, pick-up trucks, construction equipment and other drill site related equipment. Here’s the the details about the auction and how you can participate…