Pennsylvania

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    Antis Worried Trump Will Stop Delaware River Basin Conservation Act

    The (for now) taxpayer funded PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania is so “in the tank” and biased for radical environmentalism, they are a reliable mouthpiece for Big Green. Want to know what Big Green thinks? Just read StateImpact. Which is how we know Big Green is now very worried that the incoming Trump Administration will stop implementation of the ill-conceived Delaware River Basin Conservation Act. We wrote about the Act when it was still just a bill (see New Bill Aims to Keep Drilling/Pipelines Out of Dela. River Basin). The Act, which was passed by a spineless Republican Congress in December, vests the already out-of-control U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with power and money to “identify and implement conservation activities” in the Delaware River Basin. The tip-off that it’s anti-drilling is that it was pushed and promoted by the odious William Penn Foundation as well as the Delaware River Basin Commission. USFWS is an Executive Branch (i.e. now Trump Administration) agency, so Trump can decide to drag his heels on implementing this disastrous legislation. Hey libs, how does it feel to be out of power? The thought that Trump will deny them their precious money to make mischief has them worried, as evidenced by the propagandists at StateImpact
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    Heinz Endowments Gives Prof $48K to Find Frack Water Contamination

    Make no mistake. When the Heinz Endowments, a left-leaning, big-moneyed nonprofit invests its money via grants into programs that have anything to do with shale drilling, it is for one purpose and one purpose only: to smear the reputation of fracking and to make oil and gas look bad. They fund all sorts of “research” efforts that mysteriously always come to the same conclusion: fracking is bad. Funny how that works. So it was with interest we noted they’ve purchased for themselves another academic researcher rather cheaply–just $48,000–with a mission to test water wells near fracking sites. The aim? To prove that fracking contaminates water wells. Which is the claim made by groups like Heinz for years–and has never been proven. Millions of wells fracked, with a small number where methane has migrated into those wells (a fixable condition). NEVER has there been chemical transmission from fracking into groundwater wells. But that doesn’t stop Heinz from trying to manufacture evidence. Here’s their latest effort…
    Read More “Heinz Endowments Gives Prof $48K to Find Frack Water Contamination”

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    More on PA DEP’s Onerous New Methane Capture Regs

    In December, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) unveiled new regulations to clamp down on methane emissions and other other air pollution that allegedly comes from shale drilling sites (see PA DEP Releases New Regs re Methane & Air Pollution at Drill Sites). The onerous new regulations, not in effect yet, are prompted by bullying from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, an agency which is about to get gutted (see Master Stroke: Trump Selects OK AG Pruitt to Lead EPA). That hasn’t stopped Gov. Wolf’s DEP from plowing forward with new rules (copies here). We spotted an Associated Press article that highlights some of the aspects of the proposed new methane capture rules…
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    PA DEP Rejects Revisions to Regs re Drilling Near Coal Mines

    Here’s a story we admittedly don’t know much about, a story that kind of came out of left field. It may affect some shale drillers in southwest PA. Sometimes drillers want to lease and drill under coal mines. Since coal mines sink large holes in the ground, there are existing guidelines in place for how closely an oil/gas well can be drilled on or under a coal mine–guidelines put in place in 1957. As a result of legislation passed in 2011 called Act 2, a review was conducted to see if the standards for oil/gas drilling near coal mines might be modified–we’re assuming “relaxed,” allowing such drilling to happen in conditions not currently allowed. A column of rock called a pillar needs to be of a certain size/width in order for drilling to take place. An independent study to review the size of pillars, called “Gas Well Pillar Study Update, PO 4300311202 and 4300400813,” was completed in March 2016. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently completed its own review of that study (copy of the DEP review below) and has rejected changing existing 1957 standards for pillar dimensions. Yeah, kind of technical. Short version: DEP is keeping super-strict standards in place claiming it’s safer for coal miners, limiting options for shale drilling under some coal mines…
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    Buyer of FirstEnergy’s PA NatGas Power Plants Revealed

    FirstEnergy, based in Akron, OH, is one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. FirstEnergy owns a variety of regulated and non-regulated power generation plants. In November the company announced it wants to sell six power generating plants in PA, four of them natural gas-fired plants (see FirstEnergy Selling 4 NatGas-Fired Electric Plants in PA). The plants being sold are non-regulated–part of FirstEnergy’s strategy to become a 100% “regulated” utility in the next 18 months. In December FirstEnergy announced they found a buyer willing to pay $885 million for the four natgas plants in PA (see FirstEnergy Finds Buyer for 4 PA NatGas-Fired Power Plants). However, the buyer’s identity remained a secret–until now. LS Power Equity Partners III LP, a New York-based power developer, is the buyer of the four natgas-fired electric plants…
    Read More “Buyer of FirstEnergy’s PA NatGas Power Plants Revealed”

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    Pittsburgh Energy Lawyers Jump Ship from NRF to Blank Rome

    In the past MDN has highlighted the great work done by the Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) law firm, most recently just last month (see Updated List of Proposed Laws in PA-OH-WV Affecting Marcellus/Utica). Researchers at the law firm issue a quarterly legislative action update looking at bills and laws previously voted on, and new bills/laws introduced, affecting the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Very impressive. So we were saddened to learn that Norton Rose Fulbright is closing its Marcellus/Utica office in Pittsburgh, with plans to cover the region from its other offices (see Law Firm Norton Rose Fulbright Closing Pittsburgh Marcellus Office). They announced two remaining attorneys in the Pittsburgh office–Amy Barrette and Jeremy Mercer–will relocate to NRF’s Washington, DC office. Not so fast! Yesterday another large energy law firm in Pittsburgh, Blank Rome, announced Barrette and Mercer are joining their firm instead, and staying put in Pittsburgh…
    Read More “Pittsburgh Energy Lawyers Jump Ship from NRF to Blank Rome”

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    Potter Twp (Finally) Approves Permit for Shell Ethane Cracker

    In December the Potter Township Board of Supervisors convened a public hearing on the proposed Shell ethane cracker plant–to be built in Potter Twp–that ended up going on for 10 hours (see Potter Twp Declines to Approve Permits for Shell Cracker, For Now). The intent was to approve Shell’s request for permits to begin construction on the multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant. That didn’t happen. Instead, the supervisors decided to hold another hearing the following night. They did, and that hearing went for over an hour, in closed-door session. At the conclusion, the supervisors made a couple of requests from Shell, which Shell agreed to. However, the supervisors were still not ready to approve the permits and instead asked for more paperwork to be filed. Potter Township supervisors are certainly no rubber stamp for the cracker project. They are working hard to ensure area residents are protected when (not if) it gets built. But that’s not good enough for radical, anti-fossil fuel nutters who (irrationally) want nothing to do with natural gas. Last week the supervisors held yet another meeting and the antis behaved like they always do–like petulant children, hollering and booing and making a$$es of themselves. One supervisor said he was “appalled” by the conduct of the crowd at last week’s meeting. That’s all in the rearview mirror now. Last night Potter Township held another meeting and yes, they finally voted to grant the cracker project the necessary town permits to proceed. Oh! The crowd last night? While it had a few crazies, it was packed with local residents who support the project. Nice to see the good guys come out in force to counteract the nutters…
    Read More “Potter Twp (Finally) Approves Permit for Shell Ethane Cracker”

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    Breakthrough for M-U Drillers: First Mini-LNG Unit Up & Running

    The Dresser-Rand business commissioned its first micro-scale natural gas liquefaction system at the Ten Man liquefied natural gas facility in Pennsylvania

    If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you know how important LNG–liquefied natural gas–is to the future of the Marcellus/Utica. We’re all eagerly awaiting the day Dominion flips the switch on its Cove Point LNG liquefaction facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Cove Point LNG Now 78% Complete, On Track to Open This Year). Cove Point will condense and ship 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica gas to Japan and India. Other big LNG projects are also in the works, several of them on the East Coast of Canada. However, some Marcellus/Utica gas is already getting liquefied and shipped–via the Gulf Coast. In particular from the Cheniere’s Sabine Pass LNG facility in Louisiana (see LNG Slowly Changing the NatGas Game in the Marcellus/Utica). Cove Point, Sabine Pass and other such facilities take years to build and cost billions of dollars. But there’s another kind of LNG, “micro-scale” LNG liquefaction that is taking root in the Marcellus. Dresser-Rand, a subsidiary of German giant Siemens, has commissioned its first small-scale natural gas liquefaction system at the Ten Man LNG facility near Mansfield (Tioga County), PA. The new mini-LNG facility will, according to Dresser-Rand, allow Marcellus driller Frontier Natural Resources “monetize stranded gas assets,” by which we take to mean wells drilled that are not and cannot quickly be connected to a pipeline system. If this catches on, it can be an important alternative for drillers where pipelines are nonexistent or slow in coming…
    Read More “Breakthrough for M-U Drillers: First Mini-LNG Unit Up & Running”

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    PA Senator Reintroducing Bill to Reduce Marcellus Waste Reporting

    PA State Sen. Elder Vogel

    On Tuesday, PA State Sen. Elder Vogel (Republican from Beaver, PA) circulated a co-sponsor memo that states his intent to re-introduce a bill that will remove some of the hassles drillers now face with the recent adoption of new Marcellus drilling regulations. Specifically, Vogel wants to change the DEP (Dept. of Environmental Protection) regulation requirement that drillers must file paperwork to report the amount and disposition of drilling waste–which would include wastewater and drill cuttings–from monthly to every six months. Every gallon of frack and produced water that comes out of a well, and every square inch of leftover rock and dirt, must be tracked and a report filed. The new Chapter 78a drilling regulations adopted by the DEP requires monthly reports to be filled out–a virtual blizzard of paperwork. Vogel wants to make it more manageable with biennial reports instead…
    Read More “PA Senator Reintroducing Bill to Reduce Marcellus Waste Reporting”

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    PA Gov Wolf Signals his Support for Mariner East 2 Pipeline

    PA Gov. Tom Wolf

    PA Gov. Tom Wolf has been, to be frank, a disaster as a governor. On many issues. But the issue that primarily concerns us is the oil and gas industry. Wolf will soon introduce his third budget and for a third straight year he will call for a Marcellus-killing severance tax. He still owes the teachers unions payback for supporting him and getting him elected. Wolf pretty much screwed up the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) when he installed an anti-driller as its head, John Quigley. He later fired Quigley when it was discovered Quigley was colluding with Big Green groups. Given Wolf’s treatment of the industry, it was with some surprise to read that Wolf, in comments made to a Chamber of Commerce group last week, mouthed his support for the Mariner East 2 NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline that will traverse the state. The pipeline is opposed by a few anti-fossil fuel zealots and some townships along its route. The DEP is reviewing permits for the project and the hints coming from Wolf and the DEP are that the project will receive its approvals soon. Which is really good news…
    Read More “PA Gov Wolf Signals his Support for Mariner East 2 Pipeline”

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    Kinder Morgan Asks FERC to Approve Orion Pipe Project by Jan 31

    In October 2015, Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) filed their official, full application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval for their Orion Project (see Tennessee Gas Pipeline Files PA Orion Project with FERC). The project will cost $143 million and construct 13 miles of “looping” pipeline in Pike and Wayne counties, Pennsylvania. The project will boost capacity on the TGP by another 135 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), allowing TGP to pump more Marcellus Shale gas to Mid-Atlantic and New England states. According to the original plan, the TGP Orion upgrade will be complete and in-service by June 2018. They still want to meet that timetable–but can’t unless FERC gets off their rear-ends and approves the project. So TGP filed an official request with FERC to get Orion approved by January 31st. Otherwise, all bets are off for a June 2018 in-service date…
    Read More “Kinder Morgan Asks FERC to Approve Orion Pipe Project by Jan 31”

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    RINO PA Senator from Philly Introducing 5% Severance Tax Bill

    Why doesn’t it surprise us that a Republican-in-Name-Only (RINO) State Senator from the 6th District (Bucks County, Philadelphia suburbs) is not only in favor of, but sponsoring a bill to levy a Marcellus-killing severance tax? PA State Senator Robert “Tommy” Tomlinson, an establishment lifer who has been in the state legislature since 1991 (first as a Representative, later as a Senator), sent around a “Co-Sponsorship Memoranda” yesterday asking Democrats, and along with any suckers from the Republican Party, to co-sponsor a bill he plans to introduce calling for a new severance tax on Marcellus drilling. Tommy wants to tax Marcellus drilling an extra 5%, on top of the existing impact fee, which is a severance tax under a different name, to give the money to (you guessed it) teachers unions. Tommy wants transfer millions of dollars out of the pockets of landowners and drillers and into the sinkhole of the failing “unfunded” pension system for state workers and teachers. The instantaneous effect of Tommy’s tax would be to kill all drilling in the state, which apparently doesn’t bother Tommy in the least…
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    Cabot Offers Lowball $1K Signing Bonus in Heart of Marcellus

    Cabot Oil & Gas has a major presence in Susquehanna County, PA, not far from where MDN is written (just across the border). In fact, Susquehanna County, located in the northeastern tip of PA, is the only county in PA where Cabot drills. It is a “dry gas” zone–and extremely productive. By our reckoning, Cabot alone produces something like 3% of the entire natural gas supply for the entire country. One driller, in one county. It is an astonishing feat! Susquehanna County is rural. The entire county has 43,000 residents (11,700 families). The largest “city” in Susquehanna County is the county seat of Montrose, population 1,600 (750 households). Until now, there has been drilling all around the edges of Montrose, but no drilling directly under the city. That may soon change. Cabot has made an offer on 10.76 acres of land located within city limits. Cabot is offering a lowball $1,000 per acre as a signing bonus, plus 15% royalties. Not long ago Cabot cut deals for $3,500 per acre and 18.75% royalties. It appears this is just an opening negotiating tactic…
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    Thai Company Banpu Makes 2nd Investment in Northeast Marcellus

    1/18/17 Update: The seller has now been identified as Chief Oil & Gas. See the appended press release below from Banpu’s U.S. partner Kalnin Ventures.

    Last May, Range Resources sold its portion of a joint venture in northeast Pennsylvania (see Thai Company Buys Out Range Resources’ JV in NEPA for $112M). Banpu Pcl, Thailand’s largest coal producer, invested $112 million to purchase Range’s Marcellus non-operated JV operations in Bradford County, PA. The “Chaffee Corners Joint Exploration Agreement” gave Banpu an ownership share in 62 producing wells and another 14 wells waiting on completion, and a share in 170+ more drilling locations. Talisman is the operator of the wells and the company that does the drilling in the JV. Banpu liked it so much, they’re back. The company announced today it has acquired a 10.24% stake in more Marcellus leases in northeastern PA for $63 million. The information we’re able to locate does not specify who the driller is in which Banpu is sinking money, but the acreage is located near the first deal–presumably also in Bradford County…
    Read More “Thai Company Banpu Makes 2nd Investment in Northeast Marcellus”

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    Lancaster County Antis Ramp Up for “Nonviolent” Pipeline Protests

    North Dakota Access Pipeline’s “nonviolent” protesters – credit: LA Times

    Last week MDN told you about the nutters from the radical group Lancaster Against Pipelines who built a second magic tree house in the path of the proposed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline (see PA Antis Build 2nd Magic Tree House to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe). As we pointed out then (and on previous occasions) this group is now aligning itself with, and taking its cues from, outside/paid protesters who engaged in criminal acts in North Dakota at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline project (see Dakota Access Pipeline Protesters Turn Violent; Coming Here Next?). On Sunday, Lancaster Against Pipelines held yet another protest meeting–at the site of the new/second magic tree house. And guess who was there? “Organizers from at least three other states were in attendance to recruit and train people on nonviolent direct action. Some of them had taken part in the monthslong protest against an oil pipeline in North Dakota with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.” Is that the same Dakota Access “protest” where they were firing bullets at police and throwing rocks at law enforcement? Tell us again about this so-called “nonviolent” protest you’re planning in Lancaster…
    Read More “Lancaster County Antis Ramp Up for “Nonviolent” Pipeline Protests”

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    Rice Energy Sues West Pike Run Twp re Compressor Station Approval

    Tired of having their application to expand a pipeline compressor station blocked, Rice Energy has sued West Pike Run Township in Washington County, PA. In the lawsuit, Rice says that the town had 90 days (under law) to render a decision on the request and did not do so. Eventually the town told Rice “no” to expanding an existing compressor station. The lawsuit asks the court to force the town to approve the application forthwith…
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