Battle Lines Drawn in PA to Prevent Nuke Energy Special Treatment
As MDN pointed out in a post on Monday, the uncompetitive nuclear power generating industry is trying to protect its business by asking for special protections and a “bailout” from ratepayers in state after state (see Expensive Nuke Plants in OH, PA Launch Attack on Cheaper NatGas). Such a strategy has worked in corrupt states like New York and Illinois. But now the nuke industry is turning its focus on Ohio and Pennsylvania. The nuclear industry is asking state legislatures to vote for higher electric rates in order to pass the money along to companies running the nuke plants. Corporate welfare. Picking energy winners and losers by fiat. It would result in rate hikes on people who would otherwise be experiencing lower rates thanks to the use of cheaper sources–like natural gas. Lest you think the natural gas industry (and solar and wind) are taking this battle lying down, think again. The battle lines are drawn. Some 17 organizations and companies, including the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, and the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council, have formed a confederation called “Citizens Against Nuclear Bailouts” to fight the effort by the nukes for special, expensive, preferential treatment…
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The Pittsburgh, PA region has been truly blessed by the Marcellus Shale industry. Largely because of the Marcellus, last year (2016) saw the biggest year ever for capital investment in the 10-county Pittsburgh region–a mind-blowing $10.2 billion of investment! It is the highest capital investment in a single year ever. Now mind you, not all of that money actually got invested last year. Some of it will come in dribs and drabs over the next several years. But all of that $10.2 billion was committed to in 2016. Last week the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) issued its annual Business Investment Scorecard. The report (read it below) finds that more than half of last year’s capital investments pledged to Pittsburgh region came from a single project–the $6 billion Shell ethane cracker. The report also found another $3.11 billion worth of investment related to shale gas (processing plants, gas-fired power plants, etc.). Add it all together, and over $9 billion of the $10.2 billion committed last year is due to the Marcellus industry. To which we say, Pittsburgh should bow down and kiss some shale rock…
Each year the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center (SGICC) conducts a contest to locate companies with the best shale energy-oriented innovations, new product ideas, or service concepts that are either in the development stage or recently launched. The Shale Gas Innovation Contest awards a $20,000 prize to three companies–$60,000 purse. Ten finalists have been chosen for this year’s contest. Exciting! We have the announcement, along with a description of each company and their truly innovative products and services, below. If you’re anywhere near the orbit of Pittsburgh, there will be a ceremony for the winners with a free reception on May 9th at the Hilton Garden Inn in Southpointe…
Two weeks ago MDN brought you the news that not only has the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued final permits for two new injection wells in the state, they also sued the two townships where those permits were granted because the towns had adopted home rule laws that are illegal, in contravention to state law that give power to permit and control injection wells to the DEP only–not to local municipalities (see 
An MDN reader and friend recently forwarded along an email newsletter from the ALLARM Shale Gas Program. ALLARM stands for Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring. With the rapid growth of the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania shale drilling in neighboring states, “concerned citizens” wanted ways to collect data on water quality impacts from shale gas activities. As a response to requests from communities, ALLARM developed a volunteer-friendly protocol in 2010 to assess small streams for the early detection and reporting of surface water contamination by shale gas extraction activities. Volunteers (i.e. anti-drillers) monitor water quality throughout the year, including conductivity, barium, strontium, and total dissolved solids–and physical parameters, including stream stage and visual observations prior to, during, and after shale gas well development. Monitors also participate in a quality assurance, quality control program which includes in-person trainings, routine meter calibration, and sample testing via split-sample analysis two times a year. Since they began monitoring local streams, nearly 5,000 observations have been logged. And what have we learned from all of this monitoring? That shale gas drilling is safe for local streams…
On Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after delaying a decision three times adding an extra eight months, issued a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the PennEast Pipeline project. We should add, it was a favorable EIS. While FERC found (as they always do) that there would be “some adverse environmental impacts” from the project, those impacts “would be reduced to less than significant levels” with PennEast’s proposed construction plans. This is a major milestone and all but assures the project will now go forward and will be built and go into service sometime in 2018. What potential roadblocks remain? For one, PennEast will need water crossing permits from New Jersey, which they filed for last week (see 
The Baker Hughes rig count in the U.S. continued to rocket skyward in March. In January the average number of U.S. rigs was 683. In February, the count zoomed to 744, up 61 rigs in just a month. And in March, the U.S. rig count zoomed to 789, up another 45 rigs in a month. Each active rig translates into hundreds of jobs, both directly working at the rig and indirectly in services delivered to the rig and its workers. It also means more landowners will soon have royalty payments heading in their direction. When rigs are active, life is good. What about rig counts in the Marcellus/Utica? Disappointingly our region’s rig count lost a rig in March. PA lost two rigs, OH gained a rig, and WV stayed even. What does it all mean? It means that this zooming up in rig counts is happening in other locations–primarily in the Permian Basin in Texas. That is, oil rigs rushing to take advantage of an increase crude prices to a sustained $50+/barrel. While we’re happy the rig count is up, we’re not happy more it is not happening in the northeast. But honestly, without pipelines to take away an increase in production, can you blame our drillers? Once there is more takeaway capacity, you’ll see rig counts begin to climb again in our neck of the woods…
School officials at a school district in Delaware County, PA (Philadelphia suburb) were, understandably, concerned about plans that would bring the Mariner East 2 pipeline “near” the school. What happens if, in the extremely unlikely event, the pipeline leaks? Or explodes? What kind of measure are in place to protect the kiddies? Sunoco Logistics personnel (builder of the ME2 project) along with emergency first responders met with Middletown school officials on March 31 in a private meeting–because emergency plans are confidential. Coming out of that meeting, the school district superintendent said he was “extraordinarily satisfied” with the plans and that they kids are safe with ME2 being located nearby. You don’t hear that often, because the media doesn’t typically report it…
Even though a companion story today reveals that a local school district in Middletown Township, PA (near Philadelphia) is completely satisfied that the Mariner East 2 pipeline is safe (see Delco School “Extraordinarily Satisfied” with ME2 Pipeline Safety), there are still a few hardened anti-fossil fuelers in Middletown who refuse to consider reason. They are keeping up a losing battle against ME2. Their latest approach is to pressure (i.e. bully) town officials to unilaterally reject the pipeline through their jurisdiction based on town zoning codes about setbacks–the distance from the pipeline to surrounding structures. Like two other towns with similar codes (Thornbury and West Goshen), the antis in Middletown are threatening to (surpise!) sue if the town doesn’t do what they (the antis) selfishly demand by rejecting the pipeline…
MDN first told you about IMG Midstream in August 2014 (see 
Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) provides revenue projections for use in the state budget process along with impartial and timely analysis of fiscal, economic and budgetary issues to assist Commonwealth residents and the General Assembly in their evaluation of policy decisions. It’s only been around since 2010 and in the past we’ve wondered if it’s populated with liberal Democrats that don’t hew to the state mission of being objective in their analysis. However, our confidence in the organization has grown over the past year or so. Recent IPO predictions about Marcellus Shale impact fee revenues have been pretty accurate (see 
Last July anti-frackers at the Johns Hopkins-Bloomberg School of Public Health expelled another bought-and-paid-for (by anti-drillers) “study” that implies the presence of fracking in Pennsylvania leads to causing, or making worse, asthma attacks (see 
In March MDN brought you the news that APV Renaissance Partners (a subsidiary of American Power Ventures) will submit a permit to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) “within the next month” for a combined-cycle power plant at the old Hatfield’s Ferry site in Greene County, PA–to be powered with Marcellus Shale gas (see 
It’s hard to keep track of all the Marcellus and Utica Shale-fired electric plants being planned, built and going online. We recently highlighted a list of 11 such projects getting built in Ohio (see 
On Monday Pennsylvania House Republicans released their version of a state budget, and yesterday (Tuesday) they voted to pass it. Ba-boom! The budget is noteworthy for many reasons. Of prime interest to MDN is that the budget does NOT include PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s insane 6.5% severance tax (see