Pennsylvania

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    Philly Approves New Power Plant as Antis Throw Temper Tantrum

    crybabyTurns out anti-fossil fuel protesters, behaving like the petulant children they are, couldn’t stop the adults in the room last night in Philadelphia. You may recall we told you yesterday that wackos from a fringe-left group called 350 Philadelphia threatened to “swarm” a meeting of SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) where a vote was scheduled on a plan to build a Marcellus gas-powered electric plant that would provide electricity to SEPTA’s northern Regional Rail lines (see Antis Plan to Shut Down Philly Transit Meeting re NatGas Powergen). The plan would mean lower carbon and other pollution, but because the fuel for the electric plant is Marcellus Shale gas, the wackos objected. It’s (gasp) a “fossil fuel.” Last night about 50 crazies showed up and began shouting like spoiled rotten children, to try and drown out the vote. But the vote was taken, and the plan to build the power plant was approved–unanimously…
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    Still Time to Enter the 2017 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards

    Oil & Gas AwardsEach year MDN partners with the Oil & Gas Awards to promote their Northeast Awards–a way for companies in the industry that operate with distinction to get recognized by their peers. In March 2017 the Northeast Oil & Gas Awards will celebrate their 5th year. Over the past five years there have been thousands of entries and hundreds of finalists and winners. While the O&G Awards boys keep their ears to the ground to discover stellar performers, they want to know who YOU think are the best companies in the region. We are now 4 weeks out until the submission deadline for the 2017 Northeast Oil & Gas Awards (Dec. 14). Here’s how you can nominate your, or someone else’s, company for this year’s awards…
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    Antis Plan to Shut Down Philly Transit Meeting re NatGas Powergen

    enviro naziIn true environmental Nazi fashion, a group of profoundly stupid people have pledged to “swarm” and shut down a SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) meeting where a vote will be taken to build a Marcellus gas-powered electric plant that would provide electricity to SEPTA’s northern Regional Rail lines–a win/win for all Pennsylvanians. The reason the enviro Nazis want to shut down the meeting is to stop the vote because the clean-burning plant would burn a “fossil fuel” and these poor, lost souls grew up watching Captain Planet cartoons and believe burning natgas will toast Mom Earth. That is, they were brainwashed children who grew up to be maladjusted adults…
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    Panda’s 2nd Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Goes Online in PA

    patriot
    Panda Power Patriot Plant – Montgomery, PA

    Last month Panda Power Funds held the official commissioning ceremony to launch the operation of Panda Liberty, a 829-megawatt Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant in Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA (see First NatGas Power Plant in Marcellus, Panda Liberty, Goes Online). It was the world’s first built-from-scratch electric generating plant built specifically to use Marcellus Shale gas. Yesterday Panda Power commissioned the world’s second built-from-scratch-to-use-Marcellus-gas electric generating plant: Panda Patriot. Officials from across Pennsylvania joined Panda Power for the ceremony of their second 829-megawatt plant, this one in Lycoming County. One person attending described the reaction of those at the ceremony: “They were in awe.” As well they should be! This one plant is expected to contribute around $5.85 BILLION to the local economy. The economic impact will be staggering. (You see why these natgas-fired electric plants are such a big deal?) Here’s what went down yesterday at the Panda Patriot party…
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    Support to Regulate Unregulated Gathering Lines in PA Grows

    regulationLast month MDN wrote a post outlining an initiative to begin regulating small, low-pressure gathering pipelines–something not now done (see PIOGA Opposes Bill to Regulate Unregulated PA Gathering Pipelines). Media articles about this issue misstate and obfuscate, purposely, what is happening. Senate Bill (SB) 1235 would “enhance” the existing 811 law in PA. (811 is the number you call before you dig, to be sure there are no buried pipelines or electric lines or other underground structures.) One of the “enhancements” in SB 1235 is that it removes an exclusion for low-pressure natural gas gathering pipelines from being required to be part of the 811 system. Many owners of excluded lines voluntarily participate in the programs. The bill would also transfer regulatory enforcement power over the lines from the Department of Labor to the Public Utility Commission. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) pushed back against the removal of the exclusion for conventional production lines and rural (“Class 1” under federal law) gathering lines. PIOGA is not against knowing where pipeline are buried and protecting PA citizens–they ARE against onerous new regulations on those pipelines, which would have happened under the proposed SB 1235. PIOGA instead pushed for another year to sort out the issue, instead of passing SB 1235 as/is and throwing the conventional oil and gas industry into regulatory chaos. PIOGA won (see PA Bill to Regulate Unregulated Gathering Pipelines Fails). However, the oil and gas industry is divided on the issue. Several industry reps participated in a pipeline safety hearing yesterday at the State Capitol in Harrisburg–and voiced their support for the provisions in the defeated SB 1235…
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    PA Gives $5M to Union to Train More Welders for Cracker Plant

    5-millionOn Monday Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced PA taxpayers are forking over $5 million to Steamfitters Local 449 union for use in their Butler Training Facility project. The union training facility trains welders. The Shell ethane cracker plant, when it gets built, will need a LOT of welders. Right now the facility graduates 170 new welders a year. With the grant money, they will expand it to train and graduate 270 welders a year…
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    88% of Gas Used by Philly Customers Comes from PA Marcellus

    pecoPECO, formerly known as the Philadelphia Electric Company, is the largest combined electric/natural gas utility company in Pennsylvania. PECO serves 1.6 million electric customers and about a half million natural gas customers. In October 2015 the state Public Utility Commission approved a PECO plan to grow their natgas customer base by approving a plan that allows new natgas customers to spread the cost of hooking up to the gas line over 20 years (see PA Utility’s Plan to Deliver Marcellus Gas Approved by PUC). The really cool thing about PECO is that the company continues to use homegrown, abundant, cheap and clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas to sell to their customers. In 2014, 75% of the gas PECO sold to its customers came from the Marcellus. Last year, in 2015, that number shot up to 88%. Who knows what it will be this year!…
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    Google’s Privacy-Invading Cars Map “Methane Leaks” in Pittsburgh

    googleWe have to state up front that we are fans of Google’s services. We love the Chrome browser and Chrome OS, Android (for phones), Gmail for email, Google Drive…the list goes on and on. But at the same time, we detest the far-left, in-bed-with-Big-Green-groups leadership of Google. And we don’t like some of their initiatives–including their creepy snooping into every aspect of our lives. We spotted a story about Google’s roaming Street View cars that ride along our roads snapping pictures. Snapping pics isn’t enough for Googlers. In Pittsburgh they’ve added methane sniffers to help detect elevated levels of (they say) global warming causing methane escaping into the atmosphere, like a fugitive. Supposedly the methane sniffers will help People’s Natural Gas (which we suspect was bullied by Google) to identify where People’s 50 year-old natgas pipeline network is experiencing leaks. Look, we’re all for finding and fixing gas leaks–don’t get us wrong. But the motivation here is not the safety of the residents of Pittsburgh. It’s to bow down and worship at the altar of the Global Warming gods. Quick! There goes the Google car–turn off the gas grill…it might mistake your backyard barbecue for a gas leak! All joking aside, what will Google strap onto those cars next? Maybe they’ll snap a pic of a fat customer walking into McDonalds and send it to his friends to shame him. Or maybe they’ll snap a pic of (gasp) someone walking into a Donald Trump campaign office–sending it to that person’s boss. Yeah, that’ll fix ’em. It was no surprise to learn that PA Gov. Wolf also butted in on the Google methane sniffing action, along with the radical anti-drilling Environmental Defense Fund and PA Dept. of Environmental Protection…
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    PA Acting DEP Sec. McDonnell Reaffirms Plan to Reduce Methane Leaks

    Patrick McDonnell Acting Secretary, DEP
    Patrick McDonnell Acting Secretary, DEP

    MDN noticed something of interest from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), tucked at the bottom of a press release from the governor’s office about Google’s methane sniffing cars (see today’s companion story)–news that means shale drilling and pipeline infrastructure is about to get more expensive in the Keystone State. The press release was mostly about Google cars kitted out with special equipment that can help identify where methane is leaking from old pipes in cities like Pittsburgh. However, tucked in at the end of that press release was a repeat of an earlier press release announcing Wolf’s 4-point plan to reduce methane emissions. We first reported that plan back in February 2016, revealed by the former (now fired) DEP Secretary John Quigley (see More on Wolf/Quigley 4-Point Plan to Reduce Methane Emissions). Acting DEP Secretary Pat McDonnell reaffirmed the DEP’s 4-point plan as part of the Pittsburgh Google methane sniffing episode…
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    Martians Use Riverkeeper to Continue Court Battle Against Rex

    Maya van Rossum - THE Delaware Riverkeeper
    Maya van Rossum – THE Delaware Riverkeeper

    MDN previously reported on the injustice happening in Bulter County, PA where a handful of anti-drilling parents from the Mars School District (“Martians”), backed by money and legal help from Philadelphia Big Green groups Delaware Riverkeeper and Clean Air Council, have filed frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit. The effort is aimed at denying landowners in Middlesex Township revenue from legally permitted drilling. The actions by these radicalized parents have cost the taxpayers of Middlesex Township over $80,000 in legal fees. Landowners with leases got together and sued the radicals to stop this miscarriage of justice (see Shoe Now on Other Foot: Landowners Sue Martian Anti-Drillers). The lawsuit proceeded with the radicals claiming they should be able to sue, but not be sued (see Litigious Martians Cry Like Babies Over $500K Lawsuit Against Them). Unfortunately a county judge has agreed with the Big Money groups from Philly and has tossed the lawsuit against them (see $500K Lawsuit Against Litigious Martians Tossed by County Judge). Meanwhile, at least two of the wells were permitted and drilled by Rex Energy, despite the bleatings of the Martians (see Martian Victory! 2 Wells Near Mars School Nearly Done Drilling). But that hasn’t stopped the Martians, using legal assistance from THE Delaware Riverkeeper, from continuing to sue. The Martians have appealed a town ordinance that allows the wells to be drilled about 3/4 of a mile from the local Mars School. A panel of three western PA judges heard arguments in the case Monday afternoon…
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    New Research Helps Locate Abandoned O&G Wells in PA

    pnasIn March we highlighted the issue of abandoned oil and natural gas wells in Pennsylvania (see Who Pays for Abandoned O&G Wells in PA?). PA state officials estimate there are as many as 200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in the state–the vast majority of them conventional wells drilled over 50 years ago. Most of them are not mapped or known. Some of them are hazards for shale drillers who stumble across them when drilling new wells. If you drill horizontally and clip an old/abandoned well, it becomes like an elevator pumping fluids and gas to the surface. Not good. Everyone is committed to finding and marking and capping these old wells–the question is, how do you pay for it? The shale industry says it’s not fair to put the economic burden solely on the shoulders of the Marcellus industry. A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by researchers at Stanford and Princeton says the number of abandoned PA wells is actually much higher–as many as 700,000! The paper is titled “Identification and characterization of high methane-emitting abandoned oil and gas wells” (full copy below). The researchers are motivated by global warming flummery–desiring to locate abandoned wells which emit varying amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Whatever. The useful thing about this research is that they have discovered a way of sniffing out abandoned wells and determining which ones are emitting the highest levels of methane. Our interest is in the ability to locate, map and avoid drilling through old wells–we welcome this research…
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    PA Gov Wolf Basks in Predecessor’s Accomplishment at Cracker Site

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    Click for a larger version – credit: captainscratchy.com

    For a guy who wants to tax the Marcellus industry out of existence, PA Gov. Tom Wolf sure likes to bask in the glow of the industry’s success. Perhaps the crowning achievement of former PA Gov. Tom Corbett was the wooing and winning of Shell to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker near Pittsburgh. It’s hard to overstate just how big a deal the cracker plant is for the state–not only for PA, but also for nearby OH and WV. Shell’s ethane cracker will attract manufacturers to relocate nearby to take advantage of the cheap plastics that will come from the plant. While Shell will invest somewhere on the order of $6-$8 billion, with the coming build-out of manufacturing facilities in the region, it promises to turn into a $20 billion economic boost for the entire northeast. An amazing story! Right now Shell is busy at work clearing the site, which used to be a Horsehead zinc smelting operation. Gov. Wolf toured the site on Monday and was impressed, basking in the glow of what’s happening. Thing is, Wolf didn’t have a single thing to do with the plant coming to PA–other than not screwing up the deal before it was formally announced…
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    Without PA’s Energy Voters, It Would have been President Hillary

    what-could-have-been-photoWe shudder to think what would have been, if just a few more votes had gone the other way last Tuesday. Last week we authored an article in which we stated, “We don’t think it’s a stretch to say that energy voters in PA handed Trump the White House” (see Who Won in Tuesday’s Election in PA, OH, WV? Shale Energy Won!). Trump’s key campaign person in Pennsylvania, David Urban, said essentially the same thing in an interview with the Pittsburgh Business Times. Urban said that early on, the campaign ceded Philadelphia proper to Hillary, and instead concentrated on other areas of the state where they could amass enough voters to counter the Democrat stronghold in the City of Brotherly Love. The Trump PA strategy in a nutshell, according to Urban: “Make stops early and often. Focus on energy voters. Target areas outside of Philadelphia.” Without PA, Trump would not have won–at least we don’t think so (there are still votes being counted even today). So we say, yet again, THANK YOU to the pro-energy voters in PA who made a Trump victory possible. Here’s portions of the enlightening Urban interview…
    Read More “Without PA’s Energy Voters, It Would have been President Hillary”

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    Fired DEP Sec. Quigley Blames Sunoco for Mariner East 2 Delays

    John Quigley
    John Quigley

    Last week Sunoco Logistics Partners, builder of the Mariner pipelines, said that Mariner East 2–a $2.5 billion, 350-mile natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will run from eastern Ohio through the state of Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, carting ethane, butane and propane to the facility from both the Utica and Marcellus region–will be delayed nine months from the original plan due to permit delays (see Sunoco LP 3Q16: Mariner East 2 Delayed Due to Permits). Although officials didn’t go out of their way to blame the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the delays, the implication was there. And that got the former, fired Secretary of the DEP, John Quigley, all fired up. Quigley, talking through a Philly Inquirer stenographer, said (in so many words) it’s Sunoco’s own #$%@ fault. Quigley said Sunoco tried to get the project rubber stamped and did shoddy work in during the permit process–that they have no one to blame but themselves. Yeah, right…
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    Supply Chain Co MMR Expanding in SWPA, Eye on Cracker Boom

    mmrHey, it’s great when the oil and gas industry is booming (figuratively)–when the drill bits are chewing away at rock and dirt and when fracking is blasting rocks apart. Love it! But it really sucks when the drill bits go quiet–especially for companies in the supply chain, those who sell goods and services to the industry. Obviously it helps to be diversified–to sell your goods and services to customers outside the o&g industry. That’s the approach taken by the prescient MMR Constructors Inc. MMR services a number of industries, but they LOVE the oil and gas industry–upstream, midstream and downstream. MMR, based in Baton Rouge, LA, is building a sizable new office in Lawrence, PA. They sell to the Marcellus/Utica industry. MMR is “hoping” Marcellus/Utica activity picks up again. But what they really have their eye on is the coming manufacturing boom that will follow Shell’s ethane cracker plant, once it is up and running…
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    Paid Protesters Turn up in Philly (Again) to Slam Oil Terminal Plan

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    Philly Regional Port Auhtority – Click for larger version

    Less than two dozen PAID global warming protesters from the odious Food & Water Watch and Philly Thrive groups convened yesterday in Philadelphia to (once again) rail against a plan by Philadelphia Energy Solutions to expand their operation at the Southport Marine site in Philadelphia by leasing an additional 200 acres. Believe it or not, a plan to lease the extra space has been going on for more than two years (see Marcellus Caught in Crossfire of Philly Port Leasing Controversy). That’s how long it takes to grease all of the corrupt Democrat hands in Philly to get anything done. As things have gotten closer to a signed lease, paid law-breaking protesters have shown up at the facility, periodically, as they did in July (see Group of Protesting/Ignorant Kids Briefly Block Philly Refinery). A teeny tiny group of paid protesters showed up again yesterday and the propagandists at StateImpact Pennsylvania (paid to trash oil and gas) were there to slavishly regurgitate the wackos’ rantings against fossil fuels…
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