Bill Aims to Fix PA DEP Conflict of Interest re Penalty Revenue
Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Hutchinson says the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a built-in conflict of interest. The DEP has broad powers of investigating and assessing fines and penalties on the oil and gas industry for violations of the rules the DEP itself makes. The icing on the cake is that the DEP gets to keep the money it levies in fines and penalties. Hmmm. You make up the rules, you get to aggressively enforce the rules, and then you get to keep the money that results. What’s wrong with this picture? Hutchinson says if you put someone else (the PA legislature, in this case) in charge of the money raised from the fines and penalties, that makes the situation a little more fair and balanced. We couldn’t agree more…
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In July 2016 MDN told you about a smallish, but important pipeline project in the Delmarva Peninsula area, which includes most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Eastern Shore Natural Gas’ 2017 System Expansion project will bring new sources of natgas from an interconnection Eastern Shore has with the mighty TETCo (Texas Eastern Company) pipeline near Philadelphia (see 
Two radical Pennsylvania-based “environmental” groups are not exactly merging–but almost. One group is the radical PennFuture, which gave rise to such luminaries as John Quigley (fired as Sec. of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection), John Hanger (left the state, former DEP Secretary, ran for governor last time, lost, supports legalizing pot), and Cindy Dunn (currently Secretary of Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources). PennFuture is tax exempt, yet it routinely engages in political activity in violation of its IRS 501(c)(3) status. The other group is Conservation Voters of PA, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization affiliated with a political action committee (PAC). The two groups are combining certain portions of their operations–“policy, advocacy, and legal resources”–in an attempt to “hold legislators accountable, mobilize voters, and shine a spotlight on candidates’ records on clean air, water and energy issues.” Our view is that their organizations’ membership and donations are dwindling and this is two failing organizations clinging to each other so they don’t slip beneath the waves into oblivion…
Some 200 leftist/radical bought-and-paid-for “protesters” (paid by Big Green groups) “rallied” in downtown Philadelphia yesterday in front of both of PA’s U.S. Senate office (Bob Casey, total jerk and Democrat hack, and Pat Toomey, marginal Republican). They were protesting President-elect Trump’s picks to run the EPA, Dept. of Energy and Dept. of Interior–calling them “climate deniers.” This is part of a national campaign paid for by radical environmental groups, like 350.org and the Sierra Club, groups totally invested in the theory that mankind is causing the earth to catastrophically heat up–even though the temperature record doesn’t back up the theory. Holding silly banners like “NO CLIMATE DENIAL CABINET” they paraded around, collected their paychecks, 
Several townships in the Philadelphia orbit appear to be colluding with each other and with the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council in passing nearly identical resolutions opposing the Mariner East 2 natural gas liquids pipeline. Eight townships or boroughs along or “close to” (meaning not along) the route in Delaware and Chester counties have published resolutions or proclamations badmouthing the project. The municipalities include: Edgmont, West Goshen, Thornbury, Middletown, Westtown, Rose Valley, Swarthmore and Media. Some of the self-incriminating evidence for collusion comes from an admission by one of them: “The community statements are similar to each other because of consultation between their leaders.” And this, from the odious Clean Air Council: “Alex Bomstein, a lawyer with the environmental group Clean Air Council, said that while there are other local campaign such as those in Lebanon and Huntingdon Counties, the efforts in Delaware and Chester Counties are more ‘developed’ in the Philadelphia suburbs. ‘There are more people organizing than elsewhere,’ he said, probably because of a greater population density closer to Philadelphia.” Why would the StateImpact Pennsylvania propagandist quote the CAC in the same article as the colluding towns, unless they were somehow tied together?…
Last May MDN told you about a group of brave landowners in Wayne County, PA who have had their property rights stolen by the Delaware River Basin Commission (see 
A couple of times we’ve highlighted the great work done by the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm, most recently just last month (see 
In 2012, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) launched an “expedited” review process for erosion and sediment control general permits that it grants when drillers or pipeline companies plan to push dirt around on more than 5 acres at a time. Which means every pipeline built and every shale well pad constructed. The expedited review process shortened the time to get a permit down to as little as 14 days–provided the paperwork was filled out correctly. The DEP conducted an internal review and found that 59% of the time they didn’t get the paperwork in a form they wanted, so they disqualified those applications. Now the DEP is revising its rules for expedited review, meaning they’re pretty much doing away with it. Welcome back to long delays in getting permits to push dirt around. This action appears to be a response to stinging criticism from the PA legislature that permits, which are supposed to be issued in 14 days, are taking over 100 days–a charge leveled by PA Sen. Camera Bartolotta who is introducing legislation to put a burr under the DEP’s saddle. So the DEP is saying fine, we’ll just change it back to the way it used to be. You can now expect long permit delays from the outset. Your state government at work, serving the people…
SWEPI, formerly known as Shell Western E&P Inc., is the North American land-based drilling arm of giant Royal Dutch Shell. SWEPI has an active drilling program in the Marcellus/Utica region. Some of that active program has traditionally been in shallow, or conventional (not shale) drilling. Using a broker, SWEPI has put up a mammoth 189,000 acres of its conventional/shallow leases and wells for sale by auction. The leases and some 1,500 active oil and gas wells are located in Forest, Elk, McKean, and Warren counties in Pennsylvania, and Cattaraugus County in New York. The sale includes shallow rights (not shale rights) only. SWEPI claims there are another 10,000 potential well locations. Here’s the details…
In August of 2016 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally granted a certificate to Dominion to build its Leidy South Project, a $210 million to build and/or upgrade six compressor stations along the DTI pipeline system in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia (see 
In 2014 we brought you the interesting story of strippers in the Marcellus–stripper wells, that is (see 
In April 2015 the Obama administration’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) did a disservice to not only the drilling industry, but the wind industry, farmers and the construction industry. USFWS listed the northern long-eared bat as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (see 
What a way to ring in the New Year. Some 16 different fire departments were called out to a 4-alarm fire at Rice Energy’s Papa Bear well pad in Somerset Township (Washington County), PA, on January 1st. Rice contractors were in the process of fracking the Papa Bear well pad on Sunday afternoon (yes, gas workers work on Sundays and holidays!) when one of the 20 pumps being used experienced “equipment failure.” Fortunately, no one was injured. The blaze ended up ruining six of the 20 pumps, and damaging four pumper trucks. When nearby neighbors heard an explosion and saw black smoke, they “self evacuated” and got out of Dodge quick. Smart neighbors! The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is on the scene investigating and Rice does not yet have an estimate for when operations will resume at Papa Bear…