Pennsylvania

Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PHFA Seeks Requests to Fund Housing Projects in PA Marcellus
June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

Listen up Pennsylvania communities with shale drilling: The PA Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) wants to hear from you with proposals for improving the “availability and affordability of housing in the Marcellus Shale region of the state.” The PHFA is back for a second year in a row with $5 million from impact fee revenue to spread around in communities affected by shale drilling (see last year’s story: PHFA Looking to Build Low Income Housing in Marcellus Region). We sometimes read stories complaining that housing is scarce and rents for apartments in shale areas are driving local welfare recipients to other regions of the state where it’s cheaper to pay rent. Here’s your chance to keep the slugs–er, a–low income folks in your own area…
Read More “PHFA Seeks Requests to Fund Housing Projects in PA Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

4 Common Sense Energy Bills Advance in PA Legislature
June 13, 2016June 13, 2016

Pennsylvania State Capitol

As the fiscal year in Pennsylvania draws to an end, PA legislators in both the House and Senate are working on a number of proposed new laws that will make the Keystone State less onerous for energy producers and more business-friendly in general to drillers and those in the Marcellus Shale industry. Four such bills are actively making their way through the legislative process and look promising: Senate Bill (SB) 1195 extends the review period for legislators to review Wolf’s idiotic plan to comply with Obama’s onerous Clean Power Plan; SB 279 establishes a council to help the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to get its head straight when it comes to crafting new drilling regulations for conventional (non-shale) drillers; SB 562 provides for more transparency and timely communication, preventing Big Green organizations from pushing through new regulations with the DEP in the dead of night as they do now; and SB 805 will allow large energy users to opt out of state-sponsored energy efficiency programs–because those users are already more efficient that the state-run programs. Here’s the run down on where each bill sits, along with a copy of the latest versions for each bill…
Read More “4 Common Sense Energy Bills Advance in PA Legislature”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

How Republican Tom Corbett Convinced Shell to Locate Cracker in PA
June 13, 2016June 13, 2016

Former Gov. Tom Corbett

There’s no question that Tom Corbett was ten times the governor that Tom Wolf is now. Wolf is an undisputed disaster. Good thing Corbett is the one who brokered the deal to get Shell to select Pennsylvania as the location for its multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant. A big tax incentive helped lure Shell to the Keystone State, no question about it. But that’s not the only reason the company decided on PA. When it comes to business and sales, there are a couple of tried-and-true axioms. One of those axioms is that people do business with people–not companies. Another is this: people buy from people they know, like and trust. Take any one of those elements away, and you don’t make a sale. So how did Tom Corbett “sell” Shell on PA as the location? There were a number of factors, but one way that stands out as a shining example: Corbett treated the Shell execs to a Pittsburgh Steelers game…
Read More “How Republican Tom Corbett Convinced Shell to Locate Cracker in PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Time to Fire Cindy Dunn, Last of Wolf Admin’s PennFuture Radicals
June 13, 2016October 6, 2017

PA Sec of DCNR Cindy Dunn

When the disastrous Tom Wolf set up his administration upon winning the governorship, three members of his cabinet were all from the same radical, Big Green group: PennFuture. There was Wolf’s Secretary of Policy, John Hanger (now gone, supposedly to spend more time with his wife and daughter in Massachusetts); Wolf’s Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (fired for conspiring with Big Green groups and getting caught doing it); and Wolf’s Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Cindy Dunn. She’s still around, but as MDN friend Tom Shepstone writes, it’s now time to fire her too. Dunn has been caught using taxpayer money to send her staff to Big Green reeducation events–to properly indoctrinate them and send a little coin to her comrades in the movement…
Read More “Time to Fire Cindy Dunn, Last of Wolf Admin’s PennFuture Radicals”
Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

Gentlemen, start your engines! Your economic engines, that is. The news earlier this week that Shell has made the commitment to move ahead and build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA has, as we knew it would, set the region buzzing (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go! and Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought). With the decision now made, those in the real estate community are salivating over how that decision will reverberate throughout the region. There is now an effort underway to lure manufacturers in Texas and along the Gulf Coast area to consider setting up in the western PA (and eastern OH and northern WV) area instead–to take advantage of being that much closer to the biggest market in the country–the East Coast. One real estate pro says commercial real estate for up to 150 miles away is likely to be impacted by the decision to build the cracker plant in Monaca…
Read More “Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

PA Gov Tom “half a loaf” Wolf

Yesterday MDN held out hope that PA’s far-left Governor, Tom Wolf, had actually wised up with respect to blocking new drilling regulations for conventional drillers in the state (see Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs). We thought perhaps the Wolf was learning to moderate his hard-left stances and work with the more reasonable Republican Party to advance the state. Ha ha ha. We should have known better. How very Pollyanna of us. We spotted an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that gives us the real reason Wolf agreed to sign off on a deal to block new Article 78 regulations for conventional drillers: Because if he didn’t, Republicans AND Democrats were waiting to block ALL of the new drilling regs–including regs for shale drillers. Members of his own party told him they would vote to override his veto, if it came to that. Wolf knew he had lost the fight and rather than go down to defeat, he grabbed onto a half a loaf–allowing shale regs to advance–to salvage what little reputation he has left…
Read More “Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs”
Pennsylvania | York County

PA Paper Manufacturer Converting Coal to NatGas Boilers
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

It’s not only power generating plants that are converting from burning coal to burning natural gas. York, PA paper manufacturer Glatfelter is working on a $63 million conversion project from coal-fired boilers to Marcellus Shale gas-fired boilers. Glatfelter considered other alternatives, like scrubbers for the current coal-fired boilers and using biomass boilers. In the end, Glatfelter said Marcellus Shale gas has “lower emissions, increased efficiency, lower variable costs” and supports “a resource critical to the state’s economic health.” Wise choice. The Glatfelter decision to convert to Marcellus Shale gas was highlighted yesterday at an economic forum in southcentral PA…
Read More “PA Paper Manufacturer Converting Coal to NatGas Boilers”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs
June 9, 2016June 9, 2016

PA Gov Tom Wolf – finally wising up?

While not wanting to look he’s caved, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf caved and in a deal with PA legislators agreed to support amended legislation that will allow some new Article 78 drilling regulations to go forward (for shale drillers) while other Article 78 regs will not (for conventional drillers). Yesterday the PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee approved amendments to Senate Bill 279 that prohibit the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) from implementing new Article 78 rules for conventional drillers. Committee Chairm John Maher (Republican) let it leak that Wolf has cut a deal to support the amended bill, much to the consternation of Rep. Greg Vitali and his buddies in the Big Green movement. Will they now brand Wolf as an environmental “apostate”–using John Quigley’s language? Perhaps! For more than a year Wolf has been recalcitrant when it comes to the budget and just about every other initiative where the Executive and Legislative branches must cooperate. Could it be Wolf is finally wising up?…
Read More “Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Westmoreland County

TETCO PA Pipeline Explosion Still Limiting NatGas Flow Month Later
June 9, 2016June 9, 2016

An update on Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission’s “Delmont Line 27” which exploded in Westmoreland County, PA on April 29 (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). We previously told you that not only was Line 27 out of commission, so too were three other pipelines running through the same corridor, meaning 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day is not reaching certain mid-Atlantic markets (see Update on Spectra Pipeline Explosion Near Pittsburgh). The early evidence points to corrosion along welded seams, although the jury is still out and the exact cause may not be known for months (see Preliminary Guess on TETCO Pipeline Explosion Cause: Corrosion). One of the four lines that was offline (Line 19) was examined and certified by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in early May to go back online (see TETCO Pipeline Up & Running Post-Explosion; Antis Exploit Accident). But since that time the other three lines have remained idle. When will the other three lines go back into service? And, did the Line 27 explosion cause any lasting airborne hazards?…
Read More “TETCO PA Pipeline Explosion Still Limiting NatGas Flow Month Later”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

New $2.5 Million Penn State Initiative Aims to Stop Pipelines
June 9, 2016June 9, 2016

This is the story of wasting $2.5 million of taxpayer’s money. Penn State has given us some of the best research (and personnel) we’ve ever seen when it comes to the Marcellus Shale. In particular we’re thinking of Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR). Great people. Super research. But then there are others at Penn State who don’t like shale energy and concoct some pretty creative ways to stop it. We recently came across something called Marcellus by Design from Penn State’s Department of Landscape Architecture. This new initiative from Penn State received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (funded by your tax dollars and mine) to travel around the state and use a website to “educate” people about the aesthetics of the Marcellus. In other words, where should you put a pipeline? And how will it look? They’ve designed online “games” to help in this mission. Yes, it’s as stupid as it sounds. The aim is, of course, to not install a pipeline at all. It’s an elaborate anti-drilling hoax cloaked to look like something it is not. After a pipeline is in the ground for a few years, you can’t even tell it’s there. We think the $2.5 million grant would have been better spent on where to site windmills in PA. We’ve traveled through northeast and southeast PA quite a bit, and it never ceases to amaze us (going down the PA Turnpike from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia, for example) to spot entire hillsides covered with ugly, imposing windmills–destroying the natural beauty of the area–not to mention being huge bird killers. Why didn’t the Dept. of Landscape Architecture study that, instead of Marcellus pipelines?…
Read More “New $2.5 Million Penn State Initiative Aims to Stop Pipelines”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Artist’s rendering of Shell Monaca Ethane Complex – click for larger version

Yesterday MDN was one of the first to bring you the fantastic news that Shell has decided to move forward with building their multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!). Shell mentioned their positive final investment decision (FID) as part of a larger, wide-ranging announcement on their plans for the next few years and beyond. They were slow off the mark, but Shell finally issued a separate press release about the FID for the Monaca, PA ethane cracker plant complex. As usually happens with a story this big, more details have come out after the initial announcement. For example: Shell’s initial estimate for the cost of the project, more than four years ago, was “$2-$3 billion.” Now? They won’t say. But some news sources are reporting it will be closer to a $6 billion investment. One even goes as high as $11 billion! What Shell *is* saying is that construction on the main part of the facility will begin in 18 months, with production expected to flow beginning “early in the next decade”–which we take to mean sometime around 2020 or 2021. Shell says the project will provide work for 6,000 temporary construction workers while it’s being built, and 600 permanent, full-time employees to operate the facility once it is built. Needless to say, local economic and government leaders in the Pittsburgh region are ecstatic with the news. Here’s more details about the Shell ethane cracker coming to PA, along with select reaction and comments…
Read More “Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Attempts to Take Credit for Shell Cracker Decision
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Former PA Gov. Tom Corbett – the reason Shell decided to build a cracker

You know what’s really sleazy about politicians? When they take credit for something they had NOTHING to do with. Like Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf is doing with the fantastic news that Shell will build an ethane cracker plant in the state (see yesterday and today’s stories). The reason Shell even considered PA in the first place is because of Wolf’s far more able and talented predecessor, Gov. Tom Corbett. Corbett fought tooth and nail to get Shell to locate the cracker in the Keystone state. Part of Corbett’s fight included getting $1.7 billion in tax breaks approved, to lure the plant to PA (see Gov. Corbett’s PR Campaign for $1.7B Cracker Plant Tax Break). The cracker decision kept getting delayed during Corbett’s tenure, something he took a lot of heat over. If Shell had committed sooner, PA may have had a different election result (re-electing Corbett instead of the disastrous Wolf). Anywho, that was yesteryear, and today, Tom Wolf is taking credit for something Tom Corbett did. Typical…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Attempts to Take Credit for Shell Cracker Decision”
Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talen Energy

Talen Energy Converting Moutour, PA Plant to Burn Coal AND NatGas
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

It was just two days ago MDN told you about a Pennsylvania-based electric power generating company–Talen Energy–getting bought out by an investment company (see Investment Firm Buying Talen Energy – PA Electric Generating Co). We have more Talen news. The company just announced that one of its coal-burning electric generating plants, located in Montour County, PA, will get an upgrade to burn natural gas in addition to burning coal. The Montour Power Plant went online in 1972/73 and generates 1,504 megawatts of electricity. The $70 million upgrade planned by Talen (requiring a 15-mile pipeline) will continue to produce the same amount of electricity, but will give the plant the option to power it with either natgas or coal, depending on which is cheaper. More yummy, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas on the way!…
Read More “Talen Energy Converting Moutour, PA Plant to Burn Coal AND NatGas”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA’s New Acting Sec DEP: What Do We Know? Will He Be Permanent?
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Patrick McDonnell Acting Secretary, DEP

Two weeks ago Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Quigley was fired for using a PRIVATE email account to collude with his Big Green friends to try and bully PA’s legislators into supporting his onerous proposed regulations (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). Richly deserved. The man who took his place as Acting Secretary is Patrick McDonnell, a 19-year veteran of the DEP. What do we know about Pat, and will he be appointed as the new, full Secretary?…
Read More “PA’s New Acting Sec DEP: What Do We Know? Will He Be Permanent?”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

This is the biggest of big news. We’ve been waiting for this day a LONG time. Earlier today Shell held a “Capital Markets Day” (in the Netherlands) and provided an extensive update on “reshaping” the company–for 2020 and beyond. As part of the update, hidden part of the way through their press release, we get this statement from Shell: “In Chemicals, the company already has brownfield growth projects underway on the US Gulf Coast and in China. Today we are announcing the final investment decision on a new, 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) cracker and polyethylene plant in Pennsylvania, USA, which will use natural gas from shales production as its feedstock. Once these projects are on stream, early in the next decade, Shell’s ethylene capacity should reach around 8 mtpa, compared with 6.2 mtpa today.” The implication is that the FID (final investment decision) is “yes, we’re building it” as evidenced by the phrase “once these projects are on stream…” MDN predicted it (see More Evidence that the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant in PA is a Go). You don’t spend half a billion (out of $2-$3 billion) and not move forward. Still, it’s fantastic to have Shell finally, after five years, say “Yes, we’re building it.” Another fascinating bit of news from today: Shell says shale will be very important to the future of the company, after 2020…
Read More “Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Dems Eating Their Own – Turn on Gov. Wolf over Quigley Firing
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

PA State Rep. Greg Vitali – Dem

Pennsylvania State Rep. Greg Vitali, a far-left Democrat from the Philadelphia area, is attacking his own governor, the most liberal governor in the U.S., Tom Wolf (according to InsideGov), for not being liberal enough when it comes to the environment. Vitali staged a press conference yesterday and essentially announced open warfare on Wolf. Vitali is still PO’d (personally offended) over the firing of Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Quigley (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). You may recall that Quigley was fired not for using a profanity-laced email to his Big Green friends in the radical environmental movement–but because he used a private email account to send the email, unethical in the extreme, and perhaps illegal (we hope someone is investigating). But sycophantic reporters refuse to focus on the true reason for Quigley’s firing–his off-the-reservation actions–and instead attempt to prop him up and say “he was too effective.” That’s the coordinated storyline being pedaled by lefties like Vitali. After the bombshell “resignation” announcement the Dems, including Jan Jarrett, tried to blame Democrat Sen. John Yudichak from Luzerne County, PA for Quigley’s firing (see PA Radical Enviros Blame Democrat Senator for Quigley Firing). Dems love to blame-shift. Trying to hang Quigley’s sins on Yudichak went nowhere fast, so the Dems are now turning on Wolf himself. The Dems are eating their own. Love it!…
Read More “PA Dems Eating Their Own – Turn on Gov. Wolf over Quigley Firing”