Pennsylvania

Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Won’t Renew Permits that Allow Drill Cuttings to be Reused
March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

A few years ago (not sure exactly when) three companies were issued permits by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to reuse drill cuttings–leftover rock and dirt that come out of a borehole–on construction sites. The three companies were issued the permits on an experimental basis. The permits will expire March 1, 2017. Even though DEP officials openly state, on the record, that “drill cuttings aren’t dangerous,” the DEP has indicated they will not renew the permits after they expire. However, the DEP appears to leave the door open to issuing more permits in the future, once they make a final determination after reviewing the results from these three companies. Who are the companies that were issued permits?…
Read More “PA DEP Won’t Renew Permits that Allow Drill Cuttings to be Reused”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Ben Franklin Tech Partners Invests $300K in Pipeline Sensor Co.
March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

For more than 30 Years, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA has provided startup funding and business support services to tech-based startups and small manufacturers located in our 32-county footprint. Lately they’ve been investing in Marcellus industry companies. Earlier this month Ben Franklin Technology Partners invested $300,000 in a PA company called Sensor Networks Inc. The company manufactures a “non-invasive” sensor for pipelines that uses ultrasound allowing the pipeline operator to detect corrosion and how thick the wall of the pipeline is. It’s a cool technology and will be hugely beneficial to midstream companies in the northeast and beyond…
Read More “Ben Franklin Tech Partners Invests $300K in Pipeline Sensor Co.”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Court Says Leaseholder Can Sublease Production Rights
March 28, 2016March 28, 2016

We’re not sure how many landowners this may potentially affect, but we found a recent court decision by Pennsylvania Superior Court to be interesting. Landowners who had inherited property (and a lease) in Greene County, PA asked the court to “sever” the lease into two parts. The lease is with EQT and its affiliates and is 50 years old–long before Marcellus drilling. The landowner makes the case that because EQT had assigned the production rights to a third party and had never themselves drilled, the lease is terminated. There are two parts to the lease: one which said EQT had up to 10 years to extract oil and gas, the other that EQT can store natgas underground. The landowners were looking to end that portion of the lease that allows drilling because EQT never drilled on or under the property–and by assigning those rights to someone else, they have abrogated their rights under the lease. The court disagreed and said you can’t “sever” production rights from storage rights. If one OR the other happened, under the original lease, that is enough to make all parts of the lease ongoing and enforceable. Our description is likely not very good. Here’s what the legal beagles at Vorys say about the case, along with a copy of the decision…
Read More “PA Court Says Leaseholder Can Sublease Production Rights”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

2 New Injection Wells Proposed for Warren, PA – EPA Reviewing
March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

In early 2013, Bear Lake Properties in Warren County, PA (near the New York border) opened a new injection well to accept Marcellus Shale wastewater (see NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation). The new injection well faced stiff opposition. Columbus Township, where the well is located, originally passed and later rescinded a ban on injection wells under threat of lawsuit (see Columbus Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells Rescinded). A few local residents tried to pressure the federal EPA, the agency that permits and oversees all injection wells, into reconsidering their approval (see Local Residents Protest 2 Wastewater Injection Wells in NW PA). In the end the EPA granted the permit. Since then, local residents have been testing just about every water source in the county to be sure the injection well isn’t leaking (see Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks). Good news: two more injection wells for Warren County are now going through the process of EPA reviews…
Read More “2 New Injection Wells Proposed for Warren, PA – EPA Reviewing”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Gov. Wolf Caves on Budget Deal After 9 Mo. of Temper Tantrums
March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

In the end, the recalcitrant and rabidly partisan Tom Wolf, governor of Pennsylvania, delayed his state’s budget for nine months…for nothing. He didn’t get his precious high Marcellus (or state income) tax hikes. He didn’t get pretty much anything he demanded. Like a petulant child stomping his feet and blaming every Republican he could find–in the end everyone saw Wolf for what he is: inept, inexperienced, and unprepared to govern the Keystone State. Like leadership-deficient people throughout history, he’s surrounded himself with suck-ups who won’t give him much-needed counsel that goes against his childish demands. They just tell him he’s right and to stick with it. Which has resulted in a disaster for PA. It was PA’s Democrats, in the end, that forced Wolf’s hand. Those in his own party. (Et tu, Brute?) PA’s Democrat legislators told Wolf if he didn’t allow the latest budget proposal to pass, they would vote with Republicans to override his threatened veto. And that would completely unmask him for the leaderless chump he is. So Wolf won’t veto the latest proposal–which contains no new taxes–allowing it to become law. Thank you to PA Republicans for standing firm and WINNING! The media can’t spin it, the Dems can’t spin it–Wolf lost and the Republicans won. Every citizen in PA is a winner because of it…
Read More “PA Gov. Wolf Caves on Budget Deal After 9 Mo. of Temper Tantrums”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Columbia Gas of PA Asks PUC for Permission to Raise Rates
March 24, 2016March 24, 2016

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, a division of NiSource, has filed a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to raise rates so it can recuperate costs spent in upgrading its natural gas delivery system for customers. Columbia Gas has spent $1.1 billion from 2007 to 2015. However, they’re only asking for a mere $55 million rate increase…
Read More “Columbia Gas of PA Asks PUC for Permission to Raise Rates”
Allegheny County | American Petroleum Partners | Belmont County | Brooke County | Greene County (PA) | Jefferson County (OH) | Marion County | Marshall County | Monongalia County | Monroe County | Ohio | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Washington County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

New Marcellus/Utica Driller Quietly Launches w/$800M Investment
March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Details are just now coming to light of a new E&P (exploration and production, or drilling) company headquartered in Pittsburgh and focused totally on the Marcellus and Utica region. Until now the company has flown under our radar. The company is American Petroleum Partners (APP)–not to be confused with Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–and is headed by Rice Energy alumnus Varun Mishra, who is the founder and CEO. The big news is that last September Mishra’s new company, founded in 2014, received a major injection of investment capital. Apollo Global Management invested $411 million in APP with the option to double it up to $800 million. MDN has it on very good authority that although APP quietly issued a press release about this last September (see it below), the company has intentionally kept the news quiet. Not any more! Big mouth MDN is blabbing it to the world. Below are the bits and pieces we’ve been able to put together about this newest Utica/Marcellus driller…
Read More “New Marcellus/Utica Driller Quietly Launches w/$800M Investment”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Shale Companies Keep Giving to PA Charities, Even During Downturn
March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Shale companies in Pennsylvania have been hammered hard. The prices they get for natural gas in PA are already among the lowest in the country (in the world!); they’ve cut back their budgets by 50-80% on average; they’ve laid off thousands of employees. In fact, things right now are fairly bleak in Marcellus-land. And yet….and yet these same companies continue to fund charities and non-profits at the same level they previously funded them when times were good. Which amazes and disappoints anti-drillers, both at the same time…
Read More “Shale Companies Keep Giving to PA Charities, Even During Downturn”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Who Pays for Abandoned O&G Wells in PA?
March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Pennsylvania 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. The PA Environment Protection Agency (DEP) Abandoned and Orphan Well program attempts to find an owner of the well first, before committing public money to plug it. However, there’s a second way to get public money to plug an old well…
Read More “Who Pays for Abandoned O&G Wells in PA?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dauphin County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Radical Democrats Invoke God + Sham Science to Bash PA NatGas
March 22, 2016March 22, 2016

Just about nothing makes us more angry than when self-righteous “religious” leaders prance in front of cameras to denounce extracting and burning fossil fuels, like natural gas, as immoral or unethical. They are the height of hypocrisy–because they left them homes and churches heated with natural gas, wearing clothes made from fibers that come from petrochemicals (oil and natural gas), driving vehicles powered by fossil fuels, speaking into microphones with plastics in them and standing at a podium made from a material derived from petrochemicals–to denounce it all. Yet they use it every single day themselves. They claim to have God on their side. Repugnant. The Rev. Dr. Leah Schade (United in Christ Lutheran Church in Lewisburg, PA) and a group of 50 or so other hypocrites recently held an interfaith rally in Harrisburg to call on Gov. Tom Wolf to stop all drilling for gas and oil in the state–because it’s “immoral.” Too bad Rev. Shade lost her way and quit worshiping God and instead now worships nature. Her twisted philosophy is what happens when you quit worshiping the Creator and instead worship the creation…
Read More “Radical Democrats Invoke God + Sham Science to Bash PA NatGas”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

2 NEPA Members of Pipeline Task Force Want to Know, What’s Next?
March 22, 2016March 22, 2016

In May 2015 Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his underling Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Quigley created a “Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development” (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). The stated purpose of the group was “to identify best practices for pipeline siting, permitting and safety.” We won’t recount all of the twists and turns–of how the Task Force was packed with government employees beholden to Wolf, etc. Along the way antis tried to protest and derail the meetings held by the Task Force (see PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed”). The final meeting was held and the final report was released all 658 pages of it with 184 recommendations (see PA Pipeline Task Force Report: 658 Pages, 184 “Recommendations”). Two members of the task force from northeast PA are now asking the question, “What happens next?” We have the answer: NOTHING…
Read More “2 NEPA Members of Pipeline Task Force Want to Know, What’s Next?”
Allegheny County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Invenergy Gets Pushback on Proposed Natgas Power Plant in SWPA
March 18, 2016March 18, 2016

Invenergy is in the process of building a $500 million Marcellus gas-fired electric plant in Jessup (Lackawanna County), PA–near Scranton, PA in the northeastern part of the state (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). When built, the 1,480 megawatt plant will be the largest natgas-fired electric plant in the state. In January Invenergy announced they want to build a second natgas-fired electric plant–in southwestern PA (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). The second plant would be much smaller, at 550 megawatts, and would be built on a brownfield site near Pittsburgh. Even though the site where Invenergy wants to build is a former landfill where fly ash was dumped, making it unusable for just about any other purpose, a group of local residents would prefer to keep it a dump rather than convert it to a beneficial use like generating electricity…
Read More “Invenergy Gets Pushback on Proposed Natgas Power Plant in SWPA”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks
March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

In early 2013 Bear Lake Properties in Warren County, PA (near the New York border) opened a new injection well to accept Marcellus Shale wastewater (see NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation). The new injection well faced stiff opposition. Columbus Township, where the well is located, originally passed and later rescinded a ban on injection wells under threat of lawsuit (see Columbus Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells Rescinded). A few local residents tried to pressure the federal EPA, the agency that permits and oversees all injection wells, into reconsidering their approval (see Local Residents Protest 2 Wastewater Injection Wells in NW PA). Finally, anti-drilling group Clean Water Action tried to get the EPA to reverse their decision (see Anti-Drillers Go After EPA on PA Injection Wells Approvals). In the end, it didn’t matter. The EPA reviewed and re-reviewed and said the location and construction for the well is safe. Since that time, a group of local citizens began and have continued testing every well, pond, creek, swamp and mud puddle anywhere close to the injection well, looking for evidence that the well is leaking. Guess what they’ve found? Nothing…
Read More “Concerned Citizens Test Water Near NWPA Injection Well, No Leaks”
Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | Washington County

SWPA Created Bulk of PA’s NatGas Production Increase in 2015
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

Pennsylvania natural gas production continues to impress, despite rigs being laid down in the later half of last year. Looking at all of 2015, the top two producing counties in the state likely won’t surprise you: #1 was Susquehanna County (where Cabot Oil & Gas drills). Susquehanna produced about 25% of all natural gas produced in the state last year! The #2 producing county was Bradford, also in northeast PA. But counties #3 and #4 in the list may surprise you: Washington and Greene counties, both in southwestern PA. In fact, an analysis done by the Pittsburgh Business Times finds that the 11-county southwestern PA region accounted for 86% of the state’s growth in production last year. That is an amazing statistic! Here’s more of their analysis of PA’s natgas production numbers for 2015…
Read More “SWPA Created Bulk of PA’s NatGas Production Increase in 2015”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Landowners vs Drillers: PA Minimum Royalty Bill Gets a Hearing
March 16, 2016June 20, 2016

There is a renewed push in Harrisburg to pass a minimum royalty bill to protect landowners from getting the shaft by drillers deducting expenses from royalty checks. We’ve tracked this issue for the past few years–an issue that came to the forefront when Chesapeake Energy started to screw landowners in Bradford County (and other locations) out of royalty money (see Bradford County, PA Landowners Sue Chesapeake over Royalties). Bills were introduced in the PA legislature and went nowhere. Last year another new bill was introduced by State Rep. Garth Everett: House Bill (HB) 1391 (see New Bill HB 1391 Will Guarantee PA Landowners 12.5% Royalties). Organizations like the PA chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) fully supports the bill. However, drillers make the counterargument that duly signed contracts which allow for certain deductions should not be swept away with the stroke of a pen. As we’ve previously commented, the issue is one of those rare times when landowners and the industry are on different pages altogether (see Rare Schism Between Landowners & Drillers over PA Royalty Law). HB 1391 is once again being pushed–under discussion yesterday in the PA House…
Read More “Landowners vs Drillers: PA Minimum Royalty Bill Gets a Hearing”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

PA DEP Issues Wastewater Permit for Invenergy Jessup Power Plant
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

Last week MDN told you that members of the Jessup Borough Council (Lackawanna County, PA) approved several measures clearing the way for Invenergy to begin building Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas-powered electric generating plant (see Jessup Borough Final Approval for PA’s Largest NatGas Power Plant). We thought Invenergy had all of the necessary permits to begin moving earth and building the plant. But it seems there’s no end of government permits for such a project. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection yesterday issued a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to Invenergy so they can discharge treated wastewater used to cool the plant…
Read More “PA DEP Issues Wastewater Permit for Invenergy Jessup Power Plant”