Pennsylvania

Beaver County | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Odebrecht | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | PTT Global | Shell | West Virginia | Wood County

Will 2016 be the Year *Somebody* Commits to Building a Cracker?
December 28, 2015December 28, 2015

Will somebody, somewhere PLEASE build the northeast an ethane cracker plant? Pretty please? We noticed a couple of stories that indicate 2016 is THE year that at least one company will likely pull the trigger on an FID–a Final Investment Decision to build an ethane cracker. But which company is likely to do it? Shell? PTT Global? Odebrecht? Leaving Odebrecht’s Parkersburg, WV proposed cracker aside for the moment (a project where we barely detect a pulse), both the Shell plant, planned for Beaver County, PA, and the PTT Global plant, planned for Belmont County, OH, have seen impressive signs of activity in 2015. Which of those two will likely say “yes” in 2016?…
Read More “Will 2016 be the Year *Somebody* Commits to Building a Cracker?”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Auditor General to Investigate “Lost” $30M Marcellus Impact Fee
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

On Monday MDN told you about the case of bureaucratic incompetence in keeping track of reports that detail where and how much money is getting spent from the Pennsylvania Act 13 impact fee (see $30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?). Local municipalities say they’ve filed reports with the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), but the PUC can’t seem to locate those reports. Typical. But what’s this? We have a knight in shining armor riding to the rescue to figure out this financial potential malfeasance. Our hero is (ta da ta da, trumpet fanfare): State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale (Democrat). DePasquale, you may recall, is an anti-driller who targeted the Marcellus industry from the very first day he took office (see Newly Elected PA Auditor General Targets DEP First Day on Job). Most of DePasquale’s ire seems to be directed at the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). He conducted a very thorough anal exam of the agency, over a period of years, and issued a “report” critical of the agency for shortcomings that were already fixed by the time the report was issued (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). DePasquale would like nothing better than to find a new Marcellus scab (i.e. issue) and pick it until it bleeds in an effort to smear the industry. DePasquale is a bully if ever there was one. In particular he likes to target charter schools, trying to shut them down with audit after audit. Nice guy. It’s that “hero” who has ridden in on his black horse to conduct an “investigation” (more like an inquisition) of local towns and how they are spending his, er, um, the state’s money…
Read More “PA Auditor General to Investigate “Lost” $30M Marcellus Impact Fee”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Utica Shale

Turns Out “Foreigners” Working in OH are a Good Thing After All
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

For years MDN has poked fun at RINO Ohio Gov. John Kasich for his jingoistic talk about not wanting “foreigners” in his state working at Utica drilling sites (see this story from three years ago – OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers). Don’t tell Kasich, because he hates hearing this, but some are now saying that because Ohio has been employing “foreigners” from exotic places like Texas and Louisiana to work at Utica drilling sites, it has actually turned out to benefit the state. Why? Because in this downturn Ohio businesses are not as adversely affected. If all of those people now laid off had been Ohioans, the Ohio economy would have taken a much harder hit than it has. That’s one of the points in a Cleveland Plain Dealer article. Another point in the article is that because the Ohio Utica is much smaller and was just ramping up as the current price crash hit, when prices recover (and they will recover, eventually), Ohio will take off much faster than the big, old, decrepit Marcellus in Pennsylvania…
Read More “Turns Out “Foreigners” Working in OH are a Good Thing After All”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA NatGas Production Slowing Down Ever So Gradually
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

Natural gas production in Pennsylvania is, ever so gradually, slowing down. This year the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) began monthly reporting of natural gas and oil production in January of this year. The most recently report available is October (they are delayed by several months). What does the October report show? Average production of natgas was 12.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), down 1% from September. Some producers (i.e. drillers) are cutting back–shutting in wells. But others are pumping full speed ahead. It just depends on the producer and where their wells are located. Prices in the northeastern part of the Marcellus are in the basement right now (see today’s companion story). Here’s a high level overview of PA production as of October…
Read More “PA NatGas Production Slowing Down Ever So Gradually”
Accidents | Anadarko | Clinton County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Fed Court Rules PA Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Anadarko Proceeds
December 22, 2015December 22, 2015

In May 2012 a water truck driver delivering water to an Anadarko Marcellus Shale well pad in Clinton County, PA missed a turnoff for the road he was supposed to take, at 2:30 am in the morning. A couple of miles later he crashed and tragically died because the road he was on was not marked well and not conducive to the truck he was driving. There was a sign warning the driver not to go beyond a certain point. The driver had previously–that night–already delivered to the well pad and successfully turned onto the road he was supposed to take. Why did he miss it the second time? His widow maintains that even though he worked for a subcontractor, Anadarko was the company in charge and should have had a light illuminating the “No Anadarko Traffic Beyond This Point” sign. So she sued Anadarko, and the subcontractor, for wrongful death. Lower courts threw out the lawsuit but a federal appeals court has just reinstated a civil suit against Anadarko that will go to a jury…
Read More “Fed Court Rules PA Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Anadarko Proceeds”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

$30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Nearly $30 million of Act 13 shale tax money that comes from an impact fee (i.e. tax) on Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania is “unaccounted for.” The media is playing this up as “the money has gone missing” with the implication something nefarious is going on. The truth is a little more mundane. Some local municipalities receiving the money are confused as to which forms they have to file, and which agencies they need to file the forms with. It appears to be a bureaucratic cock-up–not theft, as implied by some in the media…
Read More “$30M in PA Act 13 Money Missing – Theft or Bureaucratic Cock-up?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Dela. Riverkeeper Attempts to Discredit PA DEP Shale Radiation Report
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Stay tuned for five feet of snow. No, it’s not a weather report, it’s the snow job THE Delaware Riverkeeper (i.e. Maya van Rossum) is attempting with respect to a research report issued by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). In January 2015, the DEP filed a report following two years of intense study to determine whether/if/how much radiation exposure is an issue in shale drilling. While the DEP found there is sometimes some low levels of radiation, the report concluded there is “little harm” from radiation in shale drilling (for the study results, see PA DEP Completes Fracking Radiation Study, Concludes “Little Harm”). When real science is published that contradicts the political science of global warming advocates like Maya van Rossum, the real science must go. And so van Rossum hired a discredited scientist to produce a review of the January 2015 report by the DEP, calling it “inaccurate and incomplete.” Van Rossum dragged out Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, who was humiliatingly slapped down by none other than the U.S. Geological Survey in 2012 (see Radon Debate: USGS Responds to Marvin Resnikoff Accusation). Resnikoff is the scientist-for-hire van Rossum used in concocting the latest snow job coming from her outfit…
Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Attempts to Discredit PA DEP Shale Radiation Report”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Moxie Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Breaks Ground in NEPA
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Groundbreaking! Really great news from Salem Township in Luzerne County, PA. The Moxie Freedom Marcellus gas-powered electric plant broke ground last week. The $800 million, 1050-watt facility was approved by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection in September (see Moxie’s NEPA Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Gets DEP Approval). Just last month Gemma Power announced they were selected to build the plant for Moxie (see Gemma Power Gets Contract to Build Moxie Freedom Electric Plant). Here’s the good news that the first shovel hit the dirt last week…
Read More “Moxie Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant Breaks Ground in NEPA”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

In June we told you that Sunoco Logistics Partners had sued two different families/landowners in Washington County, PA using eminent domain to complete a pipeline part of the Mariner East project (see Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners). As we said at the time, nobody wins when it comes to using eminent domain for pipelines. In the case of the Mariner East pipeline, the ongoing legal question/issue has been whether or not the pipeline qualifies as a public utility with the right to invoke eminent domain. Last week a Washington County judge ruled that yes, Mariner East is a public utility and that the state of Pennsylvania controls permitting for the pipeline, not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Washington County landowners who sued have lost their appeal of the eminent domain case against Sunoco, and the pipeline will now cut through their property…
Read More “Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All”
Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research

PA DEP Admits No Radiation in Ten Mile Creek, Closes Investigation
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

Here’s a story most of the Democrat anti-drilling media won’t tell you–but we will. In 2014 Pennsylvania anti-drillers from a local chapter of the Izaak Walton League, a so-called conservation organization, attempted a smear job on the Marcellus Shale industry. They alleged that shale drillers were illegally dumping frack wastewater in an abandoned coal mine, the Clyde Mine, which sits near the Ten Mile Creek where the creek joins the Monongahela River. According to the smearmeisters, the illegally dumped wastewater was leaking out of the mine and into Ten Mile Creek (see Is Shale Wastewater Causing Radiation Spike in Ten Mile Creek?). They claimed testing they had done showed high levels of radioactivity that could not come from just acid mine drainage, that it is radioactivity typically seen in shale wastewater. Of course the allegations got a lot of media attention. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigated and echoed their concerns with initial tests also showing high radioactivity. Except the testing done by the DEP, and the testing done by the Izaak Walton League, WAS THE WRONG TYPE OF TEST. They blew it. Researchers from West Virginia University came in and tested using the appropriate type of test and found no elevated radioactivity (see PA DEP Screws Up Water Test at Ten Mile Creek – Egg on Face). The DEP has just concluded six months of their own tests–the right type of tests–and guess what? They’ve also found there IS NO elevated radioactivity in Ten Mile Creek nor anywhere else in the area…
Read More “PA DEP Admits No Radiation in Ten Mile Creek, Closes Investigation”
CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

PA DEP Fines CNX Gas $450K for Drawing Too Much Water Too Often
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

Turns out drawing “free” water from a reservoir in Pennsylvania can cost you quite a bit. CNX Gas, the drilling division/subsidiary of CONSOL Energy, didn’t follow an agreed-upon plan for how much, and how often they withdrew water from a reservoir in North Franklin Township (Washington County), PA. The water withdrawal violations went on between 2011 and 2014 and because of it, CNX will now pay a whopping $450,750 fine. Three-fourths of the fine goes to the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the other one-fourth goes to the PA Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC). Here’s the details from the DEP…
Read More “PA DEP Fines CNX Gas $450K for Drawing Too Much Water Too Often”
Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania

Hilcorp is to Northern Utica as Cabot is to Eastern Marcellus
December 18, 2015December 18, 2015

We’re always fascinated how some companies, like Cabot Oil & Gas, make money even in the lowest of low price environments with their Marcellus wells in Susquehanna County, PA (northeastern part of the state), while another driller right down the road, like WPX Energy, can’t make money and end up selling all of their wells and leases. What does Cabot do right that WPX doesn’t do? That’s the gajillion dollar question. We’ve observed a similar situation in the Utica Shale region of western PA/eastern OH. Hilcorp Energy is drilling Utica wells in Lawrence County, PA. In fact, Hilcorp is the “dominant active prospector” in the northern tier area of the Utica Shale–an area including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties in OH and Lawrence and Mercer counties in PA. Hilcorp is strong and steady–and they’re making money. They’re also producing gas–lots of it. Lawrence County, PA produces almost as much natural gas as the far-more-drilled Columbiana County (OH). And it’s nearly all Hilcorp gas in Lawrence County. So if Hilcorp is like the Cabot of the Utica, who’s the WPX of the Utica? That would be Halcon Resources, with 140,000 acres in the northern Utica. Back in 2013 Halcon CEO Floyd Wilson famously said he wouldn’t drill any more “crappy” wells in the Utica (see Halcon CEO Says No More S***** Wells in Northern OH Utica). Halcon is desperately trying to stay afloat, Hilcorp is flourishing. Here’s more about Hilcorp and their success in the northern Utica…
Read More “Hilcorp is to Northern Utica as Cabot is to Eastern Marcellus”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

The One Thing Everyone Agreed on at PA Pipeline Task Force Mtg
December 17, 2015December 17, 2015

Yesterday saw another in a series of meetings by the Pennsylvania Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development–the penultimate meeting for the group of 48 members appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf and the PennFuture Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley. At the last meeting, in November, the group introduced a list of 184 “recommendations” in a 335-page document that would “guide” future gathering pipeline development in the state (see PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force). At yesterday’s meeting the usual anti-fossil fuelers were present to complain, which is what they always do. Seems they’re only happy when they can make other people’s lives miserable–and they did their best to do just that at yesterday’s meeting. According to one report, there was one thing (amazingly) everyone agreed on yesterday…
Read More “The One Thing Everyone Agreed on at PA Pipeline Task Force Mtg”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Time to Revoke Tax Exempt Status of Anti-Drilling Non-Profits
December 16, 2015December 16, 2015

MDN friend and ace blogger Tom Shepstone, writing on his always-excellent Natural Gas Now website, makes a strong case for the IRS to investigate and revoke the tax exempt status of the anti-drilling non-profit “charity” Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia). The Clean Air Council is nothing more than a front group that uses money from the Heinz Endowments and William Penn Foundation in a shell game to keep their anti-drilling activities at arm’s length. Plausible deniability. We would add one more organization to the list for investigation and revocation of tax exempt status: THE Delaware Riverkeeper, which is also funded in part by Heinz and William Penn. Here’s a re-posting of Tom’s excellent article…
Read More “Time to Revoke Tax Exempt Status of Anti-Drilling Non-Profits”
Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Poly(ethylene) Wants a Cracker: OH Study Predicts Ethane Tsunami
December 14, 2015December 14, 2015

A researcher and “Executive in Residence” from Cleveland State University, Andrew Thomas, writes about a new study produced by the University “to better understand the ramifications of huge quantities of natural gas and liquid ethane being produced in Ohio.” Unfortunately we were unable to track down a copy of the full study and its results, but we do have the summary as contributed by Thomas in writing for Crain’s Cleveland Business. And wow, what insights we gain! Thomas says the study he worked on concludes that even in this down market, Ohio’s production of natural gas liquids (NGLs), specifically ethane, is on a rocket ride to the moon. He says, “Ohio’s about to see an ethane tsunami.” He also says if all four ethane crackers that have been floated as possibilities for the region get built, that would only sop up one-third of the ethane supply projected to be produced in the Marcellus/Utica. Here’s the high-level but very exciting and insightful news coming from this study…
Read More “Poly(ethylene) Wants a Cracker: OH Study Predicts Ethane Tsunami”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Gov. Ed Rendell & Tom Wolf Support Philly Energy Hub Plan
December 14, 2015December 14, 2015

Looks like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and current Gov. Tom Wolf won’t be getting Christmas cards from rabidly anti-fossil fuel organizations like THE Delaware Riverkeeper (Maya van Rossum), the Philly Clean Air Council, the odious Food & Water Watch and others. Why? Because Rendell has just outted himself and Wolf as supporters of the Philadelphia Energy Hub concept. MDN has covered the push by Philly over the past few years to position itself as an “energy hub” which means a couple of things. It means a push to bring oil and gas produced in Pennsylvania (and Ohio, and even in the North Dakota Bakken) to Philly for processing in Philly’s refineries and then shipped domestically and exported internationally. It also means a push to build new petrochemical plants in the Philly area to take advantage of NGLs (natural gas liquids)–turning them into plastics and other products that use hydrocarbons as their feedstock. Such petrochemical plants would attract thousands of new jobs and potentially create billions in economic impact. It is a big, bold and ingenious plan. Smart people are for it. Dumb people, well you know (see Anti-Drillers Pressure Philly City Council to Dump Energy Hub Plan and Gang of 20 Anti-Fossil Fuel Groups Attack Philly Energy Hub Plan). In a guest editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, former Gov. Rendell (also known as Fast Eddie) gives his full-throated support for an energy hub in Philly. He also indicates Wolf is on board with it too…
Read More “Gov. Ed Rendell & Tom Wolf Support Philly Energy Hub Plan”