Pennsylvania

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force
May 28, 2015May 28, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has proven, once again, the job he was elected to do is just too big for him. He’s not up to the task. Gov. Wolf has just announced the creation of a “Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development” that will add an additional layer of interference by anti-drilling “environmental organizations” on where pipelines can and (preferably, from their viewpoint) can’t be laid. The Task Force is supposedly an “unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders” from government, drillers, midstreamers, and anti-drillers (euphemistically referred to as environmentalists). A “can’t we all just get along” committee. And this Task Force will “recommend a series of best practices” for where/when/how gathering pipelines will get laid in the Keystone State. John Quigley, acting secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and former staffer at the anti-drilling PennFuture, will serve as chairman of the Task Force. God help us all…
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Air Quality | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Newspaper Admits PA Gas-Powered Electric Plant Will Pollute Less
May 28, 2015May 28, 2015

The world has gone topsy turvy. The anti-drilling Scranton Times-Tribune, normally a purveyor of half-truths when it comes to shale drilling, pipelines and the Marcellus Shale in general, has a story that grudgingly admits that no, a planned electric generating plant in Jessup, PA won’t pollute the air nearly as much as anti-drillers say it will. We’ve written a number of articles about Invenergy’s plan to build a 1500-megawatt plant (largest in the state) in the borough of Jessup (Lackawanna County), near Scranton, on an 80-acre former coal mine and landfill site (see MDN’s stories here). The plant will use clean burning Marcellus Shale gas to produce cheap electricity. The main objection to the plant is the possibility of air pollution. Experts interviewed by the Times-Tribune say you’re more likely to breathe harmful air pollution living downwind from a major highway than you are living downwind of this proposed plant…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | WPX Energy

WPX Completes $200M Sale to Still-Unnamed Buyer in NE Marcellus
May 28, 2015May 28, 2015

Earlier this month MDN told you that WPX Energy had sold contracts and contracted capacity to buy and sell natural gas on on Transco’s Northeast Supply Link pipeline for $200 million to an undisclosed buyer (see Mystery Buyer to Pay WPX Energy $200M for NE Marcellus Assets). We told you our best guess for who the buyer likely is: Southwestern Energy, the same company that just completed purchasing WPX’s leases and wells in Susquehanna County in February for $300 million (see WPX Finalizes Sale of NEPA Marcellus Leases/Wells to Southwestern). Yesterday WPX issued a press release to say the deal is now done and the money in the bank–but they still don’t/won’t name who the buyer was…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Democrats Admit Wolf’s PA Severance Tax Goes as High as 20%
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

A diverse coalition of industry and business groups has come together, led by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, to oppose PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s disastrous idea of a severance tax on the Marcellus Shale industry. The coalition has just launched a very effective television commercial. How do we know it’s effective? The Democrat PR machine (i.e. PBS’s StateImpact Pennsylvania) writes about the commercial and shows a screen shot of the Youtube version of it–but they don’t embed the Youtube version so you can actually watch it . Don’t worry, we embed it below. PBS can’t have anyone actually watch the thing for goodness sake! That might actually sway a few people. Amazingly, we do get an admission from the Democrats at StateImpact that if the price of natgas remains low in PA, Wolf’s severance tax actually zooms up to 20%–not the 5% he claims it is. Looks like somebody at StateImpact didn’t follow instructions to let the governor’s office review the story before it was published. Oh oh…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Washington, PA Neighborhood Concerned about Range Drilling Plan
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

There are, in MDN’s book, two types of opposition to shale drilling–legitimate and illegitimate. Under the illegitimate heading are the nutters who want to ban shale drilling because it extracts a fossil fuel. We call them global warming Kool Aid drinkers. They lie about shale drilling at every turn in an attempt to enlist the support of the hoi polloi, the common folk, to oppose it. That’s what’s happened in New York. Then you have what we would call legitimate opposition–or perhaps a better word is “concern” about shale drilling. That comes from people who live in residential neighborhoods who aren’t thrilled about the truck traffic, noise, dust, nighttime lights and other negatives that come with shale drilling. The adult approach is to try and find a compromise–a way to accommodate shale drilling but reduce its impact on those who live nearby. Range Resources faces such a situation with a plan to drill a 3-well pad that may eventually go to 10 wells in a residential area of Chartiers (Washington County), PA. The pad would be about 1,000 feet from the nearest home–less than 2/10ths of mile. The neighbors are understandably concerned…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Newspaper Calls Out Dela. Riverkeeper over Penn East
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

It’s so unusual we have to highlight it. One of two major newspapers in Pittsburgh, the Tribune-Review, has called out THE Delaware Riverkeeper over its opposition to the Penn East Pipeline. The Penn East, if built, will run 114 miles from the Scranton, PA area to the Trenton, NJ area. An editorial in the Tribune-Review last Friday questions the true motivation of THE Delaware Riverkeeper in their opposition to Penn East and tells the group, in so many words, to put up or shut up. Tell us exactly how the pipeline will “damage” the environment–and if you can’t, go away and leave us all in peace to build a pipeline with tremendous economic benefits in both jobs and lower energy costs for consumers…
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Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Deer Lakes School Signs Lease for $3,100/Acre + 18% Royalties
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Attention Martian parents from the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA: In Allegheny County (bordering Butler County on the south) the Deer Lakes School District has just signed a lease to allow shale drilling under school property. Why are you Martians so afraid of shale drilling? (see Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning) At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Deer Lakes board members voted to lease 110 acres of school property for drilling under (not on) with Huntley & Huntley, Inc. The lease terms are $3,100 per acre in a signing bonus and 18% royalties–yielding a nice check for $341,000 to the school just for signing. Those terms are not quite as rosy as last year’s deal struck by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald who negotiated what turns out to be close to $4,000 per acre (and an 18% royalty) for leasing 1,180 acres in Deer Lakes Park (see Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal). The county park is literally a stone’s throw from the school…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Williams | Wyoming County (PA)

PA Landowners Beware Antis Wanting to “Help You” w/Pipeline Deal
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Landowners in northeast and central Pennsylvania should be wary of (and avoid) a new effort to try and recruit them into a “landowner group” that’s really just an anti-drilling group being formed to fight Williams and their much-needed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Two anti-drilling kids (or youths, if you prefer) are spearheading the effort. Alex Lotorto is one of them. Alex has been one of the community agitators against the natural gas fired electric generating plant proposed for Jessup, PA (see Serial Protestor Alex Lotorto Seeks New Venue in Jessup). Alex and another twenty-something anti-driller, Allison Petryk (from New Jersey), recently conducted a meeting for unsuspecting landowners at the Tunkhannock Public Library in Wyoming County…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Drexel U Study Finds Little Air Pollution Near Marcellus Sites
May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

Finally some real, honest, independent research into the effects of shale drilling on air quality has just been published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology. Researchers from Drexel University published the results of air quality research titled “Atmosphere Emission Characterization of Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Development Sites” (full copy below). Rather than focus solely on the release of methane as a global warming concern, the Drexel researchers looked at volatile organic compounds and other pollutants that are a true health concern for people living close to drilling sites and compressor stations. The researchers took measurements using a more accurate instrumentation/methodology than other studies have used and they collected 17 samples at 13 sites including wells, drilling rigs, compressor stations and processing areas. This kind of research is long overdue. What did they find?…
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Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Penn State Defends Controversial Water Contamination Study
May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

Two weeks ago MDN covered the news that researchers from Penn State had published a study that reportedly showed a Marcellus Shale wastewater impoundment had leaked and some of the wastewater had found its way to a crack underground and traveled up to a mile and a half away to contaminate 3 water wells. This happened in 2010–five years ago (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). It seemed at first blush that this was important research not because it proves “fracking contaminates water wells, told you so told you so” as anti-drillers claim–but because of the research tools innovated by the team to detect small amounts of chemicals that may in fact come from shale drilling. However, a few days later the news broke that one of the so-called researchers on the team had actually been a consultant and worked for the three families with the contaminated water wells, helping them in their lawsuit against the driller. When that little overlooked and omitted fact became known, embarrased mainstream news organizations did something we rarely see–they printed retractions/corrections noting the huge conflict of interest (see Reversal: Media Discredits Penn State Water Contamination Study). It gave Penn State a major black eye and damaged their credibility. So Penn State fired off their own mea culpa to defend the research study and the “facts” of how this kerfuffle came to be…
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Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Takes Aim at Bakken Oil Trains Traveling Thru PA
May 20, 2015May 20, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is now taking aim at railroads transporting Bakken crude oil that pass through PA on their way to refineries along the East Coast. While railroads are typically regulated by the federal government, Wolf is a) hoping to pressure railroads apart from the feds, and b) may try to sneak in his own regulations on top of federal regulations. He’s hired an “expert,” Dr. Allan Zarembski, to look into the matter for the next three months–to provide Wolf with “policy recommendations” (which means new rules and regulations are on the way). Wolf sent a letter (copy below) to CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway telling them to shape up…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Those trouble-making Martians are at it again. Four virulently anti-fossil fuel parents from the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA are being assisted–we maintain illegally–with support from THE Delaware Riverkeeper (violating its own charter of operating on the other side of the state in the Delaware River Basin) and by the Philadelphia group Clean Air Council. Riverkeeper’s interference in Butler County invalidates their tax-exempt status. Get this, using money from Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, the four Middlesex residents are trying to FORCE locally elected leaders in Middlesex to “protect them” from an activity that’s harmless–drilling a shale well 3/4 of a mile away from the local Mars School. It’s the same type of “sue and settle” being used at the national level, being tried locally. Seven selfish PA townships sued the state (and won) to retain the right to zone where drilling can and can’t take place. Now the Martians want to (ab)use the same Act 13 law to force the town to enact zoning that this small group of residents wants regardless of what a majority of town residents want. In other words, there is only one outcome (for them) allowed under Act 13: no drilling. It is an amazingly arrogant position and needs to be vigorously opposed legally, morally, via popular opinion–in any way possible…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Permit Applications Down 30% in PA, DEP Scrambles for Funding
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Starting in 2014, the price to file an application for a permit to drill a Marcellus or Utica Shale well in Pennsylvania went from $3,200 to $5,000 (see Coming Soon: PA Drillers to Pay 56% More for Marcellus Permits). In early 2014, then head of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, Chris Abruzzo, said the fee hike and forecasted new revenue from it would allow the DEP to hire more help (see New Staffers on Way at PA DEP O&G Courtesy Higher Permit Fees). But a funny thing happened on the way to the Forum–the price of natural gas dropped like a rock because of too much supply and, in the northeast, not enough pipelines. Year over year the number of applications for permits to drill new wells is down about 30% according to the DEP, and that means the previously forecasted revenue isn’t there. What will the DEP do now?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Cecil Twp Violates Court Order re MarkWest Compressor Permit
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

MDN first started tracking the issue of MarkWest Energy’s desire/application to build a compressor station in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA all the way back in May 2011–four years ago (see MarkWest, Range Resources File Legal Appeal Over Denial of Permit for Gas Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The case goes back even further to the fall of 2010 when MarkWest first filed for the permit. Since that time, Cecil has steadfastly denied MarkWest a permit to build the compressor. It took nearly four years of lawsuits (see our many stories here), but last fall a judge ruled that Cecil could not disallow the MarkWest compressor in an area zoned industrial (see MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The Cecil Town Board decided not to appeal the decision, but the zoning board has kept it bottled up since last October. The town has now exhausted all legal options and the court, in April, told the town they have 45 days to grant the permit. The clock is ticking and yet the zoning board is still dragging its feet and intends to violate the 45-day court order…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Gov. Wolf Throws Temper Tantrum at Groups Opposing Sev. Tax
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is a typical Democrat. When he doesn’t get his own way, he throws a temper tantrum and stomps his feet and behaves like a child. Yesterday he sent his chief of staff, Katie McGinty, off to the Pennsylvania Press Club to give “reporters” the narrative they should use to try and mass brainwash the PA population on why his 15% severance tax plan is such a great idea (see today’s companion story). Meanwhile, Wolf sent a temper tantrum letter off to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry along with a 16 other PA business organizations to lambaste them for having the gall to disagree with his severance tax plan and point out its shortcomings…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Wolf Chief of Staff: Marcellus Industry Lying About Tax
May 19, 2015May 19, 2015

According to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff Katie McGinty, the Marcellus Shale industry is lying about its own economic health (or unhealth), and the only “responsible” thing to do is pass Wolf’s Marcellus-killing severance tax. That’s essentially what she said at a talk delivered to Democrat operatives–otherwise known as “reporters”–attending her speech at the Pennsylvania Press Club. “Reporter” Robert Swift was in attendance to take dictation/receive marching orders from McGinty and he “reports” this…
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