Pennsylvania

Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren Resources | Wyoming County (PA)

Small Explosion/Fire at P&G Well Pad in NEPA, No Injuries/Damage
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

Not much to report on this, thankfully. MDN has told you in the past one of the most under-appreciated stories we know of is that the only Proctor & Gamble manufacturing plant out of their 150 plants worldwide that is 100% energy self-sufficient is a plant in Wyoming County, PA–near Wilkes-Barre in northeast Pennsylvania (see P&G’s Only Energy Self-Sufficient Plant is Powered by Marcellus). The plant uses Marcellus Shale gas from wells drilled on plant property to power an electric generator that supplies all of the electricity the plant needs–with some left over to sell to the local utility grid. How cool is that? The company, using Warren Resources, continues to drill more wells on the property. One of those operations, as it was nearing completion, accidentally vented a small amount of natural gas that ignited and caused a small explosion yesterday…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Court Rules to Allow More Leasing/Drilling of State-Owned Land
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

In a crushing blow to the litigious anti-drilling group Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF), the PA Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday against the PEDF’s lawsuit that attempts to stop all drilling and leasing of state-owned lands for oil and gas drilling. The court said a) such drilling is just fine and b) the decision of whether or not to allow drilling on state-owned lands (and which parcels) rests with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The court further said that the General Assembly can decide how the monies received from leasing and production royalties will be spent–even as part of the general budget (former Gov. Ed Rendell leased hundreds of thousands of acres so he could use the money to prop up his failing budgets). It was a clean sweep. The PEDF lost all of their points in the lawsuit. The downer is that incoming Gov. Tom Wolf has said he won’t lease any more state lands for drilling…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Reporter Falls for Delaware Riverkeeper Anti-Pipeline Bamboozle
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

THE Delaware Riverkeeper and anti-driller, Maya van Rossum, continues her bamboozling ways. van Rossum finds conspiracy and evil intent behind every new pipeline project (or shale well) she hears about–and she’s only too glad to spread FUD–fear, uncertainty and doubt–about every announced project. The latest “angle” by van Rossum is to say when a huge pipeline company like Williams plans expansions to its largest pipeline system, the mighty Transco (10,200 miles of interstate pipelines), if Williams doesn’t combine all of those expansions in different geographic locations into one big, massive project, they’re trying to hide something. They’re trying to game the system. They’re trying to downplay the so-called environmental impacts all of those projects collectively will have on Precious Mother Earth. It’s just more fast talking by van Rossum…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Reminder: Enter to Win $25K Prize in Shale Gas Innovation Contest
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

Attention small businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs in Pennsylvania or West Virginia. If you have a new product or service that serves the shale energy space, submit your application (FREE to enter!) for the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center’s 4th Annual Shale Gas Innovation Contest before the February 1, 2015 deadline. If you do, you’ll be in the running to receive a $25,000 prize. Four such prizes are awarded each year. What are you waiting for?! Details…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Primoris to Install Pipeline in NEPA
January 8, 2015January 8, 2015

Primoris Services Corporation, a pipeline building company based in Dallas, TX, announced yesterday they’ve landed two small contracts in the Marcellus Shale with “major midstream operators.” One project is for 2.5 miles of 24-inch pipeline and the other for 1.1 miles of 12-inch pipeline and 2.3 miles of 24-inch pipeline–both projects in northeast Pennsylvania. In addition, Primoris landed a contract to install 88.6 miles of 36-inch crude oil pipeline in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale play…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antero Resources Lays Off 250 Landmen, Blames Low Oil Prices
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Antero Resources said on Monday it will lay off more than 250 contract land brokers operating in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The layoffs will not affect any Antero employees–only contract workers (landmen and others) who work to get leases signed, sealed and delivered for future drilling. Antero blames the low price of oil, which causes the price they get for their Marcellus/Utica natural gas liquids to be low, which means they’ll stick to drilling on the half million plus acres they already have under lease…
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Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

PA Study Finds No Negative Health Impacts from Marcellus Drilling
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, has just published the second report in a series. Titled “The Impact of Marcellus Shale Development on Health and Health Care” (full copy embedded below), the report looks at whether incidences of certain health status indicators and demand for healthcare services changed in four heavily drilled PA counties–two in the northeast and two in the southwest–during the years that Marcellus drilling activity increased. Although the report says initial results are “preliminary” and “not conclusive,” so far it seems that heavily drilled locations have not seen an increase in people injured or harmed because of shale drilling. About the only thing that did increase was the number of calls for emergency first responders–which can’t conclusively be tied Marcellus drilling…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Death by Thousand Cuts for Penn East Pipeline? NEPA Town Opposes
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Seems like it’s becoming death by a thousand cuts for the Penn East Pipeline, a 108-mile, 36-inch pipeline from Dallas Township (Luzerne County), PA to Hopewell Township (Mercer County), NJ–essentially Wilkes-Barre to Trenton. The pipeline would connect bountiful supplies of Marcellus Shale gas from northeast PA with the Transco interstate pipeline, so the gas could fuel the enormous demands of places like New Jersey, New York and beyond. Plenty of anti-drillers in southeast PA and NJ have been carping and complaining about the pipeline. This time it’s Dallas Township itself–where the pipeline is supposed to begin–that’s complaining. On Monday, Dallas Township officials passed a resolution formally opposing the Penn East Pipeline…
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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Marcellus Shale Health Advisory Panel Proposed, Again
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

State Sen. Joe Scarnati, Republican and President Pro Tempore of the PA Senate, says he will reintroduce a bill to form a Marcellus Shale health advisory panel. This is the second time Scarnati has pushed the concept (went nowhere in the last session). The panel would have nine members and would consider available research and provide expert guidance and opinion to PA elected officials, regulators and the general public. The problem is, Scarnati’s plan calls for half (four) of the nine panel members to be politicians, including Scarnati himself. Seems to us if the intent is to get at the science and offer untainted advice, you need to remove the politicians from the mix…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Pro-Driller Ortitay Replaces Anti-Driller White in PA House
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Just a brief note to celebrate yesterday, the first official day of the new Pennsylvania General Assembly and the swearing in of newly-minted Rep. Jason Ortitay, Republican from South Fayette, PA. Jason Ortitay handily defeated the dishonest anti-driller Jesse White, someone who abused his office by using fake online IDs to criticize and impugn some of his own pro-drilling constituents (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry). We’d also add that it’s interesting to us that throughout the campaign, the increasingly anti-drilling (and very pro-Democrat) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette supported Jesse White, attempting to prop him up and make excuses for his behavior (see PPG Tries to Prop Up Discredited/Shamed PA Rep Jesse White). Shame on the Post-Gazette. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh’s other major newspaper, supported Jason Ortitay, to their credit. Perhaps businesses in Pittsburgh should reevaluate their ad spending for 2015, eh? Jason’s claim to fame is not simply that he defeated White. Jason is pro-drilling and instead of being a career politician, he’s a small business owner of a cheesecake company. What a breath of fresh air!…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Lehigh County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Delaware Riverkeeper: Short-Tempered & Outright Rude [Video]
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

MDN friend Tom Shepstone, editor of the superb Natural Gas Now website, appeared a few weeks ago on Business Matters, a weekly business-focused television program on WFMZ in Allentown, PA. Tom was there as part of a four-person debate about pipelines and shale drilling. Also on the panel was the arrogant (and frankly adolescent-acting) Maya van Rossum, aka THE Delaware Riverkeeper (see Delaware Riverkeeper Gets a French Kiss from Phila. Inquirer). van Rossum put on quite the performance–a typical fast-talk and bully-your-opponent performance. Take time to watch the debate (embedded below)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA | Williams

Earthjustice, Others Ask FERC to Reconsider Constitution Pipeline
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Thank God the Constitution Pipeline is fully authorized and permitted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see FERC Issues Final Approval for Constitution Pipeline in PA/NY). We still have to sit through nutty anti-drillers parading before the microphones at New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hearings about the Constitution–but that should be just a formality. At least we hope it’s a formality–one never knows with anti-drillers like Joe Martens helming the DEC. It shouldn’t be long now before the backhoes start digging. But what’s that we hear in the distance? The hyena yapping of far-left environmentalist wackos? Yep. Earthjustice, Sierra Clubbers, Catskill Mountainkeeper and other anti-drilling groups have asked FERC to reconsider their permitting of the Constitution, telling FERC they didn’t do their job right…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Lancaster, PA Antis Request United Nations Interfere in Pipeline
January 6, 2015January 6, 2015

Anti-drillers and anti-pipeliners (typically one and the same) will do just about anything to further their cause–including asking a foreign power to intervene to stop the activity they don’t want. Eight people were arrested yesterday for trespassing as part of an anti-Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline protest in Lancaster County, PA. The eight were part of a group of 30 or so antis who showed up with the intention to stop Williams from breaking ground on the pipeline in that area. One of the eight arrested was Carlos Rivera, chief of the Northern Arawak Tribal Nation. Rivera says Williams should not be allowed to lay pipeline across Native America (i.e. Indian) land located in Lancaster County. So Rivera is filing a request with the United Nations, claiming the land is protected by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Good luck Carlos…
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Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Forced Pooling for Utica Wells Remains Unclear, Confusing
January 6, 2015January 6, 2015

As MDN previously reported, the single most productive Utica Shale well ever (to date) was drilled by Range Resources–in Pennsylvania (see Range Resources Drills Highest-Ever Initial Producing Utica Well). Because of the way PA’s laws are written, producers cannot use forced pooling for Marcellus layer wells they want to drill–but they can use PA law to file forced pooling requests for Utica layer wells. Given the success of Range (and others) with drilling Utica wells in PA, it’s a sure bet that sooner or later such a request will be filed. Problem is, the forced pooling law was written in 1961 and was designed for conventional/vertical wells, not unconventional/horizontal wells. The law was due to have a test by Hilcorp, but Hilcorp abandoned their request in September 2014 (see Hilcorp Drops Forced Pooling Request in W PA). With that case gone, forced pooling for Utica wells remains a muddled mess in PA…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Mariner East Pipeline Passes Test in Lebanon, PA
January 6, 2015January 6, 2015

Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 1 pipeline that runs from southwest Pennsylvania all the way to a refinery near Philadelphia continues to make progress on beginning to flow both propane and ethane. We’ve written numerous stories on the project (see the list here). Almost all of the pipeline is already in the ground–has been for decades–and will be repurposed from transporting oil to transporting natural gas liquids. The current situation is this: Sunoco Logistics is still fighting a legal battle to build 18 pump and 17 valve stations in 31 municipalities along the route. We don’t have any update on the legal battle, but we do have an update on testing of the pipeline. In October we told you that a section of the pipeline near Lebanon, PA was being tested (see Mariner East NGL Pipeline Begins Tests in Lebanon, PA). Good news, the test is complete and the pipeline, in that area, passed with flying colors…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

Public Hearing on NEPA Proposed Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant
January 6, 2015January 7, 2015

In August 2013, MDN told you about plans by Invenergy to build a combined-cycle electric generating plant near Scranton, PA that would be powered by locally extracted Marcellus Shale gas (see Marcellus Gas to Power Combined-Cycle Electricity Plant in NE PA). In October 2014, Invenergy purchased the 80-acre parcel where they plan to build the plant (see Invenergy Buys Land in NEPA for Natgas Electric Generating Plant). These things, however, take time. A lot of time. Years, according to Invenergy. Last night residents from the township where the plant would be built, Jessup, attended a standing-room only meeting. Press accounts indicate the room was divided with some in favor and others opposed to the project…
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