Pennsylvania

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Gov. Corbett’s Re-election in Doubt if Severance Tax Passes
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

Let’s speak very plainly. If Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signs a budget with a new high tax aimed at the drilling industry–he’s political toast. He will not win re-election and his political career will be over. Unfortunately it seems he is listening to the RINOs around him and his resolve is wavering. Don’t do it Tom. Don’t listen to them. The future of your state and this country is at stake…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Scranton Newspapers “Me Too” Articles on Moxie Energy Power Plant
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

It’s not often that MDN “breaks news” as in we bring you the story first. But sometimes we do, as we did last Friday when we told you that Moxie Energy is in the hunt for a third Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant project–this one in Luzerne County (see Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?). We spotted a very brief mention from a local Wilkes-Barre TV station and sketched out the story for you, providing the background and detail–connecting the dots no one else noticed. So it gives us great pleasure to point out that after we broke the story, both the Scranton Times-Tribune and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader then picked it up…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Royalty Bill 1684 Off the Agenda, Likely for Rest of 2014
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

Pennsylvania landowners can and should be angry with the Republican-controlled PA House of Representatives. Word has just come that an important royalty bill–HB 1684–is now on the “back burner” until fall. Fall is the height of the election season and you know darned well nothing will get done on the bill at that point–so for all intents the bill is dead for this year. Which is a shame. What is HB 1684? Our shorthand name for the bill is the “stop Chesapeake Energy from screwing landowners out of their royalties” bill…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

A very interesting news tidbit to pass along. Is Moxie Energy considering a third, new natural gas powered electric generating plant for Pennsylvania–this one near Wilkes-Barre? Quite possibly…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Phila. Gas Works Deal in Jeopardy Due to Vacationing City Council
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

In March, the Democrat mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, announced a deal to sell the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) for $1.86 billion (see Phila. Gas Works Deal for $1.86B – Marcellus/Utica One of Keys). UIL Holdings Corporation, a Connecticut-based investor-owned gas and electric utility, is the potential buyer. However, it didn’t take long for the union and a former Enron executive to make a play to screw the deal (see Former Enron Exec Makes “Unethical” Play to Derail PGW Deal). City Council has had three months to review the deal put together by Nutter, but now they’re heading out of town on summer vacation and not coming back until September. Will UIL stick around that long?…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

RINO Introduces 4.9% Severance Tax Bill in PA House
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

A Republican in Name Only (RINO) in the PA House, Gene DiGirolamo (greater Philadelphia area), yesterday introduced House Bill 2358 that would make it legal for the state to steal money from a single industry and give it away to groups of people who didn’t earn it. It’s called a severance tax and the money raised from such a tax would be used for anything and everything but the impacts that happen from mining natural gas and oil. The arrogant DiGirolamo is all proud of himself for introducing this abomination…
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Accidents | Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wyoming County (PA)

PA DEP Fines Carrizo $192K for 2 Incidents in Wyoming County
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

In Mach 2013 Carrizo Oil & Gas was fracking a Marcellus Shale well in Wyoming County, PA when they lost control of the well and wastewater and brine started coming out of the well faster than they could handle it–about 800 gallons a minute. Eventually about 200,000 gallons of wastewater and brine overflowed at the site (see Carrizo Problem Fracking NE PA Well, Evacuates 3 Nearby Families). About a month later, after investigating the damage, the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) allowed Carrizo to resume their fracking and drilling operations in that area (see Carrizo Resumes Fracking at Site of Spill in Wyoming County, PA). It’s now more than a year later and the DEP has just handed Carrizo a $192,044 fine for failing to keep control of the well, which resulted “in environmental degradation and the evacuation of citizens from their homes.” The fine also covers a second, much smaller incident that happened in April 2013…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Court Says Range Resources Must Disclose Chemicals in SW PA
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operation at the site (see EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA). Litigation ensued, and years passed. In November of last year, County Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca gave Range and its contractors 30 days to cough up a list of all the chemicals ever used at the site, right down to the kind of oil used in the engines of vehicles visiting the site (see PA Judge Forces Range, Contractors to Provide Chemical List). That didn’t happen because Range appealed. Last week Range lost the appeal…
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Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Washington, PA Votes to Reject Marcellus Boarding House
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

You might think local politicians would be more than happy when someone buys a run down dump of a property with plans to turn it into nice housing. Such a plan would put it back on the tax roles, provide a shot of economic stimulus into the local economy, and help out the area’s strained rental property capacity. But if that housing will cater to Marcellus Shale workers and if you’re anti-drilling, as the politicians around the city of Washington, PA are, well then, you might just get your knickers in a twist (see Washington, PA Officials Try to Stop Marcellus Boarding House). Last month the owner of Phive Starr Properties had the temerity to tell Washington officials that their zoning rules have some big holes in them. Last night the board voted 3-2 to tell Phive Starr “Nah, we don’t have no holes, go away,” in so many words…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Grrr: Some Marcellus Industry Companies $upport PA Dem for Gov
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

This is one of those stories that personally makes MDN editor Jim Willis very angry. We learn from an article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, and from the odious anti-drilling group Food & Water Watch, that some of our own have given money–upwards of a quarter of a million dollars–to PA gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf. That just should not be. Wolf and his Democrat party will royally screw Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania if they seize power in the next election. Enabling that outcome is the height of selfishness on the part of those companies and individuals contributing to his campaign. So let’s name some names of those who are donating to Wolf…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh Suburb Considers New Regulations on Shale Drilling
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

A single, lying town resident in White Oak, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) has the town council up in arms by claiming the town is about to be drilled by Marcellus Shale drillers and they “will do as they please if they aren’t regulated.” Uh, just one problem there Mr. Lying Town Resident: The state Dept. of Environmental Protection already regulates the industry–quite heavily. And the town can’t regulate it without violating state law…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

PA Residents Rank Gasland Dead Last in Trustworthy Info Sources
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Who do Pennsylvanians trust when it comes to information about Marcellus Shale drilling? A poll of PA residents in 21 counties–between June and October 2012–tried to answer that question. The results of that poll, and an analysis of the results, is published in the June 2014 Energy Research & Social Science journal. Titled “Hydraulic fracturing and the management, disposal, and reuse of frac flowback waters: Views from the public in the Marcellus Shale,” the poll shows that of the eight primary ways people were getting information about fracking, dead last in “trustworthiness” was Josh Fox’s fictional movie Gasland. What strikes MDN as odd is why it took a year and a half to publish the results…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martians Threaten Lawsuit Against PA Town to Prevent Drilling
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

For some time MDN has chronicled the liberal push-back from anti-drillers in the Mars School District in Butler County, PA. First we told you they need their heads examined after refusing a lease from Rex Energy that would have netted money “for the children” on the order of $1 million (see Earth to Mars (School District) – Time to Check into Funny Farm?). Then we told you that supervisors in Adams Township, where the Mars School District is located, wisely decided to not restrict drilling by Rex Energy on property near the school (see Adams Twp, PA Votes to NOT Block Drilling “Near” Mars School). Now the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is saying it’s “not a given” that the agency will grant Rex a permit to drill on any property near the school…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Caving on PA Severance Tax Renamed as a “Pivot”
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

Funny how we euphemize things so often–making up words and using alternative words instead of just saying the honest thing. You find it happening a lot in the political world–like right now in Pennsylvania where the media says PA is likely to “pivot” on the issue of a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas. According to “insiders.” Pivot actually means “cave” or “throw in the towel” or “admit defeat.” If Republicans allow it to happen, that’s what they’re doing. “Insiders” means “rat-fink leakers”–people who don’t have the guts to go on the record. Some Republicans in Name Only (RINOs) like Sen. Edwin Erickson, R-Delaware County, want to steal the hard-earned money from shale drillers and give it away to those who haven’t earned it–teacher’s unions. No where in the PA budget debate do we see the option of doing with less–like what happens in the real world with real budgets. Instead, the philosophy of PA’s Dems and RINOs is tax a single industry that’s producing money and give it to another industry (Big Education) that vacuums up money like a Hoover…
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Clearfield County | Education | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Clearfield County Residents: Get $100 to Learn about Marcellus
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

How would you like to earn a cool $100–just for learning about Marcellus Shale drilling? That’s the promise from Penn State to those who live in and around Clearfield County, PA. Penn State, using funding from the National Science Foundation, is offering a 10-week course called Marcellus Community Science Volunteer Program on Monday nights in DuBois. Adults will learn all about the science behind shale drilling, along with its benefits and drawbacks. This is not the first group Penn State has done this with. They ran the same course earlier this year…
Read More “Clearfield County Residents: Get $100 to Learn about Marcellus”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

New Zoning Law Needlessly Restricts Drilling in SWPA Borough
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

Pittsburgh, PA is located in Allegheny County. So you can imagine that any town, borough or hollow in Allegheny is somehow in the Pittsburgh political orbit–including Jefferson Hills. Most large cities like Pittsburgh lean liberal in their politics, and surrounding neighborhoods often lean that way too. Like Jefferson Hills (population 10,619). Last week Jefferson Hills Borough Council voted 6-0 to lard on new restrictions for shale drilling–on top of the already strict standards set up by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. The new unnecessary standards create a “conditional use” situation where a driller has to get paperwork signed in triplicate for every minor step in the drilling process…
Read More “New Zoning Law Needlessly Restricts Drilling in SWPA Borough”