Pennsylvania

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    Join Us for PA Jobs, PA Energy Rally in Harrisburg, PA on May 6

    PA Jobs PA Energy RallyIn less than two weeks–on Tuesday, May 6th–thousands of farmers, laborers, landowners, conservation groups, local government leaders, and the business community, will gather together at PA’s State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA for a historic march. United Shale Advocates is orchestrating a unique Pennsylvania Jobs, Pennsylvania Energy rally that will bring thousands of Pennsylvanians together to speak with a united voice in support of responsible energy development. Why march? Policy proposals in Harrisburg – including burdensome layers of new energy taxes on job creators and consumers, as well as other measures, would heavily tip the competitive scales against Pennsylvania – would place everything that’s been achieved at risk. Now is the time to march and to make our collective voices heard–loudly.

    MDN has been warning you since last year that Marcellus drilling is at risk in Pennsylvania–from moratoriums, high severance taxes and frivolous lawsuits. This event is for anyone who supports Marcellus Shale drilling–your chance to express your loud and strong support to politicians and the media. A crowd of thousands will get noticed–make no mistake. Would you PLEASE consider joining us? And we say “us” because MDN editor Jim Willis (a native New Yorker) will attend and march in support of shale drilling in PA. Yes, it’s a sacrifice and takes a day of your time. But it’s worth it. Below are the agenda and details for how you can join us and get a FREE bus ride to the event. However, the deadline to sign up for a spot on a bus is tomorrow, April 25th–so you need to sign up right away…

    YOU CAN STILL REGISTER ONLINE. PLEASE JOIN JIM ON THE BUS! LET’S FILL THE SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY BUS…
    Read More “Join Us for PA Jobs, PA Energy Rally in Harrisburg, PA on May 6”

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    Rural NE PA School Nets $1.7M in Royalties from 2 Marcellus Wells

    Get this: Elk Lake School District, in very rural Susquehanna County, PA (we’ve been there, it’s surrounded by farm fields), has raked in more than $1.7 million in royalties–from two Marcellus Shale wells drilled on its property.

    And the royalties just keep comin’…
    Read More “Rural NE PA School Nets $1.7M in Royalties from 2 Marcellus Wells”

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    Was PA Court Decision Really an OK for Forced Pooling?

    Sometimes language is a funny thing. Terms come into use and and thrown around–but in different contexts they mean different things. MDN recently noticed that earlier this month EQT won a lawsuit against landowners in Allengheny County, PA. The landowners had leased their land with EQT, but we’re guessing they were old leases, done some number of years ago, because the landowners said EQT could not drill under their properties collectively–in a drilling unit. Apparently the landowners wanted EQT to drill on each individual property–or perhaps (more likely) renegotiate the old leases for better money to allow horizontal shale drilling. Bear in mind EQT and the landowners–all of them–already have contractual leases.

    EQT sued (EQT Production Co. v. Opatkiewicz et al.) to “force” the landowners to allow them to do their job–drill horizontally under several properties as part of a drilling unit. The court ruled in favor of EQT (copy of the decision is embedded below) saying the landowners can’t stipulate how EQT gets the gas from leased contiguous properties. That is our essential understanding of the case. However, it’s widely being reported that the court “supported forced pooling”…
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    PA HB 1684 Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act Hits a Snag

    For nearly a month, the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) Pennsylvania Chapter has been pushing for passage of House Bill (HB) 1684, the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act (see PA NARO Alert: Tell Your State Rep to Vote YES on HB 1684). HB 1684 would ensure landowners get a minimum 12.5% in royalty payments from drillers. This is in response to alleged rumors that Chesapeake Energy has been screwing landowners by deducting transportation and other costs in a somewhat underhanded way. HB 1684 is supposed to stop that–going forward.

    However, HB 1684 has “hit a snag” according state Rep. Matt Baker. As MDN has previously noted, this particular bill has divided landowners and drillers, something we don’t see often (see Rare Schism Between Landowners & Drillers over PA Royalty Law). The latest on the fate of HB 1684:
    Read More “PA HB 1684 Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act Hits a Snag”

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    DEP Says Residents Not Exposed to Pollutants in Chevron Well Fire

    You may recall the Chevron well fire in Greene County, PA that resulted in the death of one contract worker on February 11th (see Chevron Well Fire Update: 2nd Well Capped, Work on 7 Wells Stopped). Soon after the fire began, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP started measuring and testing in the area–to ensure nearby residents and first responders were not being exposed to unsafe pollutants. They sampled both upwind and downwind for 57 different toxic air pollutants. The DEP did find elevated levels for some pollutants, but (thankfully) nothing that would threaten the health of those in the area.

    Below are the results of the testing along with the DEP announcement in releasing the results.
    Read More “DEP Says Residents Not Exposed to Pollutants in Chevron Well Fire”

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    Sunoco Logistics Faces Hostile Crowd Over NGL Pipeline Station

    Yesterday MDN told you about more trouble for Sunoco Logistics and the Mariner East natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that will bring NGLs from western PA to southeastern PA and the Marcus Hook refinery (see More Pushback from PA Residents on Proposed Mariner East Pipeline). We told you that residents in Chester County, PA, near Philadelphia, are none too pleased with the plan. Some of them have sued to block Sunoco Logistics from becoming a public utility corporation with the power of eminent domain.

    Last night Sunoco Logistics held a meeting at the West Chester East High School. It was a packed house and Sunoco Logistics people were on the hot seat the entire night…
    Read More “Sunoco Logistics Faces Hostile Crowd Over NGL Pipeline Station”

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    Lebanon Opposition to Williams Transco Pipeline Sunrise Expansion

    Back in February MDN told you that Williams is planning to expand their Transco pipeline to carry an extra 1.7 million dekatherms (see Williams Plans $2.1B Transco Pipeline Expansion, 100% Sold Already). The new expansion project is called the Atlantic Sunrise Expansion. Williams really wants to spend that money, some of it which will go to the communities where the pipeline will be built.

    However, Williams has an uphill battle before they see the Sunrise. A group of anti-drillers in Lebanon County, PA is opposing the project. They’re organizing and planning strategy this week for how they can stop the pipeline–which would deny residents along the eastern seaboard cheaper natural gas. Here’s the lowdown on the latest anti-drilling initiative…
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    SD Co. Building PA Frack Wastewater Plant Wins 1st Prize in Paris

    MDN is aware of several companies working on a solution to “the water problem”–a better solution for handling frack wastewater–better than disposing of it via injection wells. The technologies we’ve heard about are truly exciting. One such company, which is headquartered in South Dakota (but building a treatment plant in Pennsylvania to service the Marcellus and Utica) is Advanced Water Recovery (AWR). AWR recently participated in the Global Water Initiative in Paris, France. They entered the Global Water Awards competition–and won first place in the category Water Technology Idol.

    We look forward to learning more about AWR’s technology and where, precisely, they’re building their plant in Pennsylvania, which is due to be completed this summer. Below is the press release announcing their first prize placement in the Paris competition, along with other background we are able to gather up…
    Read More “SD Co. Building PA Frack Wastewater Plant Wins 1st Prize in Paris”

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    More Pushback from PA Residents on Proposed Mariner East Pipeline

    pushing backAs part of the good news story about the “makeover” of the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, MDN came across more details about Sunoco Logistics’ plans to potentially use eminent domain in order to lay pipeline that will bring natural gas liquids, like ethane, to Marcus Hook. You may recall a few weeks ago we told you Sunoco Logistics had made a request with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to exempt the Mariner East pipeline from local zoning regulations in building some 31 pump and valve control stations across the length of the pipeline (see Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline). A court case in Washington County, PA challenged that right in light of the decision from the PA Supreme Court that grants zoning rights, even for oil and gas development, to local municipalities.

    Sunoco Logistics is now being challenged in court in Chester County, questioning their right to become a “public utility corporation” with the right of eminent domain. Just to confuse the issue further, a public utility corporation is not the same thing as being a public utility in PA. However, if Sunoco Logistics is granted public utility corporation status, it means they have the right of eminent domain but are overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and not by the PA PUC. In other words, they get the benefits of being a public utility, without the “burdens” of PA state oversight. That has some residents up in arms…
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    Judge in XTO Criminal Spill Case Says Figure Out Your Own Charges

    A small development in the shameful case brought by Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, against XTO Energy over a four year-old accidental spill that she’s trying to prosecute as a crime (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). XTO filed paperwork with the court to ask for more information about the charges that have been made against them. Apparently environmental cases are quite complex and you don’t always know what, exactly, you’ve been charged with!

    The judge in the case has denied XTO’s request to be told what, exactly, they’re being charged with. Last Thursday Lycoming County Judge Marc Lovecchio essentially told XTO, “You figure it out”…
    Read More “Judge in XTO Criminal Spill Case Says Figure Out Your Own Charges”

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    Williams to Lay Pipeline in “Pristine” Lancaster County, PA

    The rather boring information/news is this: Williams plans to install a 9.6 mile pipeline in Lancaster County, PA, part of an expansion project for the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (or Transco). The new pipeline will run under 7 creeks, two unkept areas overrun with weeds and trees, will involve cutting down a few trees and digging up some dirt–dirt that will be put back so you won’t even know it was ever disturbed.

    However, in the hands of a talented propagandist, creeks become “high-quality streams,” unkept, rundown areas become “Natural Heritage Areas,” cutting down a few trees is turned into “clearing” trees–from (gasp) 26 acres! And digging up some dirt is converted into digging up 9 acres of (yes) “farmland.” What utter bilge…
    Read More “Williams to Lay Pipeline in “Pristine” Lancaster County, PA”

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    Western PA/NY Pipeline Company Starts Separating NGLs for More $$

    Anticipating that Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling will one day come to northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York, the owner of a pipeline system that services 6,500 older vertical wells in that area has just made an upgrade. EmKey Energy has just opened a new $10 million gas processing plant east of Union City, PA where five of EmKey’s underground pipelines converge. And here is the beauty and the brilliance. That new processing plant does nothing more than separate out natural gas liquids from the incoming stream of gas–NGLs that have been there all along but weren’t economical to separate. Now the plant separates butane, propane and ethane and sells them for bigger money than they would have been sold as part of the methane stream.

    According to EmKey’s founder Oivind Risberg, the $10 million upgrade is profitable and doing well. But the real gravy train will arrive when shale drilling enters the area and his pipelines hook up to the deeper Marcellus and Utica Shale. That’s when the really big payoff will happen. Brilliant! Here’s more about EmKey’s “make good money now, but boatloads of it later when shale drilling arrives” strategy…
    Read More “Western PA/NY Pipeline Company Starts Separating NGLs for More $$”

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    President Visits Pittsburgh to Talk Jobs, Ignores Shale Jobs

    Well, we hate to say “we told you so,” but, well, we told you so. Last Wednesday President Obama and his oafish sidekick Joe “the clown” Biden “took a little road trip” according to the Pres, to visit the Community College of Allegheny County West Hills Center in North Fayette, PA (near Pittsburgh). The purpose of the trip was to dole out gobs of your hard-earned money to community college professors and students (nothing against either, except when it’s my money going to them!). The Pres announced $600 million in new money–from his Presidential “stash” no doubt. He figures your money will help create jobs out there in flyover country.

    We pointed out published comments from both Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, and Stephanie Wissman, executive director of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, encouraging the Pres to acknowledge the major role Marcellus Shale drilling has played in creating jobs in western PA (see Obama/Biden Pittsburgh Visit Today: Don’t Expect NatGas Praise). Did either the Pres or sidekick Biden give at least a passing nod to shale and the hundreds of thousands of jobs the shale industry has created in the past half dozen years? Nope. Which is just what we predicted. Admitting the private sector is the best jobs-creating engine in existence doesn’t fit the narrative that big government creates jobs. Interestingly, only 300 people turned out for the event. We’ve been to town hall meetings for pipelines with more people than that! Here’s a recap of what the Pres did talk about last week on his shaleless visit to Pittsburgh…
    Read More “President Visits Pittsburgh to Talk Jobs, Ignores Shale Jobs”

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    PA RINO Claims 50 Repubicans Ready to Vote Yes on Severance Tax

    If you believe a left-leaning AP reporter and a few RINO sources, Republicans just can’t wait to vote for higher taxes in PA. According to the Democrat who pretends to be a Republican, Eugene DiGirolamo (R-Bucks), there’s “50 Republicans” in the state legislature who would vote for a nosebleed-high severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling and do so right the heck now.

    Really? How about some names Gene? Besides yourself and two or three other southeastern PA RINOs. Frankly, we think it’s smoke and mirrors to prop up your own pathetic campaign. And by the way–when will the Democrats in southeast PA boot people like DiGirolamo and replace him with a real Democrat, and not a pretender?…
    Read More “PA RINO Claims 50 Repubicans Ready to Vote Yes on Severance Tax”

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    Labor Unions a Powerful Ally for Northeast Shale Industry

    Unions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio are backing shale drilling in a big way, and that’s giving lefty Democrats heartburn. The unions note that in the early days of northeast shale drilling a lot of the help came from out of state–places like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. But that’s changed. Today most of the workers are local, and many of them belong to labor unions. Regardless of your opinion on labor unions, there is one inescapable fact–their members want jobs and they’re willing to work and work hard in those jobs.

    Labor unions have become an important and powerful ally for the drilling industry. Here is that story…
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    PA DCNR Releases Report: Drilling Impacts on State Land/Forests

    DCNR logoYesterday the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) released a new report titled “Shale-Gas Monitoring Report” (full copy embedded below), the first in a series of ongoing reports on the impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling on PA’s state-owned land, including state forests. The DCNR was given a $6 million budget more than three years ago to study drilling impacts. This is the first report, eagerly anticipated by anti-drilling groups like PennFuture. Unfortunately for them, the study contains no indications that drilling is a disaster for public lands, as they had wanted it to say. In fact, the report found that out of 2 million acres of state-owned land, only 1,500 acres were converted from “wild space” to use for drilling (roads, drill pads, compressor stations, etc.). That’s 0.075%–not even 1/10th of a single percentage point. In other words–nothing. Another 9,340 acres were partially developed. Still a very low number and not the environmental holocaust predicted by anti-drillers.

    Dan Devlin, acting deputy secretary for Parks and Forestry, wrote this in the preface: “…shale-gas production on state forest lands is neither benign nor catastrophic. There are clearly impacts and tradeoffs associated with this activity. The question is what tradeoffs are acceptable. The Bureau of Forestry considers these tradeoffs and attempts to balance the various uses and values of the forest.” PennFuture president and CEO Cindy Dunn worked herself up into a lather, saying this about the report: “The suggestion that this industrial activity can be ‘carefully managed’ provides scant comfort to Pennsylvanians who frequent Penn’s Woods.” Below we have the full 268-page report, the DCNR press announcement about the report, and PennFuture’s snit fit response…
    Read More “PA DCNR Releases Report: Drilling Impacts on State Land/Forests”