Pennsylvania

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County

What Did NYC Lawmakers Find when Visiting NE PA Frack Sites?
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

A small group of anti-drilling New York State lawmakers from Westchester County and New York City came to Susquehanna County, PA yesterday for a “tour” of one of the most drilled (and productive) natural gas counties in PA. We’re guessing local anti-drilling celebrity (and potty mouth) Vera Scroggins led the tour, although we don’t know for sure. Regardless of who led it, the aim was to show the devastation fracking hath wrought to this poor, defenseless county. Unfortunately for Vera and other anti-drillers, reality trumps their hallucinations.

MDN was not along for the so-called tour, but we know what the visiting city folks found because we’ve also toured the county and its drilling sites: They found a pretty, rural county where the people are happy and employed, (some of them newly rich, which disgusts the old rich of NYC), and where there is no industrial wasteland. Sometimes trucks clog the roadways–but nothing like the traffic the visiting downstate lawmakers experience every day of their lives…
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Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Announces “Open Season” for Potential PA Ethane Cracker
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Time for Shell to get serious about whether or not they plan to build a $2 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. Shell announced yesterday they will have something akin to a pipeline open season, a period of time when drillers can bid on capacity to send the plant (should it be built) their locally-produced ethane supplies. The bidding period will run from August 27 through October 4 and will give Shell a good idea of just how much ethane will be available for them to “crack” at the plant.

Shell reports they already have commitments from CONSOL Energy, Noble Energy, Seneca Resources and Hilcorp Energy should they decide to build the cracker. Shell is still about a year away from a final final final final decision (see our June 2012 story – Shell: Final Decision on Cracker Plant Still 18-24 Mo. Away). The next few months are likely to be crucial to that decision…
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Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

CONSOL Energy Reveals Drilling Plan for Pittsburgh Airport
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

CONSOL Energy and Pittsburgh Airport officials held a joint press conference yesterday to share more of the details for CONSOL’s plan to drill on airport-owned property. You may recall the airport authority signed a deal with CONSOL in February of this year, netting the airport a nifty check for $50 million as the signing bonus (see $50M Check in the Mail: Pittsburgh Airport Lease a Done Deal). However, the signing bonus is just an hors d’oeuvre. All done and told–after receiving royalties for years to come–the airport expects the project to bring in a staggering $1 billion or more.

The proposed drilling plan (see the map below) calls for 6 well pads, 47 Marcellus Shale wells on those pads (with the possibility of drilling Upper Devonian wells later on), three fresh water ponds (“impoundments”) and 17 miles of gathering pipelines. CONSOL said that seismic testing in and around the airport property will begin in late October of this year, however, the first test wells will not be drilled until third quarter of 2014…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Smear PA DEP Over Delayed Global Warming Report
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

A Pennsylvania state report on the impacts of the mythical concept of human-induced global warming on residents of the state is a year and a half late. Boo hoo. Big deal. Aren’t there enough of these kinds of “reports” circulating already? Why is another one needed? Apparently anti-drillers in PA and at the NPR reporters at StateImpact Pennsylvania want to see it published. They also want it to contain a reference to the totally debunked and discredited “study” by Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea. You know, the study that laughably says burning coal is better for the environment than natural gas. MIT later put that whopper to rest (see New MIT Study on Fugitive Methane Discredits Cornell Study).

But let’s not let real science get in the way here! Anti-drilling groups like PennFuture want Howarth’s discredited “research” to be included in the final report. When someone from the PA DEP dared to say it ought to be removed, well, the antis had a cow. PennFuture went on a fishing expedition and obtained internal emails and drafts of the report and leaked it to sympathetic StateImpact reporters. It’s now time to crucify the DEP official who wanted the holy words of Bobby & Tony removed…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Smear PA DEP Over Delayed Global Warming Report”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Columbia County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Shale Justice Coalition Plans to Gate-Crash John Hanger Appearance
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone…but the Shale Justice Coalition plans to show up en masse at a talk being given by former PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Sec. John Hanger on September 3rd at Bloomsburg University. Hanger is running for the Democrat nomination for governor in PA and the folks at Shale Justice don’t like his views on drilling. Shale Justice doesn’t want anyone other than the anti-drilling faithful to know about their plans to gate-crash Hanger’s talk, so they’ve asked that their secret announcement not be shared on social media or publicly announced. Whoops. Guess we kind of blew that!

Here’s the Shale Justice Coalition email announcement, as passed along to us by an MDN reader…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Cabot to Teach Hazelton, PA 9th Graders How to Frack
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Ninth-grade students at a new magnet school opening this fall in the Hazelton, PA area will be taught a series of lessons on the technology, economics and environmental issues related to fracking and shale gas drilling. The plan calls for the school’s teachers to lead four lessons in the series, an “environmentalist” (i.e. anti-driller) will teach one lesson, and someone from Cabot Oil & Gas, the northeast PA driller funding the program, will teach two of the lessons. There’s sure to be stiff opposition to Cabot’s involvement from the anti-drillers. “Fair” to them would be Cabot pays for the whole thing but anti-drillers are the only voices heard in the classroom. Not this time!

MDN finds it amusing the program will feature a mock town hall meeting complete with squabbling neighbors and people falsely claiming their water wells have been contaminated. We need to learn ’em young, ya know…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Marcellus Surface Regulations Coming for PA Drillers
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

In February 2012, Pennsylvania passed and Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Act 13 legislation into law–the first new legislation to address shale drilling in the state (see Gov. Corbett Signs New Marcellus Drilling Law). Among the provisions in the new law was an instruction (and permission) for the Environmental Quality Board (EQB), the rulemaking body of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to craft new regulations for drilling. The EQB wasted no time in crafting new rules for the subsurface portion of drilling (see Rewrite of 1984 PA Oil and Gas Act Underway).

The second part of the EQB’s charge is now underway. Yesterday the EQB approved and released (for public comment) new regulations aimed at surface activities associated with natural gas drilling (a summary of the new rules is embedded below, along with the full text of the proposed regulations). This new round of regulations deals with protecting public resources like parks and forests, deals with orphaned and abandoned well identification, institutes new containment rules (for fresh water and wastewater), and firms up protection of water resources…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus Reshuffle? EIA Says WV/SWPA Luring Rigs Away from NEPA
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

According to the brains at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)–and we say “brains” in a very complimentary way–the northern panhandle of West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania together have formed an integrated “wet gas” drilling region that is luring drilling rigs away from the highly productive dry gas area of northeastern PA. Here is their analysis and reasoning, along with some nifty charts:
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Allegheny County | Pennsylvania

Babst Calland Ranked Top Energy Law Firm in Pittsburgh Area
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

MDN congratulates the Babst Calland law firm for being ranked the number one energy law firm in the greater Pittsburgh region as measured by number of practicing energy attorneys (they have 70 in Pittsburgh). Babst Calland writes one of our favorite law blogs–ShaleEnergyLawBlog.com.

Well done, and well deserved! We’ve included the top 10 below…
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Chevron | Energy Companies | Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Chevron Wins Right to Build Freshwater Pond for Fracking in PA
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

Last week the Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld a lower court ruling in favor of Marcellus Shale driller Chevron, declaring that Chevron has the right to construct a pond (“impoundment”) to hold fresh water used for fracking. The landowners in question (Mr. & Mrs. Humberston) did not want the pond constructed on 11 acres of their land but since the lease they signed did not specifically limit it, and since having lots of fresh water to frack with is a requirement for drilling (a reasonable expectation), the court ruled Chevron was within its rights to construct the pond…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Anti-Driller Shouts Fracking Question to Obama in PA Appearance
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

Well, you knew it would happen. A shrill and rude anti-driller tried to shout down President Obama as he spoke at Lackawanna College last Friday. Maya van Rossum, head of the rabidly anti-drilling Delaware Riverkeeper Network, tried to get Obama to respond to a shouted question about fracking. He briefly looked up from his TelePrompter, and then went on without responding to her rude outburst. In fact, Obama (much to our dismay) did not say a word about shale drilling nor about the top notch Petroleum & Natural Gas Technology program run by Lackawanna College, even though it was a golden opportunity for him to do so…
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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Washington County

Health “Study” of Whopping 27 People Blames Drilling for Symptoms
August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

A very small, statistically invalid and anecdotal set of 27 people in Washington County, PA who claim the ill health symptoms they have are caused by activities related to shale gas drilling is reason enough for the AP to trumpet a story that shale drilling causes negative health impacts. The symptoms include skin rashes, eye irritation, breathing problems and headaches–i.e., just an average day at the local walk-in clinic. But because there are shale wells, a gas processing plant and compressor stations nearby, the drilling industry is blamed for the symptoms.

Hmm, there’s roads nearby. Are the roads to blame? There’s railroads nearby–are they to blame? There’s a Girl Scout troupe nearby….you get the picture. Nope. Drilling is squarely to blame for this “array of symptoms” because these people claim they didn’t have the symptoms prior to drilling but they do now. We wonder, are any of them members of the Sierra Club?…
Read More “Health “Study” of Whopping 27 People Blames Drilling for Symptoms”
Crime | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

When Landmen Go Bad: Butler, PA Landman Arrested for Fraud
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

A landman for Penn-Star Energy of Butler, PA, working to secure leases for Range Resources, is accused of a huge scam.

Apparently he used fake companies and forged signatures to steal away mineral rights from some landowners in Washington County, PA–worth more than $1 million…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

CSSD Says First Marcellus Certifications Coming Later this Year
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

MDN previously told you about a new, independent group–a cooperative between the drilling industry and environmentalists–called the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, or CSSD (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). Members of the group on both sides have taken heat for working together to create very strict standards for Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers (see Eco Groups Shun EDF over Membership in Sustainable Shale Center).

The CSSD created a list of 15 standards they want drillers to conform to–some of the standards very costly, especially to small drillers. The group is moving forward with their plans and intends to begin certifying drillers “later this year”…
Read More “CSSD Says First Marcellus Certifications Coming Later this Year”
Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

Last October, Moxie Liberty LLC (i.e., Moxie Energy) of Vienna, VA applied for and received permission from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to build Pennsylvania’s first new electric generation plant to use Marcellus Shale gas to power it (see PA DEP Approves 1st New Electric Plant to Use Marcellus Gas). The plant will be built in Bradford County, PA–the state’s most heavily drilled Marcellus county. However, Moxie will no longer build it. Word came yesterday that Moxie sold the project to Panda Power Funds of Dallas, TX. Henceforth the project will be called Panda Liberty.

Yesterday’s announcement from Panda Power Funds:
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Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Consultant: Retooling PGW LNG Terminal for Exports Problematic
August 23, 2013August 23, 2013

MDN previously told you that the 176 year-old Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) natural gas utility company went on the auction block in July with the aim of privatizing it (see Phila. Gas Works Goes on Auction Block – Marcellus Key in Sale?). At the time, it seemed like one of the keys to a sale would be converting an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility owned and operated by PGW into an export facility for exporting Marcellus Shale gas.

However, according to a confidential report issued earlier this year by a PGW consultant, such a scenario would not be all that attractive for a potential buyer. The cost to convert the facility would be far more than the existing value of the entire company, plus there are real estate issues to contend with…
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