Pennsylvania

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Lawyers in Act 13 Lawsuit Say State Legislature has “Supreme Authority”
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

A quick update on the Act 13 lawsuit before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Lawyers for the state, on behalf of the governor, the Dept. of Environmental Protection and the Public Utility Commission, filed a 45-page brief yesterday defending the law. The seven towns suing the state to overturn the zoning portions of Act 13 (the part that disallows local municipal control over the siting of drilling and compressor plants, etc.) will file their brief later this month.

Among the arguments made by the state in defending the zoning portion of Act 13:

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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Dominion Turns On Appalachian Gateway Project Pipeline
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Dominion Transmission “threw the switch” (or rather opened the valve) to the Appalachian Gateway Project yesterday. The project was 3/4 of a billion dollars spent by Dominion to upgrade and expand existing infrastructure, and to build 110 miles of new pipeline. The end result is a big increase in the amount of Marcellus Shale gas flowing from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to markets along the eastern seaboard.

From the Dominion press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | UGI Energy Services

Luzerne County Denies UGI Permit to Build Compressor Station
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Sadly, the Luzerne County, PA zoning hearing board has voted to deny UGI Energy Services a permit to build a much-needed compressor station in West Wyoming. The station would help bring low-cost shale gas to local customers. Apparently local customers in Luzerne County prefer paying higher costs for their natural gas.

Here’s what happened last night:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Effort Raises $4.4 Million for PA Physicians Clinic [Free]
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Earlier this year, Cabot Oil & Gas committed to donate up to $2 million to help fund building a new physicians clinic and hospital for the Montrose, PA area (see this MDN story).

This is “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. Cabot indeed contributed an initial $1 million and then worked hard to encourage others to give. Local businesses and organizations like the VFW stepped up with big contributions and gave $1.2 million on top of Cabot’s initial $1 million. Cabot then went above and beyond, matching their donations with another $1.2 million! In addition, the Weinberg Foundation wrote a check for $1 million too. Total raised? $4.4 million. (Be sure to watch the video below.)

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

New Production Milestone Achieved by Cabot Oil & Gas
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Cabot Oil & Gas CEO Dan Dinges released a statement yesterday highlighting a new milestone just achieved by the driller: Natural gas production for Cabot averaged over 700 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf) for the last two weeks, reaching as high as 752 Mmcf during one 24-hour period. Cabot is one of the largest producers in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale.

From the press release:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Property Value | Statewide PA

Have a Marcellus Lease? Forget a Mortgage with ESB Bank
September 4, 2012September 4, 2012

It appears that ESB Bank (located in the Pittsburgh, PA area) is running a scam on Pennsylvania landowners with Marcellus Shale leases. ESB doesn’t tell landowners with leases looking to finance or refinance a mortgage that they won’t approve the application because of the lease—until after the homeowner has spent $500 to have an appraisal done. Oh, and ESB keeps the $500—sorry, no refunds.

Fortunately, ESB Bank seems to be one of the only banks (if not the only) refusing to finance/refinance properties with Marcellus leases. Here is one Pennsylvanian’s story of being fleeced by ESB Bank:

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA State Geologist Talks about Shale Gas in Gettysburg Basin
September 4, 2012September 4, 2012

The Harrisburg Patriot-News has an excellent article (well worth your time to read) on the topic, Is there shale gas in the mid-state area of PA? The article’s author, Donald Gilliland, first introduces us to the state geologist, George Love, painting an interesting picture of where he works and what he does. Gilliland then skewers the southeastern Republicans (properly so) for inserting an eleventh-hour moratorium on drilling in their part of the state into the recent state budget (see MDN’s dim view of their action in this article). The moratorium prevents drilling in the South Newark Basin, located around the Philadelphia area, until a study is completed. George Love is the man in charge of that study.

But it is the article’s focus on another nearby shale basin, formed at roughly the same time as the South Newark Basin, that is fascinating to MDN. It’s called the Gettysburg Basin, so-named for the historic place under which part of it lies. Would there, could there be drilling under the hallowed ground at Gettysburg and other mid-state locations like Harrisburg? Mr. Love’s study of the South Newark will also look at other basins in the state and will help answer those questions.

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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Much-Ballyhooed Marcellus Health Impact Study Not Funded
September 4, 2012September 4, 2012

MDN recently reported on the big story that two large health care systems are working together to conduct what is believed to be the first widespread health impact study of residents living in areas where there is active Marcellus drilling (see this MDN story). The two health care systems, Guthrie Health and Geisinger Health System, serving a combined 2.4 million patients, have good intentions. But now comes the word they don’t have the money (yet) to conduct the study. Oops. That’s embarrassing.

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Armstrong County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ion GX Technology | Pennsylvania | Seismic Testing

Manor Township, PA Denies ION Access for Seismic Survey
September 4, 2012September 4, 2012

Houston-based ION Geophysical GX Technologies recently made a request to Manor Township (Armstrong County, PA) to allow them onto town property to conduct seismic mapping of the Marcellus and other underground structures. The board of supervisors for the town turned them down.

Here’s what ION told the supervisors at a meeting in July about what they hoped to do:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Releases Draft New Rules for Streamlined Drill Permitting
August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

A couple of weeks ago MDN outlined the smear job being attempted by the AP against PA Gov. Tom Corbett over his executive order to streamline the process used by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for permitting new gas and oil drilling (see this MDN story). Lord help us if a politician actually tries to reduce the red tape involved in legitimate businesses trying to do business!

The DEP has just submitted a draft for new rules to streamline the permitting process (embedded below). The DEP is now asking for public comments on the revised rules. As part of that process, they’ll hold two webinars for the public in September.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Final Numbers for 2011 PA Impact Fee Revenue Due Next Week
August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

As of next week, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) will know just how much money the new Act 13 drilling law will have generated for drilling that was initiated in 2011. The Act 13 law provides for an “impact fee” which is due payable by September 1.

Impact fee revenue will be used for a variety of reasons by local municipalities where drilling has occurred. In addition, 40% of the fees collected (in the spirit of compromise and American socialism) will be “spread around” to all 67 PA counties—the price of getting the legislation passed.

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Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Updates Towanda, PA Landowners on Future Plans
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Chesapeake Energy Landowner Relations Manager Andy Travis held a meeting for landowners in the Towanda, PA (Bradford County) area Tuesday night to update them on Chesapeake’s future drilling plans for the Towanda area. Among his comments:

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

BENTEK’s Big Prediction on PA Natural Gas Production
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

BENTEK Energy, a company started in 1985, has a deep understanding of the natural gas market having chronicled it, studied it and consulted on it for more than 25 years. BENTEK has just made a startling prediction: Pennsylvania’s natural gas production, mainly due to the Marcellus Shale, will increase 78% in the next three years.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

The Evolving Position of PSATS on PA’s Act 13 Law
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) is an organization representing 1,455 local municipalities across PA—some 44% of the entire population. PSATS has appeared to some as wishy-washy when it comes to its support, or lack thereof, for PA’s new Act 13 drilling law. Initially they supported it as “the best deal” they could get from the PA legislature (something Gov. Corbett still refers to in his statements).

Later on, when seven of its member towns sued the state to overturn the zoning portion of Act 13, PSATS sort of supported them, eventually filing a brief in their support. Now they’re offering full-throated support to the effort to overturn the zoning provisions in Act 13 as it goes before PA Supreme Court.

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Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

PA Drilling Rig Count Sinks to Lowest in 2 1/2 Years
August 29, 2012August 29, 2012

If you kick around the oil and gas industry for any length of time, you’ll hear about something called “the rig count.” Rig counts are the number of drilling rigs in use by energy companies to drill (or “spud”) new wells. If the rig count falls, that means new leasing is likely to fall and eventually, natural gas production will fall. But in the case of the Marcellus, falling rig counts don’t mean falling production—quite the opposite. It just means there’s a whole lot of wells already drilled, waiting to be completed and hooked up to pipelines.

Still, a falling rig count does give you a feel for where new drilling will (or won’t) take place—valuable for landowners and businesses to know. The latest numbers for Pennsylvania show the rig count in that state falling to its lowest level in years:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Electric Utility Dropping Rates – Again
August 29, 2012August 29, 2012

Electric utility Penelec, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. serving 600,000 customers in 31 western Pennsylvania counties, announced they are dropping the rate they charge for electricity for the third quarter in a row, saving the average residential customer an additional 4.2% on their electric bill.

Why the rate drop? In part, because of the Marcellus Shale.

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