Pennsylvania

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer Takes the Gloves Off
August 6, 2012August 6, 2012

When you’re effective at your job and your enemies don’t like it, they call you mean. Case in point: Michael Krancer, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). He’s very effective in his job as the state’s top regulator of oil and gas drilling. And anti-drillers just hate him.

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story yesterday outlining just how mean he is (no doubt a badge of honor for Mr. Krancer). The story starts this way:

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

OH River Valley Commission Names Pro-Drilling Chairman
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), established in 1948 to control and abate pollution in the Ohio River Basin, has elected a pro-drilling attorney as their new chairman. Kenneth Komoroski from Pittsburgh, PA assumed his new position on July 1, although the press release was not issued until August 1. Komorski was appointed to the Commission in 2003 by then President George W. Bush.

ORSANCO is an interstate commission representing eight states and the federal government. Member states include: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. While ORSANCO does not have the same broad powers as the Susquehanna River Basin Commission or Delaware River Basin Commission to issue permits and control shale gas drilling, some of their regulatory power does impact the drilling industry, especially on matters of drilling wastewater disposal.

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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Goes to Beaver County to Talk Cracker Plants
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett went to Monaca in Beaver County, PA yesterday to talk about a planned ethane cracker plant that Shell says it wants to build there. He was joined by a number of officials—bipartisan in makeup. Corbett’s message? “We’re not there yet.” He said that although a great deal has been done, more will need to be done before Shell pulls the trigger and builds the plant.

The press release from the governor’s office talking about his trip to Monaca:

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Alcoa | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Statewide PA

Alcoa Enters Marcellus Drilling – Supplies Drill Pipe to PGE
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Alcoa (once upon a time known as the Aluminum Company of America), the world’s third largest producer of aluminum, is getting into the shale drilling industry by producing special pipe for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Yesterday Alcoa announced a contract to provide driller Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) with aluminum alloy drill pipe.

From the Aloca press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Williams Plans Marcellus Expansion of Transco Leidy Pipeline
August 2, 2012August 2, 2012

As the pace of drilling continues (but slows) in the Marcellus, the next major phase of work begins: completing wells and getting all that shale gas to market. That’s why pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants are important. Williams Partners, one of the largest pipeline operators in the country, announced yesterday they plan to expand their existing Transco Leidy Line in northern PA to accommodate new demands for shipping Marcellus Shale gas.

They expect to make a pre-filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in early 2013, and hope to have the expansion complete by late 2015.

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Butler County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | XTO

MarkWest Signs Deal with XTO to Process NGLs in PA
August 1, 2012August 1, 2012

MarkWest has just signed a deal with XTO Energy (XTO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil) to extend MarkWest’s natural gas liquids (NGLs) gathering pipeline in Butler County, PA to XTO’s processing plant. Previously MarkWest announced plans to extend the same pipeline from its Houston, PA complex to the Bluestone complex in Butler County. With this announcement, MarkWest will further extend the pipeline from Bluestone to XTO’s plant.

This deal will grant MarkWest the right to fractionate and market NGLs from XTO. Adding this new pipeline to other recently announced pipelines by MarkWest, when everything is built and running, MarkWest will have 3 billion cubic feet of gas processing capacity and 270,000 barrels per day of fractionation capacity throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Bet You Didn’t Know Fracking Causes STDs & Satanism ;-)
August 1, 2012August 1, 2012

A column in Philadelphia Weekly takes a somewhat tongue-in-cheek look at the claims anti-drillers make about fracking. Claims like fracking causes bird deaths, and fish deaths, and even human deaths. And fracking causes earthquakes, dontcha know. The column is clearly poking fun, but we can’t quite figure out if the author is also giving credence to some of the claims, hinting they might be true.

However, the final two claims he lists are laugh-out-loud funny and we though you would enjoy a smile. Grab a cross and read on…

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Officials Ask PA Supreme Court to Hurry Up with Act 13 Case
July 31, 2012July 31, 2012

A court filing by state officials yesterday—including the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the Attorney General and the Dept. of Environmental Protection—asks the PA Supreme Court to expedite an appeal of the Act 13 zoning case. Last week the appellate court in PA ruled against the state’s new Act 13 law zoning provisions (see this MDN story). According to Gov. Tom Corbett, without the zoning portions of Act 13, the new law will be gutted.

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Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

The Shift from Dry to Wet Gas Continues
July 30, 2012July 30, 2012

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a story in today’s edition on the recurring theme that dry gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is slowing down in Pennsylvania and is shifting to wet gas drilling in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio and southwestern PA.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Appeals Act 13 Zoning Case to Supreme Court
July 30, 2012July 30, 2012

Last week the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, the “appellate” court in PA, ruled in favor of seven towns who had sued the state over the zoning portion of the newly enacted Act 13 drilling law (see this MDN story). At the time Gov. Tom Corbett said he would appeal the decision and he has made good on his word. The case now heads to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

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Allegheny County | Education | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh College – Certificate in Energy Land Administration
July 30, 2012July 30, 2012

The Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) in Pittsburgh has developed a new certificate program in Land Administration in cooperation with drilling company EQT Corp. Land administrators make an average annual salary of $60,000 and work in an energy company’s land records, division orders or contracts area to protect the company’s oil and gas assets (leases, rights-of-way and wells).

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Court Overturns Zoning Section of Act 13 Drilling Law
July 27, 2012July 27, 2012

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court (the appellate court in PA) yesterday issued ruling on the zoning portion of the newly enacted Act 13 drilling law—and they ruled it unconstitutional. A full copy of the court’s opinion and ruling is embedded below. This is round two in the court fight. Round three, an appeal to the PA Supreme Court, will almost certainly come from Gov. Tom Corbett (he has as much as promised it).

MDN will give our overview of what the court decided, and of the dissenting opinion. But one thing caught our eye right away. MDN has made the argument several times that the Delaware Riverkeeper Network has no standing to be part of the lawsuit against the state and against Act 13 (see this MDN story). The good news with yesterday’s decision is that the justices tossed the Delaware Riverkeeper Network from the lawsuit, saying (as MDN has all along) they have no standing to participate and bring the suit in the first place. It’s a small and symbolic victory for those of us who support drilling, but a victory nonetheless.

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Closes the Door on Dimock Investigation – Water is Clean
July 26, 2012July 26, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a statement yesterday that they’re now officially finished with their investigation of Dimock, PA water wells. EPA testing of 64 wells in the area found elevated levels of arsenic, barium or manganese in four wells—all of those substances are naturally occurring. EPA has been delivering water to the four households, but since those households now have water treatment systems to fix the problem, as of August 6 the EPA will end all water deliveries. (Calling Josh Fox and Mark Ruffalo! We haven’t seen you in Dimock for a while. This is your last chance for another 2 hour visit/photo op. Better grab it while you can.)

The EPA statement (see below) closes a very long chapter in the fight over hydraulic fracturing and the false claims that fracking leaks chemicals into water supplies. Cabot Oil & Gas, the driller accused of contaminating water supplies around Dimock, was delighted (and vindicated) by the EPA’s investigation and was quick to comment (also below).

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Well Pad Liners Get Recycled
July 26, 2012July 26, 2012

Every Marcellus Shale well drilled has a heavy-duty plastic liner. When the well is finished being drilled, that plastic liner is usually disposed in a landfill. An interesting new joint venture between two Pennsylvania companies, WellSpring Environmental Services and Ultra-Poly Corporation, aims to recycle those pad liners. According to the companies, they will remove 20 million pounds of plastic well pad liner each year from the waste stream and ultimately turn it into products like composite railroad ties and building materials. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection has already granted the two companies their blessing (and permission) for the plan.

Once again capitalism and the free market (not government regulation) solves the problem. From the WellSpring news release:

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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Marcellus Creates 238,000 Jobs – So Far
July 25, 2012July 25, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry keeps track of jobs and job growth in the Commonwealth. And according to their latest jobs report, direct jobs in the Marcellus Shale went up by 18,000 jobs over the past four years (159%). The report also says total employment related (generated by) shale gas drilling in the state has grown a whopping 238,000 jobs since 2008.

So all those articles and letters to the editor that have cropped up lately questioning whether the shale industry actually creates jobs are nothing but hot air? Yeah.

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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Announces 1 Year Study on Air Quality in Marcellus
July 24, 2012July 23, 2012

Yesterday the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a one-year study that will look at impacts on air quality from Marcellus drilling and the infrastructure (pipelines and compressor plants) that comes with shale gas drilling. The study will focus on Washington County in western PA, primarily in and around Chartiers Township, home of a gas processing plant.

The DEP plans to use this initial study and its results to guide them on whether, and where, to conduct other air quality studies.

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