Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest gas drilling companies in the world, is leasing a lot of property in Beaver County, PA. Beaver County is located along Pennsylvania’s western border with Ohio and West Virginia.
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Leases More Than 1,000 Parcels in Beaver County, PA Since Jan 1”
A few weeks ago U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), wrote to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to ask him to investigate two house explosions in Bradford Township, PA (see MDN’s story here). Casey said he strongly believed the cause of the explosions was from migrating methane gas (natural gas) from “extensive new deep drilling activities” in the area. That is, those nasty, filthy Marcellus drillers caused it. Don’t look now Mr. Casey, but….oops. You were wrong again. The real cause was abandoned gas wells drilled 100 years ago.
On April 6, newly appointed PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Michael Krancer responded yet again to the overreaching federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a blunt and factual letter outlining the measures PA has already taken, and new policies they will be taking, to protect drinking water supplies for PA citizens. MDN previously wrote (see here) about the EPA’s interference in PA’s affairs following the sensational claims made by a series of articles in The New York Times that claimed PA was allowing radioactive wastewater to be dumped into PA waterways. About the same time as the Times articles, the DEP released the results of ongoing water testing in seven rivers that showed radioactivity levels were at or below normal levels.
The Avonworth Municipal Authority in Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has just signed a five-year drilling lease for park property controlled by the Authority.
Read More “Municipal Authority in Western PA Signs Drilling Lease for 119 Acre Park”
Marcellus drilling company Talisman Energy held an open house yesterday in LeRaysville (Bradford County), PA from 3 to 8 pm at the community hall, and it quickly became a packed house with more than 200 people attending to ask questions about Talisman’s plans for their area.
Read More “Talisman Energy to Drill 40-50 New Wells in Bradford County, PA”
A lawsuit has just been filed in Western PA seeking to invalidate a Township’s new drilling ordinance:
Read More “Rice Drilling Sues North Bethlehem Township Over New Drilling Ordinance”
On Tuesday, April 5, the PA-based Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) released a new study: Roadmap for Pennsylvania Jobs, Energy Security and Clean Air (download it here, PDF file). The Roadmap outlines a plan for expanding the use of Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs), in particular their use by fleets of vehicles—buses, trucks and cars—owned and operated by government and private industry. The Roadmap recommends incentives and policy changes to encourage use of NGVs and expanding an existing network of established natural gas refueling stations by establishing an additional 17 new public refueling stations along key interstate highways throughout Pennsylvania.
Read More “New Plan Would Put More Natural Gas Vehicles on PA’s Roadways”
The decision is in, and Winfield Township (Butler County), PA supervisors have voted to not accept an offer from BLX-Redmill to lease 60 acres of the 69-acre township park located behind the municipal building.
Read More “Winfield Township, PA Turns Down Lease Offer from BLX-Redmill; Lessons for Landowners”
It’s not a done deal yet, but Pennsylvania may soon allow its state-owned universities to have Marcellus Shale drilling on their property—and keep the money from it.
Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, is threatening to stop drilling in Mt. Pleasant Township (Washington County), PA. A letter to landowners in the Township says, in part, “We may be forced to shift activity to other, more cooperative townships.”
Why the threat? The dispute seems to center on the type of permits that will be issued in the Township if a new ordinance is passed later this month.
Regulation and oversight of pipelines, including natural gas pipelines, comes under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Transportation/Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. However, states are empowered to regulate and oversee public utilities, including pipelines that are deemed a public utility. But most natural gas gathering pipelines are not public utilities. Such is the case in Pennsylvania where pipelines are currently inspected by the U.S. DOT. That may be about to change.
A bill has just passed the PA House which establishes Pennsylvanian oversight of all natural gas pipelines in the state:
Momentum, a company that focuses on “midstream” oil and gas assets, has signed on Chesapeake Energy and Statoil as customers for a new Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline they are constructing in northern WV and southwestern PA.
From the press release:
Read More “New Marcellus Shale Pipeline Coming to Southwestern PA, Northern WV”
After a full investigation, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) has found that an explosion and fire in Avella (Washington County), PA (see this MDN article) was due to mismanagement of natural gas liquids. According to the DEP, Chesapeake Energy, who owns and manages the well and storage site, did not follow industry standard practices in their handling of natural gas liquids. The liquids or “condensate” are a by-product produced by some Marcellus gas wells.
Newly appointed Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Michael Krancer has made a major change in procedure at the agency. “Routine matters” like notices of violations (NOVs) for problems found at drilling sites were, until now, issued by DEP field inspectors and their regional directors. But now all routine matters, including NOVs, must be pre-approved by officials at the DEP headquarters in Harrisburg.
Those who oppose drilling are trying a new tactic. Their argument is that (a) gas drilling pollutes the air and the water, (b) clean air and water are basic human rights, therefore (c) gas drilling must be banned in order to protect human rights. Here is an example of that argument from a town meeting in Newton Township (Lackawanna County), PA, convened for the purpose of organizing against drilling:
The Marcellus Shale Environmental Summit was held this week at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. Inside were some 120 people listening to speakers talk on the topic of using technology to treat drilling wastewater so that the wastewater doesn’t end up in Pennsylvania’s waterways. Most people would agree that’s a good thing.
Outside the hotel was a small group of 30 anti-drilling protestors. And as we saw a few weeks ago in Harrisburg (Anti-Drilling Protestors Get Nasty at Shale Coalition Building in Harrisburg, PA), these protestors were not content to peaceably and respectfully march and make their statement. They decided they were above the law:
Read More “Anti-Drilling Protestors in PA Break the Law (Again), This Time Disrupting a Meeting”