Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | EXCO Resources | Hess | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Williams Production | XTO

65 Marcellus Well Casing Violations in PA So Far in 2011
September 19, 2011March 24, 2012

Recently released data on drilling violations from the PA Department of Environmental Protection show that problems continue with the cemented steel casings that are designed to protect groundwater from methane and the fluids used to frack wells. The violations do not mean methane or fluids escaped into local groundwater aquifers—but the potential exists when a well is not cased properly. So far in 2011, 65 wells have been cited for faulty casing and cementing. Out of the many thousands of wells drilled and fracked each year in Pennsylvania, that’s not a bad ratio, but it’s certainly nowhere near acceptable. As DEP Secretary Michael Krancer has said, “One case of methane migration or well contamination is one case too many.” The industry needs to do better.

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Centre County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

PA Religious Group Says Marcellus Gas Drilling is Immoral
September 19, 2011September 19, 2011

As predicted by MDN on Friday (see here), the Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (PA-IPL) religious organization declared in their press conference of Sunday that “ethical drilling” of Marcellus Shale gas essentially equals “no drilling.” Like many other anti-drilling organizations, the PA-IPL is driven by ideology: they seek renewable energy nirvana. They have drunken deeply from the man-causes-global-warming mythology/religion. They view fossil fuels as immoral. MDN suspects however, that the leaders of the PA-IPL don’t peddle bicycles everywhere they want to go but instead use gas-powered vehicles. And no doubt they fly around on jets burning fossil fuels to spread their inanities. And heat their homes with nasty coal-generated electricity. Can anyone say “hypocrite”?

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

Penn Environment Lies About Flooded Drilling Rig
September 16, 2011September 16, 2011

If you’re against drilling and desperate to make your case, why tell the truth when a lie will conveniently do? That is, of course, until the lie is exposed.

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Centre County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

PA Religious Group to Lecture Industry on Ethical Drilling
September 16, 2011September 16, 2011

This should be interesting. On Sunday, the Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (PA-IPL) religious organization will tell the drilling industry how they should do their business. Apparently there is something called “ethical drilling” that the good people of the PA-IPL will reveal. Notice, as MDN has repeatedly pointed out, that ideology (or philosophy, or in this case, faith) is the reason anti-drillers—and make no mistake, this group is anti-drilling—oppose shale gas drilling. They view it as a threat to the renewable energy nirvana they want to impose on everyone else. In the case of this organization, they attempt to transform the drilling argument into a moral one, meaning if you disagree with their viewpoint, you’re immoral. Nice try.

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Butler County | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania

South Butler School Signs Lease with Exxon Mobil Phillips
September 15, 2011September 15, 2011

The South Butler County School District (Butler County, PA) school board, after a year and a half of meetings and research, has voted to lease school district land for Marcellus Shale gas drilling. The lease is with Phillips Resources, recently bought by and now part of Exxon Mobil, and includes some interesting provisions, including an extra fee per well drilled, and an allowance for pooling, but not forced pooling.

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Chief Gathering | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Dallas Twp, PA Approves Natural Gas Pipeline Near School
September 15, 2011September 15, 2011

On Wednesday, Dallas Township (Luzerne County), PA supervisors voted unanimously to approve an agreement with Chief Gathering to run a natural gas pipeline within a third of a mile of the Dallas district schools and through a local housing development. Some of the residents who attended the meeting strongly objected to the vote, accusing the supervisors of approving an agreement not available for review by residents and accusing Chief and other drilling industry companies of “monster arrogance.”

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Bradford County | Energy Services | Fayette County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pentex Pipeline | Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Washington County

Two More Gathering Pipelines Seek PA Public Utility Status
September 14, 2011September 14, 2011

Even though Laser Northeast Gathering has withdrawn its application to become a public utility with the power of eminent domain as MDN reported yesterday, two other pipeline companies with applications before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission continue to move forward. Peregrine Keystone Gas Pipeline plans to construct a gathering line in Greene, Fayette and Washington counties in western PA, and Pentex Pipeline plans a gathering pipeline in Bradford County in northeast PA.

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Broome County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

Laser Pipeline Withdraws Request to Become PA Public Utility
September 13, 2011September 13, 2011

In a split 3-2 decision in May of this year, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted to confer public utility status on Laser Northeast Gathering, a 30-mile, $55 million pipeline that stretches from Susquehanna County, PA to Broome County, NY (see MDN story here). When complete, the pipeline will connect wells in Susquehanna County with the Millennium Pipeline in Broome County. The Millennium is an interstate pipeline that transports gas from Steuben County in western NY to Rockland County, near New York City, hooking in with several other large interstate pipelines along the way. Laser sought public utility status so it would have the power of eminent domain—the power to run the pipeline under property even if landowners object. At the time, MDN objected.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Regulation | Washington County

Western PA Township Residents Try to Ban Gas Drilling
September 13, 2011September 13, 2011

Several thousand residents of Peters Township, a small township in Washington County, Pennsylvania, are attempting to force a ban of all natural gas drilling in the township by amending the township’s charter. It’s not clear whether or not the town council will allow a vote on the proposed measure:

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Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Krancer Addresses Shale Gas Meeting in Philly
September 9, 2011September 9, 2011

Some 1,600 people attended the Shale Gas Insight 2011 conference held Wednesday and Thursday in Philadelphia. At yesterday’s second and final day of the conference, State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Michael Krancer spoke in place of Gov. Tom Corbett at a lunchtime keynote because the governor was responding to the widespread flooding crisis. Among his remarks was an observation that MDN has repeatedly made—that much of the opposition to shale gas drilling is ideological and philosophical, not scientific:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

New Marcellus Pipeline Regulations Coming to PA This Fall
September 9, 2011September 9, 2011

New regulations for the many gathering pipelines in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale drilling regions will be a top priority this fall according to Republican legislators. It’s not clear under existing PA law which government agency has jurisdiction and responsibility for inspecting intrastate pipelines—and that “who’s on first” problem has led to safety lapses, including explosions.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Washington County

How Much Does it Cost to Drill a Single Marcellus Well? $7.6M
September 7, 2011September 7, 2011

A new 92-page study just released by the University of Pittsburgh (copy embedded below) takes a realistic look at the direct costs, and economic impacts, of drilling a single Marcellus Shale gas well. The study, called the “Economic Impact of the Value Chain of a Marcellus Shale Well,” looked in depth at an EQT-drilled well in Washington County, PA. Undergraduate and graduate students from Pitt found that a single well had direct costs of more than $7.6 million. Or think of it this way: More than $7.6 million is invested in a local community, on average, for each and every well drilled.

The costs to drill a well break down this way:

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

New Penn State Study on Economic Impacts of Marcellus Drilling
September 7, 2011September 7, 2011

A new 62-page study (embedded below) conducted by Penn State and the Pennsylvania College of Technology looks at the economic impact of natural gas drilling in PA. The study, titled “Economic Impacts of Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania: Employment and Income in 2009,” uses a new (and according to the authors more accurate) methodology to calculate gas drilling’s economic impacts on local communities. The authors suggest the economic impacts of Marcellus drilling for local communities are not as big as previously reported.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

PA Poll Shows Most Residents Support Marcellus Drilling
September 6, 2011September 6, 2011

Franklin & Marshall College (Lancaster, PA) conducted a statewide poll of 525 Pennsylvania residents in late August. Among the questions asked were a series of questions about Marcellus Shale drilling. The vast majority of Pennsylvanians support gas drilling in the state (66%). A slight majority believes the economic benefits of drilling outweigh the potential environmental impacts, and most think that opening more state forest land for drilling should not be done. The full questions and responses are listed below.

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Barbour County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Indiana County | Marshall County | Noble Energy | Pennsylvania | Washington County | West Virginia | Westmoreland County

Noble Energy and CONSOL to Partner on Marcellus in $3.4B Deal
August 19, 2011August 19, 2011

In March 2010, CONSOL Energy (Cecil, PA) paid Dominion Resources $3.5 billion for 500,000 acres of Marcellus Shale gas leases, instantly tripling their lease holdings. Since that time, CONSOL has continued to invest in Marcellus acreage and they now have 750,000 acres under lease. But CONSOL had a problem: Not enough money to develop their vast Marcellus acreage. So they did what is now a common practice—they found a partner to invest. Yesterday, CONSOL and Noble Energy (Houston, TX) announced that Noble will buy a 50 percent interest in 663,350 net undeveloped acres and fund drilling and completion costs in a deal worth $3.4 billion over an eight-year period.

The joint venture will concentrate on ramping up development of Marcellus Shale gas wells in three areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (see a map of CONSOL’s acreage below):

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

The Mighty Marcellus Roars in PA – Production Up 55% in 6 Months
August 17, 2011August 17, 2011

Now we know why it’s called “The Mighty Marcellus.” New production figures for the first six months of 2011 show that on all counts—natural gas, gas liquids, and even oil—the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is producing a tremendous amount of new energy. Figures for the southwestern part of PA show a 55 percent increase in production over the previous six month period.

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