Murrysville, PA Seeks Bids to Drill Under Two Municipal Parks
Sometime in the next few months, Murrysville (PA) Council members will make a decision about leasing land for shale drilling under Duff Park (234 acres) and Murrysville Community Park (305 acres). Murrysville is located in Westmoreland County in the southwestern part of the state. Olympus Energy is interested and has pitched proposals to lease under both parks, using their adjacent leased acreage (on private land) to set up rigs to drill under the parks. However, Murrysville Solicitor Wes Long advised council members to seek bids from other companies as well. What did Olympus offer for a signing bonus and royalties? We have the numbers.
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New shale permits issued for Oct 16 – 22 in the Marcellus/Utica rebounded. There were 22 new permits issued last week, versus 14 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 17 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the top permittee for the week, drawing 7 permits between two counties in PA: Susquehanna and Wyoming (northeastern part of the state). EQT had 5 permits across two PA counties: Greene and Washington (southwestern part of the state). And Ascent Resources had 5 permits in Ohio in two counties: Guernsey and Harrison.
In June 2015, MDN told you about a cool plan by a Pennsylvania company to establish a CNG (compressed natural gas) terminal in Lycoming County, PA, as a way to get natural gas to manufacturers, fleets, and businesses where no pipeline infrastructure now exists (see 
A dozen residents from Greene County, PA, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the East Dunkard Water Authority and several private companies, including CNX Resources, claiming (among other things) that wastewater from CNX’s fracking work in the Marcellus Shale “tainted the water supply in Dunkard Creek” and that the tainted water has affected the health of those drinking and using it. Just remember, anyone can sue anyone for anything. That doesn’t mean the party being sued is culpable in any way, nor the lawsuit is legitimate.
A Susquehanna County, PA judge recently ruled against fractivist lawyers looking for a quick payday in a “Dimock” case stretching back to 2017. In a damning decision against the lawyers, the judge said they repeatedly refused to provide documents in the case even though ordered to by the judge. Not only that, but the lawyers destroyed evidence! They destroyed computers with emails and documents, and even destroyed hard-copy documents, to avoid handing them over to the court. Next up is a trial to determine how much the plaintiff (Coterra Energy) will receive after being wronged by these fractivist lawyers.
In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure bill, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see 
Rich Negrin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), was supposed to be Gov. Josh Shapiro’s guy who could magically make the trains run on time at the DEP. He was the White Knight bureaucrat who could crack the code on getting simple permits for construction — things like Chapter 102 erosion and sediment control permits — back to being issued in two weeks (instead of months), as is required under PA law (see 
Two radical Big Green groups have brazenly announced they are spending more than a quarter of a million dollars in an attempt to help buy an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Conservation Voters of PA Victory Fund, in partnership with Earthjustice Action, are attempting to convince Pennsylvanians who are inclined to believe Big Green clap-trap that they should vote for the far-left candidate Dan McCaffery (Democrat) in this November’s contest for the PA Supreme Court. Why? Because McCaffery is in the back pocket of the environmental lobby. He’ll vote any way they tell him to.
Last Friday in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden tried to sell the line that Pennsylvania was a big winner in the Hydrogen Hub Hunger Games (see 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held an informational briefing on Project Canary, a company that measures, analyzes, and reports on methane emissions from natural gas production and distribution infrastructure. Many Marcellus/Utica drillers use Project Canary’s services in their programs to produce “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG). It appears the aim of the session was to bring PA State Senators up-to-speed on Project Canary and the larger issue of cutting back on fugitive methane emissions. Companies that track and reduce methane can charge more for their gas, so the theory goes. As for whether or not that is happening (are they getting more money for their gas?), it is an open question.
Yesterday, we brought you the great news that the Marcellus/Utica region scored one of seven major hydrogen hub project grants being dished out by the Bidenistas (see 
Last Friday in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden tried to sell the line that Pennsylvania was a big winner in the Hydrogen Hub Hunger Games (see