Pennsylvania

Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Shell | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Negrin Looks to Formalize Shakedown Programs, Like Shell
August 1, 2023August 1, 2023

In July, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it had appointed a 17-member committee to figure out how to dole out $5 million to fund local community projects located near the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, following a $10 million fine against the plant for violating air emissions standards (see PA DEP Forms Ctte to Dole Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash). The rest of the money ($4.9 million) will go to the DEP. Many (not all) of the committee members are radical leftists who irrationally hate fossil energy. The committee met and issued a “protocol” for how it will dole out the $5 million in cash (see Ctte Doling Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash Sets Criteria). DEP Sec. Rich Negrin is so pleased with the results he wants to use the Shell committee as a template for future “sizable settlements with the companies it regulates.” Joy.
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Negrin Looks to Formalize Shakedown Programs, Like Shell”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Gov. Shapiro Says Fix Coming for Late Permits: Money-Back Guarantee
August 1, 2023August 1, 2023

Permitting in Pennsylvania, especially those overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been broken for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, even six to eight months for approval–instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). In June, DEP Sec. Rich Negrin told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that he’s making good progress on his 10-point plan to speed up permits and cut down on red tape (see DEP Sec. Negrin Focused on Cutting Red Tape, Speeding New Permits). Yesterday, Gov. Shapiro told the Pittsburgh Business Times that beginning this fall, all state-issued permits, including those issued by the DEP, will come with time requirements and a “money-back guarantee.”
Read More “Gov. Shapiro Says Fix Coming for Late Permits: Money-Back Guarantee”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 5 Rigs, M-U Loses 2 More Rigs
July 31, 2023July 31, 2023

For the third week in a row and the 12th time in the last 13 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling six rigs the week before (see U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 6 Rigs, Now Lowest Level in 16 Mos.). Both the Marcellus and the Utica dropped one rig each for a combined M-U rig count of 46. Some 13 weeks ago, the M-U lost four rigs (going from 53 down to 49). Six weeks ago, we lost another rig, down to 48. And now, we’ve lost two more. The trend is not our friend.
Read More “U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 5 Rigs, M-U Loses 2 More Rigs”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MDS Energy | PennEnergy Resources | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Superior Court Tosses $2.4M Arbitration Award Against PennEnergy
July 31, 2023July 31, 2023

This is a cautionary tale of choosing your joint venture partner carefully. The Pennsylvania Superior Court threw out a $2.4 million arbitration award against Marcellus driller PennEnergy in a business dispute in a precedential ruling last week. The Superior Court judges overruled an award by an arbitrator. PennEnergy maintained the case should never have been in arbitration in the first place. The intended recipient of the award, MDS Energy, says the Superiors weren’t so superior after all and got it wrong. The case is complicated…
Read More “PA Superior Court Tosses $2.4M Arbitration Award Against PennEnergy”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Pennsylvania

EQT Donates $500K to Wisecarver Reservoir Project in Greene Co.
July 31, 2023July 31, 2023

EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., recently donated $500,000 to the Wisecarver Reservoir Recreation Project near Waynesburg in Greene County, PA. The project will develop the 360 acres around the reservoir into a destination for families and outdoor enthusiasts. EQT has major drilling operations in Greene County, and according to EQT CEO Toby Rice, the company “strives to be a good neighbor and give back to the communities where we operate.”
Read More “EQT Donates $500K to Wisecarver Reservoir Project in Greene Co.”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Philadephia | Regulation

Antis Agitate Against Nicetown Gas Power Plant Permit Reissue
July 31, 2023July 31, 2023

A Marcellus gas-fired power plant in Nicetown (a neighborhood in North Philadelphia) received a permit to build in 2017 (see Antis “Shocked” Philly Approved Marcellus Power Plant for SEPTA). Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) Marcellus gas-powered electric plant, which finally went online in 2020, provides electricity to the organization’s northern Regional Rail lines and a bus garage. When it appeared the plant would get approved, antis got desperate and made shrill arguments that the plant is racist (see Nicetown Claims “Environmental Racism” re Gas-Fired Plant). The permit that allows the plant to continue operating is now up for review. Here come the not-nice antis, shrill as ever, blathering on once again about racist electric plants…
Read More “Antis Agitate Against Nicetown Gas Power Plant Permit Reissue”
Allegheny County | Antero Resources | Ascent Resources | Columbiana County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Encino Energy | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Inflection Energy | Lycoming County | Ohio | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Ritchie County | Seneca Resources | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | Tioga County (PA) | Weekly Permits | West Virginia

31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 17-23
July 28, 2023July 28, 2023

New shale permits issued for Jul 17-23 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a nice increase. There were 31 new permits issued last week, up from the 23 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 13 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and 10 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was Coterra Energy, receiving 8 permits in Susquehanna County, PA. Coming in at a close second was Antero Resources, with 6 permits in Ritchie County, WV.
Read More “31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 17-23”
Berks County | Blair County | Cambria County | Chester County | Cumberland County | Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Perry County | Regulation | Sunoco Logistics | York County

PA DEP Squeezes Another $660,000 from ME2 Pipe for “Violations”
July 27, 2023July 27, 2023

The problem with the pay-for-protection scam is that it never stops. A mobster comes calling on a business, and for a “small” and regular fee, the mobster will guarantee nothing “happens” to the business. “Just think of it as insurance.” It’s a shakedown–a scam. And over the years, the price keeps going up. What if the mobster is a government agency, like the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP)? The DEP keeps shaking down Energy Transfer and its Sunoco Pipeline subsidiary over the construction and operation of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline. Over the years, the DEP has fined ET/Sunoco over $30 MILLION for so-called penalties related to building ME2. [And another $30.6M related to the Revolution Pipeline explosion.] Yesterday, the DEP announced ANOTHER $660,000 in “penalties” related to building ME2. When will it end?
Read More “PA DEP Squeezes Another $660,000 from ME2 Pipe for “Violations””
Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

G2 STEM Proposes Wastewater Injection Well in Fayette County, PA
July 27, 2023July 27, 2023

Nicholson Township

This is the first time a proposed new wastewater injection well in Fayette County, PA, is appearing on our radar screen. G2 STEM, a Virginia-based company, filed an application in June 2022 with the federal EPA to construct and operate a wastewater injection well in Nicholson Township. The EPA recently held an online hearing (July 11) to accept comments on a draft permit it intends to issue allowing this new injection well. Plenty of people in Fayette, along with local officials, attended to express their opposition.
Read More “G2 STEM Proposes Wastewater Injection Well in Fayette County, PA”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania

Olympus Energy Proposes New Well Pad & Pipe in West Deer Twp, PA
July 27, 2023July 27, 2023

Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) drills in the Greater Pittsburgh region, in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. In 2021, Olympus applied to build a new well pad in a rural part of Allegheny County, in West Deer Township. So-called “concerned citizens” got amped up to oppose the project. They succeeded when town supervisors rejected the Dionysus well pad (see West Deer Township Denies Olympus Permit to Build Shale Pad). The “concerned citizens” then attempted to block a second well pad, the Leto pad, proposed by Olympus in another West Deer location (see West Deer Antis Try to Block 2nd Olympus Shale Well Pad). However, West Deer supervisors approved the Leto pad in June (see West Deer Approves Olympus “Leto” Well Pad, Antis Pledge to Sue). Now comes word of another proposed well pad and an associated pipeline.
Read More “Olympus Energy Proposes New Well Pad & Pipe in West Deer Twp, PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Bill Grants DEP Sweeping Power to Veto Projs for Enviro Justice
July 25, 2023July 25, 2023

A group of Pennsylvania State Senators are (once again) trying to expand the swampy bureaucracy of the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). A group of six Democrat state senators issued a co-sponsorship memorandum last Thursday to say they want to expand the DEP’s power to reject “facilities such as incinerators, landfills, and sewage plants” based on the premise that such facilities are typically built in communities where there are minorities or poor people–and they are just too poor (or too dumb) to “fight back” against such projects. That is, the DEP can reject anything it wants for “environmental justice” reasons. The very premise of the bill is, itself, racist!
Read More “PA Bill Grants DEP Sweeping Power to Veto Projs for Enviro Justice”
Carbon County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

PA DCED Announces $501K Grant to Build NatGas Pipe to Greenhouse
July 25, 2023July 25, 2023

Gov. Josh Shapiro (center) visits Little Leaf PA

Pennsylvania’s Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE) issues grants covering part of the cost for building new natural gas pipelines to connect homes and businesses, typically in rural parts of the state, to homegrown Marcellus Shale gas supplies. We’ve written about many PIPE grant projects in the past (see our PIPE stories here). Another PIPE grant was announced yesterday by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED). This latest grant is for half a million dollars to help build a 3,000-foot pipe to help feed more Marcellus gas to a greenhouse operation that wants to expand.
Read More “PA DCED Announces $501K Grant to Build NatGas Pipe to Greenhouse”
Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Radicalized Groups Challenge Proposed Allegheny Gas-Fired Plant
July 25, 2023July 25, 2023

In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natural gas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County, PA (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). It took a few years, a lawsuit, and a new location, but eventually, Elizabeth commissioners approved Invenergy’s plan in December 2018 (see Elizabeth Twp in Allegheny Co. OKs Invenergy Gas-Fired Plant). In June 2021, the Allegheny County Health Department’s permitting section held a hearing to discuss potential emissions from the plant. The Health Department subsequently issued an installation (but not an operating) air permit. A mishmash of Big Green groups promptly challenged the installation air permit (see Anti Groups Challenge Permit for Invenergy Gas-Fired Plant in SWPA). A hearing before the health department’s hearing officer began yesterday.
Read More “Radicalized Groups Challenge Proposed Allegheny Gas-Fired Plant”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Ctte Doling Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash Sets Criteria
July 24, 2023July 24, 2023

Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have–on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit the local community (see Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now). Earlier this month, the DEP announced that it had appointed a 17-member committee to figure out how to dole out $5 million to fund local community projects near the cracker (see PA DEP Forms Ctte to Dole Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash). The rest of the money ($4.9 million) will go to the DEP. Many (not all) of the committee members are radical leftists who irrationally hate fossil energy. The committee met and (on Friday) issued a “protocol” for how it will dole out the $5 million in cash.
Read More “Ctte Doling Out $5M in Shell Cracker Shakedown Cash Sets Criteria”
Apex Energy | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Weekly Permits | Westmoreland County

6 New Shale Well Permits Issued for Tardy PA Jul 10-16
July 24, 2023July 24, 2023

Rich Negrin, newly ensconced Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in Pennsylvania, was supposed to be the Great White Horse riding it to correct the problems at the DEP and “make the trains run on time” (i.e., clean up the bureaucratic dysfunction at the agency). He’s been running the agency since January, yet we haven’t seen any noticeable changes. Is it too soon to expect results? Last Friday, as happens about once every other month, the DEP’s oil and gas reporting database was offline, throwing an error. We could not bring you PA’s permit numbers for Friday (see 17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for OH-WV (Not PA) Jul 10-16). Sometime in the last 72 hours, the computer geeks got their act together and got the computer system working again (after we pestered them). Today we bring you the permit report for PA that should have been available on Friday, showing PA issued a lousy six new shale permits for the week of July 10-16.
Read More “6 New Shale Well Permits Issued for Tardy PA Jul 10-16”
Clarion County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Aborted Epiphany PA Wastewater Plant Resurrected w/PENNVEST Loan
July 20, 2023July 20, 2023

We love a good “back from the dead” story. In 2017 Epiphany Water Solutions (aka Epiphany Environmental, LLC) filed for a permit to build a centralized oil and gas wastewater treatment facility in Coudersport (Potter County), PA (see Shale Wastewater Treatment Plant Planned for Potter County, PA). The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing on the proposed facility in January 2018. From that time on, the environmental left launched a smear campaign to defeat it, which subsequently happened in April 2018. But what’s this? Epiphany has just received a $6.1 million loan from the Gov. Shapiro administration to build a similar (same?) plant several counties away–in Clarion County, PA.
Read More “Aborted Epiphany PA Wastewater Plant Resurrected w/PENNVEST Loan”